By ROBIN CAUDELL
PLATTSBURGH — Blue-tongued flames flickered in the wood stove of artist Jeff Cochran's Fox Hill Studio.
An overcast day, rain hung in the air.
Behind, above and at his feet was the output of his 30-year synthesis of comparative cosmologies, translated into brilliant cardboard pageantry for Saturday's Earth Day Puppet Parade.
Now, Cochran and Kim LeClair, event coordinator/artist, wait.
They wait to see if 40 people show up, like last year, to make the puppets rise.
They also wait on the weather. If it rains, the event is canceled, due to the puppets' fragility.
If Saturday is rain-free, then people are invited to meet at 10:30 a.m. at Fox Hill Studio, 11A Elizabeth St. in Plattsburgh, to get oriented to one of Cochran's fantastic creations, which include gigantic crows and wry environmental and social commentary, such as the "Mac-Cro, Mic-Cro and Me-Cro" units and "The White Guise."
At noon, the Puppet Parade sets forth and engages in what he calls "poems in motion," ending at Trinity Park.
"It's just a beautiful thing to have people get together and be thankful for all the Earth provides for us," Cochran said.
"We do the parade, and in a few places along the parade route, we form circles and give thanks and dance on."
It's communal fun with global ripples.
"Though we all live in bio-regions, we pretty much know we are on one Earth now and have a sense of being of one eco-sphere, more than at any time I have been alive."
Factors include mainstream awareness of global warming and the recognition of human's ever-increasing demands on a taxed planet.
Cochran will don his wearable island, a Garden of Eden-esque construction riffed with diverse cosmological elements.
This year, he has created several complementary puppets to form a train of acorn people, apple people, flower people and regular people.
"A lot of the puppets come out of how other cultures and our culture honor our interdependent relationship with the sun, moon, Earth and stars."
Thankfulness is the context of Saturday's parade, viewed through an artful content.
"Today, I feel humans feel less connected, and it's not even that they know what is happening to them," said LeClair, whose new puppet is "Mother Time."
Saturday, people can tune out their iPods, cells and Internet and tune in to each other.
"We're constantly amused by these little gadgets, and less and less people find themselves gathering with others to do something meaningful," LeClair said.
The parade crosses the Saranac River footbridge, travels down Rugar Street to Cornelia Street and ends at the Farmers Market pavilion.
"The key is it's not where 'I go and see it,'" LeClair said. "This is where you come and be part of it.
"Kids are welcome. There are costumes for everybody. Just bring your spirit."
E-mail Robin Caudell at: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com
