A walking tour of the set design for "Little Women"

Yay for the set of "Little Women" being done!!!

Normally I share stills from the set design but thought you all might like to see it a little bit more in real-time with a walking tour of not only the set but also of the performing arts center at high school where I teach. The facility is really amazing and beautiful and I feel blessed every day that I come to work because of the facilities alone. Add my administration and faculty and staff coworkers to that mix and it makes me believe even that much more that I have the best job ever.

Anyway, enough of me bragging on my dream job. On with the tour...



 Sorry this was done in portrait orientation. I took the video with my phone and it didn't even occur to me to rotate the phone in order to have a perspective that would make a little bit more sense. Clearly I should not call myself an artist of motion picture with the job I did with this. Also, in case you were wondering, I edited the video (added transitions and all) with iMovie.

It's that time again :: Set Design :: Little Women - Fall 2013

Don't forget to enter the "Giving YOU the good stuff" (from Prang) fine-line marker giveaway by this coming Thursday, October 31st, at midnight HERE in the comments section. This isn't sponsored by Prang and is something that I just wanted to do because I like the Prang products so much after using them.

Remember: You don't have to tweet anything or follow me on any social networking conduits. 

Just answer the question in the blog posting HERE in the corresponding comments section and I will pick a winner randomly and announce it on Friday, November 1st! Good luck to you in winning it the prize!

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One of my major responsibilities annually is handling the artistic direction of some of the major

dramatic performance productions at my school. While this used to just entail set painting and dressing and prop creation and making, it's also become an even bigger task because I sometimes even draw up set plans for the faculty directors/producers/set building crews as informed by multiple meetings and "visions" that any involved might have for the finished show. This is what the aforementioned looks like...

Behind the Music(als) :: Hairspray :: Asterisks EVERYWHERE!!!

One of the final touches to the Hairspray set was something that (in retrospect) maybe should have/could have been done first. *shrug* Live and learn, I guess.

If it's not ridiculously obvious already, one of the major graphic themes of the whole design of this production has been the use of the asterisk. When the directors/producers initially sat down with me to discuss everything one of the first things that was mentioned as very important was the fact that they really liked and wanted to include the "star" (which was an asterisk) as a unifying element throughout the show. I obliged them because what difference does it make to me, right? As a matter of fact, the fact that they had something decided upon like this actually makes it easier for me because I don't have to come up with a number of options only to present them all to them and then have them be rejected and me have to just keep starting over and over again.

That being said, the venue where we put on our shows is a bit of an open space type of a performance art center where there is no curtain and so this means that while it's idea for choral and instrumental music performances, for dramatic and performance arts? It's pretty much a major issue. The way we always deal with it though is to use gigantic mobile flats as a way to section off the stage so there is a backstage (of sorts) since a curtain can't be closed for scene/set change purposes. These flats are used over and over and OVER again for just about every performance we do and while they work for what they are supposed to do? They are a pain to deal with because painting 15-18 foot flats - like, 10-12 of them - is a pain. I mean really.

For the set design of this production, they were all painted different colors from the (mostly) open and very bright palette picked out for the show initially. But the way they work for this show is they were supposed to stay stationary almost the whole time and serve as a backdrop for the whole show so it's not like they could be painted like Baltimore row homes - THANK GOODNESS!!! - or otherwise. To keep them as generic as possible we just used their flat painting and then put clusters of asterisks in contrasting colors all over them to keep things looking minimal and clean but at the same time intentional.

This was the last thing we did for the show because after all of the other snafus that happened, I just didn't want to deal with asterisks everywhere that seemingly would take me forever to do since it was only myself and one other person who were left to do it AND each cluster took two coats of paint for them to actual look presentable - the bright color palette required multiple coats for full coverage. By Wednesday of last week I had only just started the process of asterisking everything and it become very clear that I would barely be able to make it by Friday's opening night especially considering the fact that during full dress rehearsals I was told I couldn't be on the stage in order to paint. I basically begged for mercy from my colleagues and a select few students who I KNEW could pull off on-the-fly painting of these asterisks - meaning, there would be no sketching of the designs by me or anyone else and just plain straight paintings and GETTING. IT. DONE. - and that's exactly what was able to happen all day Thursday during the school day.

