Anatar Gagné: Widow Bunny

Exhibition Dates: June 29 - August 10, 2025   

Opening Reception: June 29, 1-3pm

The Ely Center of Contemporary Art is pleased to present “Widow Bunny”, a solo exhibition in our Flat File gallery. “Widow Bunny” is a heartfelt documentation of puppeteer Anatar Gagné’s grieving process after she unexpectedly lost her husband, Dave Gagné, last year.

“On August 15, 2024 my husband was killed in a motorcycle accident. My world was torn apart and life as I knew it ended. My late husband, Dave Gagné was known for his antics, among many other things. He had a pink bunny costume that he had been wearing for over 20 years for Halloween and sometimes he’d use it to crash a party or a wedding. I decided to wear the pink bunny costume while I eulogized him and “Widow Bunny” was born.”
-Anatar Gagné

Anatar M. Gagné/PINNED & SEWTURED Director, designer and puppet theatre artist is originally from Caracas, Venezuela. She holds a MFA in Puppet Arts from the University of Connecticut, and a BA in English/ Creative Writing from Hunter College. Her strong background in art, dance, writing, fiber and fabrication all come together seamlessly with her love for puppetry. She has trained at the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, designed puppets for The Dramatic Question Theater, Yale, Hartford Symphony, Boston Pops and Glass Half Full Theaters "Maebelle's Suitcase/La Maleta de Maebelle" where she was nominated for outstanding puppetry design by B. Iden Payne Awards in 2024. In 2023 she won 1st place in community impact at Nor'Easters 25th video Festival Alliance for Community media for the "Superhero Within." She has performed in slams all over the country, and has toured her full length show Calle Allende, a puppet theater production inspired by a journal entry in Frida Kahlo’s Diary. The show explores themes of pain, inspiration and infertility- all themes that became very personal in her own life. She is the proud recipient of a Jim Henson Workshop grant for “Sueños”. She is the founder and curator of The Pinned & Sewtured Puppet Cabaret and is proudly supported by the Puppet Slam Grant Foundation. Anatar was the Workshop Chair for the 2023 Puppeteers of America National Puppet Festival which had bilingual workshops for the first time and sits on the board of Puppeteer of America Board of Directors. Her newest project "Widow Bunny" explores grief through self portraits.