About

Zoe P Wagner is a visual artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. Zoe P primarily works in relief printmaking and paper mache, with an emphasis on large-scale puppetry. Since 2024, they have worked with non-profits and community groups to create giant puppets for their movements, utilizing community-engaged research to help create symbols that share messages with a greater audience. They have started their own group, We the Species Puppet Collective, to bring together puppeteers, activists, and artists alike to build puppets for creative resilience in these times. Zoe P’s printmaking looks at the relationships between queerness, life, and death. Their work is often inspired by the natural environment and looks for the intersections of storytelling, mythology, and activism.

Resume
EDUCATION
Thingumajig Theatre – "Giant Puppet Paper Lantern Workshop" – Putney, VT
Workshop Participant | Oct 2025
The Evergreen State College – Olympia, WA
Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy & Ethics of Technology | Aug 2017 – Sep 2019

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
We The Species Puppet Collective – Occidental, CA
Founder, Community Organizer & Workshop Facilitator | Mar 2025 – Present        
•Established a collaborative network of artists, activists, and puppeteers to produce large-scale puppets for public actions and community events.                                                                                                                                                      
•Designed and led hands-on multi-month-long workshops for participants of all ages, fostering artistic skill-sharing and civic engagement.
Private Theater Event – Berkeley, CA
Prop Builder | Jun 2025  
•Designed and fabricated props for a special theatrical production, integrating sustainability and creative reuse practices.
Drawing on Earth – Oakland, CA
Teaching Chalk Artist | Mar 2025 – May 2025    
•Worked with 6,000 elementary school kids over the course of 3 months, creating large chalk drawings of animals on playgrounds.                                                                                                                                                 
Mural Artist | July 2025                                                                                                                                                     
•Helped design and paint public mural funded by Questa Arts Commission
This Puppet is Trash Workshop – Berkeley, CA
Workshop Facilitator | Feb 2025 – Mar 2025                                                                                     
•Developed a workshop that used recycled materials to create puppets, showing how “bad trash” can make for impactful activism.
•Taught over 50 participants the basics of large-scale puppetry, from brainstorming and designing, to building and  puppeteering.
Making Waves With Artists Collaborative – Salt Lake City, UT
Community Organizer & Puppet Builder | Oct 2024 – Jan 2025                    
•Collaborated with a local grassroots activist organization to create large-scale puppets to be used for advocacy of the environmental protection of the Great Salt Lake during legislative sessions at the Utah State Capitol.
•Organized supplies, material procurement, and budget spreadsheet for build.
•Designed and facilitated schedule for day of events, organizing around event goals, participant needs, and constraints.
•Led 40+ volunteers during community art build weekends, delegating tasks to participants and organizing stations to accommodate for a variety of accessibility, age, and proficiency needs.
•Documented step-by-step process of build to support the organization’s continuation of creation post event.
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center – “Chautauqua” – Occidental, CA
Puppeteer | Sep 2024
•Produced, directed, and starred in the opening act of a 20th annual vaudeville show with over 800 attendees.
•Taught performers the art of mask making, used in the final performance.
North Bay Jobs with Justice – Santa Rosa, CA
Puppet Builder | Jul 2024
•Collaborated with a social justice nonprofit to create a puppet to be used in celebration and demonstration for the advocacy of migrant farmworker rights in Sonoma County.
•Designed and built a 3-person, 20ft wide Acorn Woodpecker puppet that was highlighted on KQED and NPR’s social media. 
•Oversaw budget and material procurement for build. 

EXHIBITIONS & FELLOWSHIPS 
Bread and Puppet Theater – Glover, VT
Puppeteer Apprentice | Aug 2025 – Sep 2025
Queer Ancestors Project Exhibition – San Francisco, CA
Exhibiting Artist | Feb 2025 – Sep 2025
Queer Ancestors Project – San Francisco, CA
Printmaking Fellow | Aug 2024 – Dec 2024
Max’s Garage Press – “East Bay Print Sale” – Berkeley, CA
Participating Artist | Dec 2024
Two Cats Gallery – “Tiny” – El Cerrito, CA
Gallery Artist | Jun 2023
 email zoepwagner@gmail.com or fill out contact form
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