My department head (who was the set producer) stepped in and covered two classes and then three other coworkers stepped in and either covered my classes OR flat out excused the four students from class who are probably the most dependable students in the whole school. Amazingly, the flats all got asterisked and by the time the bell rang last Thursday, the set dressing was DONE and I was amazed.

 I would show you a panoramic view of the whole stage but I wasn't able to do that before I left last Thursday because I had to skip out as soon as the bell rang to get my daughter some place for an activity of hers! I will be able to get one up here at some point though so you can see the whole view of the stage.

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray :: The Corny Collins desk

I pretty much had very little labor invested in this piece until the very very end. Just the same? It was a bit of a pill to deal with for the two lovely art students who took it on. The desk was built by the set builders and then it was painted by some parents who basically have spent the entire last month painting everything and then the individual letters were designed and then hand-cut from foam core board by two very dependable art students in order to echo the original design of the Corny Collins desk.

The major issue with this piece is the fact that this piece was discussed as one that wouldn't be used and would be dismantled and rebuilt because it was questionnably too large to use in the show. This means that the girls ended up making the lettering and then it was shared with us that that work might have really been done for nothing.  o_O

In the end, it was decided that there wasn't enough time to scrap the desk and we were actually able to go forth as planned. But amidst all of this? One of the L's got damaged/lost so the lettering couldn't be affixed until that issue was corrected and then when all was said and done and we thought we were ready to put the letters on? It was discovered that we still needed the words 'the' and 'show' to bookend the lettering. *ARGH!!!! IT WAS LIKE A NEVERENDING BATTLE!!!!!*

When I realized the aforementioned I took it to Google Image searches and realized that we could get away with two small signs in black/white and not have to bother with cutting out little letters like the big letters. I got two scrap pieces of foam core board and tried FOUR TIMES to make little signs that said 'the' and 'show' with a sharpie marker but for whatever reason I made them too small or too big or too messy/far from the style of the big letters. Then I just sat there being mad for a little while and thought, "Why in the world don't I just make them in Microsoft word and then paste them to foam core board and call them done?" So I did just that! And within 10 minutes the whole thing was DONE and it actually even looked kind of awesome despite all of the strife involved with the process of it. One of the big lifesavers was the fact that I could just staple the letters as you see them arranged and so there was barely any fuss getting them all on there finally.

Tomorrow I will show you the final touches of the set that only happened because I basically spent a whole work day painting with hand-selected VERY dependable students while several of my colleagues covered my classes (very last minute!) and the whole process ultimately landed me home for a very legitimate sick-day last Friday.

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray :: The classic Baltimore front stoop

If you've never seen/heard of/are familiar with the show Hairspray you might not know that the setting is in Baltimore, Maryland. Ever been there before? It's actually quite a charming place enough place and I don't say that because I lived there for about a decade before I found my way to this phase of my career and life.

Anyway, some things about Baltimore and the 60s (when the show took place) are that in that time frame, living in the city you were likely to live in a row house that was probably in a very bright color combination and your steps had to be "bright white" because it was considered to be somewhat of a status symbol so much that every Sunday (I learned this from a Baltimore native) people would be out scrubbing their steps to ensure they would be as bright and white as possible. /end painfully brief and poorly presented local history lesson

One of the major props that was used in the show was something of a mobile setting piece (I don't know what to call it) where Tracy Turnblad was supposed to perch herself for maybe even a minute and a half - seriously! That's all the time you see it for as labor intensive as it was! #facepalm - and it was supposed to look like the classic Baltimore row home front stoop.

The set builders used a very narrow flat on casters (there would be something on the reverse side that I will show you tomorrow) and then built a small staircase to imitate front door stairs. My job was to make the empty flat look as much like a front door as possible. What would have been easiest and most realistic would have been for us to just acquire a front door and just affix it to the flat (it didn't have to open) but for the minute and a half that it be seen? Well... probably a lot of money would have been spent for not much time for it to be seen. But then, when you equate time to money? Well, I spent HOURS on detailing this flat from the brick effect painting to the faux metal outer door to the awning frame that was built by the set builders to the canvas that I stapled to the frame and then stretched with gesso and then painted and trimmed to imitate a real awning? Well... *phew* I don't know. I almost would have just bought a daggone real door to save myself a little time. *shrug*

Just finished the faux brick work and old metal door that I still feel like I could have done a better job on but whatever. See the awning frame? Still needs to be canvas covered.

