Heidi Rugg is a interdisciplinary artist and teaching artist with over 25 years experience as a puppetry artist, storyteller, maker, designer, and playwright. She is the director of Barefoot Puppet Theatre, a touring company based out of Richmond, Virginia, that has been touring shows since 1997. As a puppet builder, Rugg has been working to transform her creative practice to one that is more sustainable using materials that are as eco-friendly as possible. Her puppet creations are made using wool, papier-mache, and repurposed materials whenever possible. The puppets for her newest show, "New Squid on the Block," are about 95% biodegradable with the exception of slinkies and some adhesives -- with hot glue being the current bane of her creative practice.As a teaching artist for over 20 years, Rugg leads master class workshops in puppet building and manipulation. She is on the teaching artists roster for the Virginia Commission for the Arts and a teaching artist with Wolf Trap's Greater Richmond Cohort. Rugg has worked with all ages and has a special passion for arts integration and support those working on the climate crisis. Rugg continues to further her own studies with renown master artists around the world. Rugg’s work has been supported by grants from The Henson Foundation, Puppeteers of America, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Arts. In 2005, Heidi Rugg received an UNIMA-Citation of Excellence, the highest American award for puppetry, for her original work, “Galapagos George.”