Thursday, September 17
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Registration Required Below
Get to know some of the celebrated artists who live in our community!
The Allen & Helen Hermes Art Series presents this second panel discussion in its four-part series: The Secret Lives of Artists, where we’ll hear from professionals who are renowned in their creative fields as they talk about their work, process and inspiration.
This month’s panel will include Sculptor Janice Mauro, Musician & Film Producer Craig Peyton, Puppeteer Martin Robinson and Sculptor & Mixed Media Artist Margaret Roeleke.
The series is organized by Redding’s Tom Casey and Carolyn Prusa, who are both published fiction authors. Prusa said she and Casey realized that many artists live and work in Redding, and the series is a way to both introduce them to the community and get inspired by these talented neighbors.
This presentation will take place both in-person, at the Library, and virtually, over Zoom. For the optimal experience, we recommend attending programs in-person. Register for the virtual event by scrolling to the registration form below and a Zoom link will be emailed the day of the program. Include a cell for a text reminder. Click here to register for the in-person program.
Dates for upcoming sessions in The Secret Lives of Artists panel series will be announced soon.
The Allen and Helen Hermes Arts Series was founded in 2003, and is funded by a generous gift the couple donated to the Mark Twain Library. The mission of the series is to enrich the quality of life in the community of Redding by producing and supporting events in the visual, literary, theater and musical arts.
THE ARTISTS
JANICE MAURO is a fellow member of the National Sculpture Society, and a member of the Silvermine Guild, Sculptors Guild in NYC and the National Association of Women Artists. She has been an instructor in the arts for many years, attended residency programs and created private commissions. Her award-winning sculptures have been shown nationally and internationally, and are included in several permanent collections. She has created works featured in various notable Broadway Productions, such as The Lion King. Janice began her career as a studio assistant for Richard McDermott Miller, a renowned figurative sculptor based in New York City. Currently, she works from her wooded home studio in Connecticut, which serves as inspiration for her creations.
Moving from music to film, CRAIG PEYTON has charted a unique creative course. His production, writing and arranging skills contributed to many musical hits (including his No. 1 charting release, Latitude, 40 Degrees North). Craig has worked with artists including Michael Mainieri, Michael Brecker, James Brown, Melba Moore, Nona Hendrix, Levon Helms, and Dan Hartman. His music has been been the underscore music for the television series Friends, the Smithsonian, PBS Nature series, and many television productions and jingles. Craig’s primary instrument is the vibraphone and he studied with Gary Burton at Berklee College of Music. A pioneer in the electric vibes instrument, Craig pushed boundaries in music and was an arranger with early sequencers.
MARTIN ROBINSON has been working with Sesame Street and The Jim Henson Company since 1981. Originally hired to play Aloysius Snuffleupagus, he also lends his talents to Telly Monster, Slimey the Worm, and many other characters. He has played an active role in hiring and training puppeteers for international Sesame Street co-productions and projects worldwide. Robinson’s stage credits include designing, building, and performing Audrey II in both the original Off-Broadway and Broadway productions of Little Shop of Horrors, and designing puppets for the Lincoln Center production of Frogs. He played The Cat in the Hat on the television show The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, performed the
animatronics for Leonardo in the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and was a featured performer on four seasons of the popular British satire Spitting Image. Other projects include designing and directing Night on Bald Mountain and Firebird in concert at Carnegie Hall. He has been on staff at the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference since 1991. In 2019 he wrote, designed and directed a NYC run of horror (comedy) musical All Hallows Eve with composer Paul Rudolph. A favorite recent character is Mr. Primm in the series Helpsters for Apple TV+. For the past three years he has collaborated with his wife Annie Evans on live theatrical plays designing and building puppetry elements. The first, Annika’s Elephants has had a three-week run at the New Victory Theater in NYC. The second, Sybil’s Ride celebrates a young girl’s 42-mile ride to muster the militia in 1777.
Margaret Roleke is a Brooklyn and Connecticut-based artist originally from Long Island, New York. She earned an M.F.A. from Long Island University, C.W. Post, and earned her bachelor of arts at Marymount Manhattan College. Working across textiles, sculpture, printmaking, and installation, her practice examines contemporary social and political issues, including gun violence, national identity, and systems of power. Roleke’s work has been exhibited nationally at venues including The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Katonah Museum of Art, Pen + Brush Gallery, and WhiteBox in New York City. In 2024, she received an Artist Respond Grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. In April 2025, her outdoor sculpture Tower was installed in Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem. In 2026, Roleke completed a ten-month artist-in-residence program at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, where she expanded her textile practice through embroidery, cyanotype, and sewn works on Kevlar. She has been awarded a 2027 residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado, where she will continue developing her interdisciplinary practice.OUR MODERATOR
BOB MARTY decided to be an artist after falling in love with Willem De Kooning’s paintings at age 14. He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in painting and took a job designing and building puppet characters for Sesame Street, including six Big Birds. As part of the same job, he also designed costumes, props, and sets for two George Balanchine ballets —Persephone and Symphony Pathetique — for the New York City Ballet. In 1985, he moved into television production and founded MPI Media Productions International. In the last 40 years, Marty has produced and directed programs for PBS, NBC, CBS, A&E, Discovery Health Network, BBC, the Hallmark Channel, and many others. His programs for PBS have helped raise an estimated $750 million and include some of the biggest hits in the network’s history including 22 Downton Abbey specials, 10 Ken Burns specials, eight Victor Borge specials and 50th anniversary specials celebrating Sesame Street, PBS NewsHour and Masterpiece Theater.