The awning frame is finally covered with canvas I had laying about the art room. Gessoed it with one coat so it stretched a little more nicely and then painted it orange and blue (to keep with the classic bright color palette of the Baltimore row houses) and then I trimmed the edge of the awning to make it seem like it was always supposed to be like that.

And finally it's done! And the finishing touch was faux flowers in some plastic terracotta looking pots that I gorilla glued down to the corners of the steps. Doesn't that make it look more welcoming? I would definitely want to come home to this front door for sure! And the steps got two good coats of fresh white paint to make them look crisp and clean despite the fact that the instagram effect does not show that so well.

There is another side of this flat that looks like an aerial view of Tracy's bed - this opens the show - but it's not as exciting or was as labor intensive as the front door side you see above. I will show you the bed side tomorrow.

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray :: Propping up the show

One major-ish task on my list of tasks to take care of was to make labels for the "fog in a can" props that would stand-in nicely for real spraying hairspray cans. For whatever reason I seriously put off this item for as long as possible despite the fact that it was probably the simplest and (in turn) most gratifying thing of all of the things I was supposed to do.

The finished cans of "Ultra Clutch" labeled and ready for the show!

As you can see, the finished labels look pretty much like the giant can I previously shared. For whatever reason I got it in my head that labeling these cans would be a real pain in the rear so I think that's why I put off doing them for so long. Then it occurred to me - much like most other things I was trying to do and failing miserably at - that I was really overthinking things and pretty much working harder and not smarter. And with that I sat down, gave myself a pep talk and realized that I should just use digital illustrations I already had from the poster design I created and then bend and twist that into what you see above! The power of digital illustration is amazing isn't it? I was able to cut my workflow in half if not even less than that and voila! I had hairspray can labels cohesive to the design work already established for the show and then all I had to do was size them accordingly, peel off the original labeling and then paste them on to look like they had always been like to begin with.

And because I like to share and am all about helping others to NOT reinvent the wheel, if you are in need of Ultra Clutch hairspray can prop labels, here is what I printed off and used in the aforementioned photo. If it works for your needs? Please feel free to use it. Just click on it to enlarge it and then right-click it to save it for you to print off as you like.

This is a jpg version but I have a psd version and if you want it please just ask and I will email it to you!

BTW - if these Hairspray updates/this series is boring you, I'm sorry. *shrug* This is basically what has been ruling my life these days but with the show opening up this past Friday and closing next Saturday, I promise there won't be very much more of this for very much longer. Thanks for your patience and humoring me if this alone is changing your mind about frequenting/reading this blog that otherwise about art education.

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray :: The REAL star of the show

So here's a little trivia question for you:

What do highways and the musical I am currently working on have in common?

...

...

...

Give up?

OK. I'll tell you. The answer is: a SONOTUBE.

If you don't care to click through the link above to find out what a sonotube is, let me just tell you that it's a gigantic form used in highway, bridge, and building construction to pour giant concrete pillars. Pretty cool, eh? But what in the world could we possibly use something like that for in a musical production, right?

Well, let me clue you in with a picture of the sonotube that we have been using in action...

Does it closely resemble anything to you? How about a giant sort of something that might be a real centerpiece type prop for the production of Hairspray that we are doing. How about a giant HAIRSPRAY CAN?

Ah yes! Now you see it, right? *high five*

I am extraordinarily blessed to work at a school where we have quite a very well developed, established, accomplished, and respected performance art program. There are some families that actually send there kids to my school because of the performance arts even! Because of that, we have talented kids out the wazoo and parents and their families who are very VERY committed to supporting the performance art dreams and aspirations of their kids. The great blessing that comes with that is that we have quite a bit of students whose parents have their own contracting and construction companies and every year there is some family that steps up to help spearhead the building of the incredibly elaborate sets that I am so blessed to be able to adorn and decorate and we are able to use to showcase the performances more incredibly.

This year with Hairspray we knew that one of the big main pieces of the set would be a giant hairspray can that one of the characters would be able to actually climb into and pop out of in the finale. Research was done for pre-production to determine how it would happen that we would have a convincingly real giant hairspray can but ultimately we ended up going the way of the sonotube when the brilliant set engineer and builder parent spearheading things this year suggested it. Add a circular pond liner found at any home improvement super store and a white plastic bucket sans the metal handle? And voila! We've got the most realistic giant hairspray can you could possibly imagine encountering in real life!!! Here it is in the process of being hand painted by yours truly...

