The Midnight Cat: Report

One of the beautiful shadow puppets
from "The Midnight Cat" This one is
by S. Melquist and M. Hoy.

A jewel thief known as the Midnight Cat led our six detective mages on a mouse and cat chase through the streets of London, the aisles of Les Puces de Saint-Ouen flea market in Paris and even back in time to the darkened halls of Le Chat Noir on closing day in 1897. It was a week full of secrets and ciphers--and this determined team tackled every code by hand! A very impressive display of code-breaking!

Favorite challenges of the week included the zany bird lady who imprisoned the zebra-finched Detectives (yes--zebra-finched is now an adjective describing the state of being turned into a zebra finch) in cages. She tried to sell them at Les Puces, but the birds were too clever. They played dead every time an admirer came to see them. Clever little bird claws reached for the keys, and soon the Detectives were ... de-zebra-finched!

The story took some unexpected turns, as our thief led the Detectives back in time to the closing day of Le Chat Noir. The artist Henri Rivière was able to shed some light on the reason our thief had stolen the Golden Cat amulet and the candelabra from the flea market.

Let's just say it wasn't good news. The Detectives entered the Shadow Realms to talk with the inhabitants of the prints made by Henri Rivière. Their beautiful shadow puppets may be seen in an album on the Dragon's Eye Facebook page along with the prints that inspired them. Their books of secrets and photos of the week's adventure are also on the page.



Sunrise in the Shadow Realms
Photo by Ike Voorhees, 2013

The Detectives found their journey leading to an ancient goddess of the sun, demoted to the status of a moon goddess and doomed to live out her life in the underworld. Fortunately for her, the Detectives had other ideas--and the sun rose again in her heart. All mysteries need not end in battle and even a red star can grow a tinge of gold.



Origin Maps for Terra Incognita

Origin map by Raphael Foye

I love entering uncharted waters with the Dragon's Eye detectives. This summer, Terra Incognita: The Unknown Lands brought us into new territory with an exploration of eight world tree myths. We had one basic art project for the entire week: The origin maps that each child constructed for the final challenge of the mystery.

We started with a map of the map--a plan that laid out the design of the book. The books trace each artist's journey from birth until today, with the center block representing either their birthplace or their earliest memory of place. The different branches of the book then follow the journeys from that place, with pockets to hold special memories, people, pets and other secrets that hold special meaning.

The books were stunning--and I'm so pleased to share pictures of them on the Dragon's Eye Ventures Facebook page. I've been imagining this project for almost five years now, slowly working on the ideas behind the case and testing different ways of making the bookmaking accessible. So it was deeply satisfying to see the group's enthusiasm and commitment to the project.

Most satisfying was the final game, where the individuals each shared their book with the others. The attention the group gave to one another was wonderful to see--and the books were truly stunning as they unfolded in such interesting and varied ways.