The Tip of the Rabbit Hole: A talk by Automata Maker Paul Spooner
About the talk
Join local automata maker Paul Spooner for an illustrated talk about his 40 years of making. Expect to see such works as: A Cat with a Wooden Leg, Gunfight at the Grassy Knoll, The Scary Dolls’ Hospital, Mozart’s Goat and Suddenly It’s Now, in addition to pieces commissioned by Falmouth Art Gallery over the Years. Paul will also share his notebooks with drawings that sometimes lead to the making of those objects.
Tickets holders for this free event will receive a complimentary tea or coffee on arrival.
About Paul Spooner
Paul was born in Lancashire 1948. He lived in Cyprus from 1956-9 and went to art schools in Lancaster and Cardiff. He took up the niche employment of automaton maker and worked in a cowshed in Stithians for the last 45 years.
Meeting Peter Markey in Falmouth, he found that, like him, he could sell his mechanical toys in Cabaret, the shop and exhibition run by Sue Jackson in High Street. Later Cabaret, now renamed ‘Cabaret Mechanical Theatre’ moved to Covent Garden and became well-known by automata enthusiasts beyond the UK.
They put on exhibitions, run workshops and sell automata made by Paul and other makers, a surprising number of whom operate in the area around Falmouth. Cabaret is now located in Hastings.
Paul has exhibitions pending in Aberdeen and Carlisle that include his machines. The Eden Project’s celebrates its 25th anniversary in March and the popular mechanical exhibit by Paul, ‘Plant Takeaway’, is being refurbished for the occasion.