As you can see, it opens up french door-style for the purposes of popping out and surprising the audience.

Two students helped me to prime and roller paint everything on the ground and I did everything that required major climbing of the ladder. I also hand lettered and and painted all of the embellishments.

I put the bucket "nozzle" back on top before I left today. It's not securely affixed because decisions are still being made for the purposes of a special effects to help assist in making a BIG finish happen at the end of the show.

I don't remember the original dimensions of the sonotube but I would say that the finished hairspray can from base to nozzle is well over 15 feet tall. It is also on casters that are hidden at the base where there is a recessed floor made of planked plyboard.  The can is mostly finished and the only thing left is for me to finish painting the asterisk pattern all the way around the sides to the back. The goal with the painting of it was to adhere as closely as possible to the can designed for all of the printed materials of the show and I think I managed to do that pretty well. My department head/the director originally thought I would put the wig design on the label but the original Hairspray production uses the Ultra Clutch brand name and so that made more sense to me and when people saw it like that instead of having the wig, everyone was more than pleased.

We keep saying that we don't know what we are going to do with this thing once the show is over because we have no place to store it whatsoever. There is major discussion (that is probably going to happen) about selling it to another theater company once we are done with it but I will tell you something, I secretly wish I had the space at my house to take it home with me. Seriously. I would TOTALLY put it in my house and upholster the inside and make it some weird hideaway in a corner of my house. I have always had a secret obsession with anything that might be unusually small or unreasonably large and this giant hairspray can? Well, it totally fits the bill for something that I would LOVE to call my own for the rest of my days. *sigh* So, despite the fact that it was like the dickens to paint, well... I (now not so) secretly loved every moment of it!!! I mean seriously? Even before it was painted I would look at it and it would just make me chuckle in a totally non-conspicuous way and then I would just feel all smiley and happy inside. And if I had something in my house like that? Well now - if I ever was having a bad day? Surely it would be swiftly quelled with just a glance of the gigantic hairspray can taking up space in my living room and if that wasn't enough I could crawl inside of it and I would probably feel better almost immediately. (How weird do you all think I am now? I don't care. I DON'T EVEN CARE!!!)

*sigh*

So, perhaps you have some serious cash to buy this off of my school's theater department once we are done with it. I'll let you all know when it goes on sale! ;) Just promise me that if you do end up buying it, you take care of this sweet giant baby with all of the TLC you have for the rest of your life.

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray :: Promo posters

The promo posters has turned out pretty well, don't you think?

So I previously shared with you all what the general graphic design would be for the annual musical production would look like at least in its working stages and I am happy to report that it was approved - not only by the directors and producers of the production - but also by the governing organization of musicals (who provide us with the materials for the musical) themselves! One of my colleagues who also does graphic design and handles a major amount of the performance arts goings-about here took the core design that I was able to pull together and the above is the official poster for the production! Hurrah!!! One more thing down!!!

The graduated color and the pink and white writing work well for it I think and the general design (colors, layout, etc.) is also going to inform both the ticket design - this year is the first one we are doing a vertical design for the ticket - as well as the roadside banner that will be staked out at the school's entrance gates.

I will try and share the ticket designs when I finally get to see them as well as the roadside banner and then also the tweaked t-shirt design when it is finally printed and shipped in next week sometime. Until then? I am working over this coming long weekend on the actual set of the production. There is a TON to be painted, detailed, and still constructed yet. An art teacher's work is just never done! (Good thing I love my job so much and I would do all of this anyway. *wink*)

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray

Sorry I missed you all yesterday! I had a sick day because I had to go to a sort urgent doctor's appointment but thankfully I checked out OK so here I am! And today I bring you the design process and (mostly) finished graphic that we will be using for the Hairspray production...

If you didn't know, part of my job is teaching digital design and art as much as it is teaching traditional studio design and art. I teach two semester classes of this - one focusing on Photoshop and the other focusing on Illustrator - and because of my know-how for both design platforms, I have become a bit of an in-house (read: and too many times to count last minute) graphic designer for things at times. *sigh* I have a love-hate relationship with this sort of thing for all of the most obvious reasons.

