Rae Hawkins is a multidisciplinary artist, puppeteer, and designer from Chicago. Her work expresses her passions for neurodiversity, sustainability, and creativity through immersive sensory art. Rae is the art enrichment teacher at LilyPad Montessori Preschool and she has taught puppetmaking and design at CCT for multiple camps. Her design credits include the set of Blues For an Alabama Sky (dir. Ericka Ratcliff) and the puppets in Pshitter! (dir. Yasen Penyakov) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, her alma mater. Rae also teaches and performs puppetry with the youth at her church. When she’s not lesson planning or thrifting for materials, she’s often buried under her weighted blanket.