Once upon a time, many years ago, I was born in Atlanta, Georgia. We left the south when I was 5 and moved to Westport, Connecticut.  I am the middle child (number 3) of six children.  My father was a salesman and my mother was a nurse.  As a child, I was a girly tomboy. We moved frequently in my teens and I attended four different high schools.  I attended Southern Connecticut State College, majoring in political science and traveled, worked, and studied in Germany and Austria.

Upon my return, I met my husband-to-be, Bob Lynam.  We married in 1974 and now have three children.  As a child, my youngest son, Brendan, had attention problems and was unable to sit through a story being read to him. Luckily, I stumbled upon the art of puppetry.   When I used puppets, he was able to sit through an entire story for the first time. An epiphany!  I continued to explore the art form privately until I decided to branch out and perform shows for libraries and schools in my area. I was hooked on the power and joy of puppetry!  My professional life then evolved into three areas, as a puppeteer, a teaching artist, and an artist.

As a puppeteer, I founded the Crafty Characters Puppet Troupe to bring culturally diverse stories to young audiences throughout the south.  My traditional puppet theater and handcrafted puppets catapult children into the world of make believe.  While promoting literacy with classic children’s literature (Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, The Magic Fish, etc.), stories come to life on my puppet stage.  Two stories are presented during the thirty-minute program.  My shows are designed primarily for pre-school through early elementary aged children.

As a teaching artist I am affiliated with several institutions:  The Tennessee Performing Arts Center oversees the regional Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts and ArtSmart programs. I have been a Wolf Trap artist since 1992, working extensively in the preschool classroom providing one week or seven week residencies.  By partnering closely with the classroom teacher, each residency provides original songs, stories, and activities that are developmentally appropriate, educationally sound, and awaken the student’s curiosity for learning.  A Master Artist with Wolf Trap since 2001, my workshop, Let Your Voices Be Heard:  Using Puppets to Bring Stories to Life, has been presented to teachers throughout the United States. I became a teaching artist with the ArtSmart program in 2006. This meaningful program prepares students to understand/appreciate a particular performing or visual work of art. A unique partnership with teaching artists, educators, and students creates intense explorations of the work of art. Value Plus is a program sponsored by the Tennessee Arts Commission. This five year reform model provides residencies that integrate learning through the arts into non-arts subjects such as math, science and language arts.

As an artist, I am particularly drawn to color, texture, and sculptural design.  I have been commissioned to make puppets by universities, historic homes, and private individuals.  I have designed, sculpted, painted, and dressed all of the puppets used in my shows. I have made hundreds of colorful puppets from simple finger to complex foam puppets that are used in the classroom.  Over 700 hand sculpted finger puppets were sold nationwide by Crizmac Arts Catalog.  In 1999, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts purchased my Master Artist series of puppets featuring Van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso, Kandinsky, Monet, and Chagall.

In addition, I was awarded Outstanding Artist-In-Residence for the 2007-2008 school year from the TN Arts Commission.

Combining a love of bead art and puppetry resulted in a well-reviewed show at the Appalachian Center for Crafts in Smithville, TN in 2002.  As a bead artist and teacher, my original patterns and designs have been published in Beadwork Magazine and Netted Beadwork by Diane Fitzgerald.  My beadwork is currently on display at the Open Window Gallery in Nashville.