For the purposes of Hairspray, there was never a plan for me to do the design work and the goal was to have a very talented senior graphic design student do it. Then all of the craziness of January happened and all of the best laid plans that were made (to have it be student created) went out the proverbial window. Thankfully, there was just enough time for me to be able to do it and I had enough information from the student in addition to a rough digital draft of what she had planned to do that I still feel like it would be fair enough to call this a collaborative effort.

Now before I go looking like some rockstar graphic designer, please know that the design work of this was not entirely my own! As I said before, the original student designer had a specific idea in mind to have a hairspray can as a central part of the design. The asterisks were something that were specifically requested by the faculty director and producer of the show so that they could be a graphic element that was seen throughout the set designs. The classic wig and "cut-out"-style lettering are supposed to be an obvious nod back to the original design of Hairspray. In terms of the actual elements I used, I did not originate all of them myself. The hairspray can was actually a generic vector file that was editable and I bought it for about $5. I mean, I suppose I could have made it but when I was in the midst of figuring out how I would do it, I stumbled upon the vector image and figured why not just save myself what would have been a few hours of work and buy it. I mean if time is money, my time that would have been hours long is certainly worth a measly five bucks that would allow me to call it DONE. And so? That's what I did. Why reinvent the wheel right?

In terms of the color palette, I tried my best to adhere as much as possible to the color palette that we picked for the show (seen previously in a posting last week) and I also tried to pick colors that would work together to make each other pop. Case in point: the background of the logo is purple (it's supposed to be representative of the official t-shirt that the design will be printed on) and the spray represented by the triangle is yellow.

Overall, I am pretty satisfied with this piece and it has gone over well for the most part. I did do some slight tweaks to it - so what you see up there on the right is not final - but I will show you the final design once it gets back from the t-shirt printers as well as showing you how the design was also put on promo posters, the roadside banner, and the tickets and front cover of our "playbill" once all of everything is printed and delivered in a few weeks.

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray

Hello! Welcome to February and welcome to the season of my life that is always the Spring musical.

As I have previously shared, things have been very busy for me and this is due in large part to the fact that at this time of year I am in the throes of musical production work. Before I came to my current teaching position I had limited experience in this realm but even in that I enjoyed it very much. I really love most any of the fine arts and though I can't act or sing in front of an audience worth a darn and I much MUCH prefer to always be behind the scenes and/or the cameras, I still enjoy being a part of the arts that is dramatic and performance arts if I can help it. Thankfully, the Lord God knows this well of me and He has placed me in a position where I can fully experience it and really have the time of my life.

As things go in the time that I have been in my teaching job, I serve (basically) as the creative and visual artistic director/coordinator/consultant for most every stage production that my school does. My department head is actual a drama and theater teacher by training and she and I have developed a wonderful working relationship together in order to bring some of the awesome performance art productions to fruition.

At this point I have a very significant amount of experience helping in production with a pretty large amount of shows that my school has done where I have either helped to solely or collaboratively originate set designs, props, and sometimes even conceptualizing the actual direction (visually) of how a performance art piece will take and be presented/"packaged" - so exciting to be in this part of the production especially since basically I sometimes get to help decide how it will all be packaged!!! My experience so far includes the following stage productions:

• Godspell
• Diary of Anne Frank
• Sound of Music
• The Crucible
• A handful of choral/band performances and student life events (like prom) that regularly occur every year and require design work for programs/printed materials

 Anyway, this year the Spring musical is HAIRSPRAY!!!! And as we say with nearly ever production that we do? This one is going to be bigger than everything we have ever done before.

Now, usually, I will present some portion (at least) of the set design and general production work of any of the performance art pieces I have had a stake in but this time? I figured I should do a bit of a blog series documenting how and what I do with all of this. I (of course) have no preconceived idea of how long it will go - meaning I have no clue how many installments there will be OR what the general schedule for posting them will be so it will seem very scattered at times - but there definitely WILL be an end date once the show premieres on March 1st. (Cannot believe it's less than a month away!!!)

Anyway, I am affectionately calling this series "Behind the Music(al)" as a play on that ol' documentary series on (the now defunct?) channel VH-1 called "Behind the music." And for today's behind the scenes look? I bring you the color picking process that I have been enduring!!!

