Pico’s Puppet Palace was established in the year 2016 by the talented duo of Sally Miller and Jesse Hamilton. Together, Sally and Jesse meticulously create a wonderful array of puppets and sets for Pico’s Puppet Palace, using various reclaimed, recycled, and repurposed materials sourced from their surroundings. Each performance unfolds as a captivating episode of Pico’s adventurous journey and introduces ecological and environmental issues, innovations, and ideas, making the utilization of these recycled materials not only practical but also perfectly aligned with the overarching ethos of the show. They employ these diverse mediums to produce both puppets and intricate sets, drawing upon their extensive experience in crafting with materials like glass, an assortment of repurposed fabrics from old toys or clothes, papier mâché, wood, plastic, metal, and numerous other found objects. Jesse’s extensive knowledge of mechanics and building techniques greatly informs their production of puppets featuring multiple moving parts, and Sally’s skill as an actor and physical performer enhances their ability to create vibrant and lifelike puppets that enthrall audiences, sparking curiosity and joy among both young children and adults alike. Their impressive range of puppets includes everything from full-body puppets and costumes to hand and rod puppets, sock puppets, and muppets, as well as mechanical sculptures that can be animated by the puppeteer, shadow puppetry, and even more forms of this enchanting art.

Pico’s Puppet Palace is designed to resonate perfectly with contemporary young audiences. The company tours not only nationally but also internationally, with the ambition of presenting their shows to diverse audiences all around the globe, connecting across generations through the artful combination of puppetry, live music, and storytelling.

In 2022, they were honored with the UNIMA Australia Lorrie Gardner Scholarship fund, enabling them to undertake a transformative residency in Indonesia with the esteemed Papermoon Puppet Theatre in Yogyakarta, where they also had the opportunity to perform at the renowned festival Pesta Boneka - ‘Seeds of Hope.’ They have toured extensively throughout Australia and Western Canada, performing at a variety of children’s festivals, schools, folk festivals, events, and libraries. Their creative projects have received significant financial support from both the BC Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts, further enabling their mission to inspire and entertain through puppetry.

Sally and Jesse also conduct engaging puppet-making workshops and interactive puppet manipulation workshops for children and adults alike. They have traveled widely across various communities to share their deep love for creating unique individual puppet characters from found materials. Additionally, they take pride in helping guide adults, especially in library settings, in mastering the art of storytelling through puppets, fostering creativity and imagination in all who participate.