For me, the color picking process is almost always the most fun stage of the pre-production and creative process.

Color picking is a HUGE deal for every show we do because my director, producer, and set building cohorts insist that I am better at doing this than any of them AND little to nothing can really happen unless we have the right colors to begin with. And so? One of the keys to kickstarting any production is me getting the colors picked.

The way it usually works is this:

1. Have multiple conversations with director/producer(s) about what they are envisioning OR collaborate with them to establish a "vision" for what/how it should all look - especially if we (collectively) do not agree with the general ways that it has already been done by other either because we don't like it or just plain want to do something different.
2. I will draft up and/or study all sorts of documentation - including pre-fab plans and images from my director that she bought the rights to use for us to even do the show to begin with, doing Google image searches of what other schools/performance companies have already done - and then from there I will usually always know the general palette that should end up being selected.
3. I will physically go to local "super stores" of home improvement like Lowe's and/or Home Depot as well as looking at the prices and color palette offerings of theater set design/supplies companies like Roscoe brand theater paints. This allows me to collect prices (for budgeting purposes) and then also physically collect color swatches that can be given to the director, producer, set builders, and costuming crew so that everything is cohesive visually with color.
4. All of the individuals above either approve or disapprove of what I have picked and it's either back to step one of the color picking  process or on with the rest of production!

It is a rare thing that I ever have to go back to step one from step four unless it's an issue of the directors/producers/set/costume folks decide (separate from me) that the vision we originally had will not work and the idea needs to be totally reworked. And if/when this sort of thing happens? Well, it's usually not during a time when the work I have done with color picking has even happened yet.

Anyway, I will be sharing other stuff (than this) with you all but just wanted to get some new content up here finally and also give you a peek at what is ahead and to come! It's good to be back and I will see you next week. *high five*

The crucible of painting for The Crucible

Yesterday was my first day back to school after two days of cancellations for Hurricane Sandy and I ended up having to ditch out on almost all of my classes because of set painting for The Crucible.

(-__-)

Well... I didn't really ditch out on all of them, some of them I were drafted to join me in the endless pursuit of dry brushing every surface to make it look like distressed wood grain. Also, my department head covered some of my classes (like study hall) and I took some of her students in addition to some of the ones I had and drafted them into painting as well.

TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!

The official shirts for this production are so choice. Praise the Lord for a marketing and design team that shares the same vision as I do by doing things stylistically in a minimalist fashion and VERY WELL at that. 

As it turns out, we have sort have been doing what we've been doing wrong and after much contemplation, I am going to try and turn this set building ship on a dime and lighten up the wall panels so they look more like the three separate vertical planes (on each side) that we wanted them to be to begin with. It just makes more sense that way!

I was sitting back in the sound booth and it just occurred to me that it should be done but rather than being the killjoy and telling the students, "OK... we are going to have to do at least two more... MAYBE three... more rounds of dry brushing to light the value on some specific sections."

Before I made them all do it, I took a picture with my phone and then burned and dodged it in photoshop to have an actual example of what we were going to be doing when we changed it all up. I say: Work SMARTER not HARDER!! 

This might be the most frustrating and rewarding set design and painting I've done so far. It was conceptualized to be as original as possible - though the two faculty directors/producers did cull and give me inspiration images to (literally) draw the set designs from. The craziness that was Hurricane Sandy has definitely set us all back a little but Lord-willing we will make this all happen and it WILL be AWESOME.

Ready, set, PAINT!!! | Set Design for "The Crucible"

The one thing that holds true for my job as a teacher of visual arts is that I never ever EVER have a boring day at work! The thing that is making my days exciting these days? Well, it's the set design and building for the annual Fall play. Last year my school did The Diary of Anne Frank and this year we're doing "The Crucible."

As with all things set design and building, time is of the essence and even when I work hard with my teammates (the faculty advisors, directors, and producers) and don't actually procrastinate and leave things to the last minute, it just seems like "crunch time" happens and I have to toss my daily lesson plans in order to facilitate things like set painting. That's pretty much what happened yesterday.

The view from the stage among the paint cans, paintbrushes, and sound equipment for our weekly chapel service.

While I will never voluntarily put myself front and center on stage, in front of the big bright lights for performance purposes, I will almost ALWAYS volunteer to be a part of the behind-the-scenes creative process of making the big performances happen. Last year we worked with some stage plans in order to create the set we had but this year? Well... the set design was kind of composited and maybe even improvised a little.

One thing I learned (from my department head and faculty director/producer/advisor for all things performance arts) is that the most successful set designs derive from the perspective of the protagonist of the piece being performed. For "The Crucible," I worked with the other two faculty advisors/directors/producers in order to conceptualize the inspiration for the set design. The inspiration was that the set would look like a rogue/alternate universe/reality that was minimalist and uncomfortable by how it made you feel when you look at it. (Does any of that make sense? I am terrible with explaining things with words sometimes. Obviously.)

Anyway, the creative direction (for the set) was established and then I sat and literally drew up the abstract ideas they had (the two faculty advisors) into a visual representation/plan that the set building team then took and turned into reality! So impressive that they took what I was only told to draw (which was pretty abstract) and then turned it into something real. Here are some sneak peeks of the different parts of the set at the students are painting and "dressing" it...

And at the end of day one this is what I looked like in all of my beautiful MESSY glory. Why paint with the paint you have been given to paint with when you can WEAR the paint you have been given to paint with. I guess you could say I truly get into my work and want to blend in with my surroundings...

The crazy thing about me being so a heavily painted is that this is not abnormal for me even on a regular basis outside of play season. I am pretty much always a walking mess OR a mess waiting to happen. *shrug* Such is life as an art teacher!

We have just barely a week to wood grain and detail every surface of the set and it might be the most back breaking style of effect painting I think I might ever have to do for the rest of my career as an art teacher/set designer and maker. It's all worth it though. I really do think so.

Set Design: The scenes of the sights of The Sound of Music

It's been just less than a week since the production for Sound of Music closed and the pictures you see below are all that is left of the set. As it is par for the course of things around here, the set is taken apart/down and disposed of (or stored in the case of certain pieces being able to be used again) immediately following the last show of the production's run. 

I have yet to be a part of the disassembling of any of the sets I have helped design and produce because doing that requires me to come to the last show of the run. I usually go to one of the first showings for two reasons - 1) I don't want to be a part of the "calling out" for thank yous where the cast/crew is asked to come up on the stage and be spotlighted and 2) I think it would be kind of traumatic for me to be a part of the tearing a part of the set and I would just rather not be a part of it. (Seriously.)

Anyway, here are some of the pictures I took for portfolio purposes - both for my own and for some of the students who really took the initiative to be a part of the set painting...

One single sophomore student did the majority of the mountain range work. The pine trees at the base of the mountains were done collectively by all of the visual art classes leading up to opening night.

A view of the whole mountain range taken from the audience.

Standing on the stage and looking left of the mountain range.

Standing on the stage and looking right.

Standing on the stage and looking at the center portion of the mountains.

The modular/folding archways in front of the mountain ranges were meant to suggest the inside of the Von Trapp family's  estate. 

This is a closer view of the back wall that is the staircase of the Von Trapp family estate. The columns are cardboard and wood and painted to imitate marble.

These are large arches that are supposed to represent the abbey of the nunnery . They were  texture painted to resemble brick/stone using sea sponges and dry brush technique.

Would love to take the credit for this but all I did was order the material for it. My lovely colleague at the lower school made four different faux stained glass windows collaboratively with a 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 5th grade class. They used an acrylic sheet called Dura-lar for the support. After they finished designing/painting it, we cut it out and then stapled it to the wood frame. We also covered it with matte mod podge to reduce the glare that occurred when the stage lights hit it.

A small stained glass window that was supposed to be seen in Mother Superior's abbey office.

I had such a good time doing the artistic direction for this production (as I always do no matter how much I fuss about it) and I learned so much! My biggest lesson was this: the students I work with can and should be saddled with an immense more responsibility than I ever permit myself to give them. Seriously! The student leadership I saw emerge and the ridiculous TALENT (more than anything) was just unfathomable at times. 

This production was my third one being a part of added to Godspell and the Diary of Anne Frank. Not sure what next year's big plans will be but I hear it might be Hairspray. We'll see!

Set Design: The Sound of Music

Hard to believe but all of the visual art efforts for set design for the school's production of the Sound of Music are just about done!!!

A view from my favorite seats of the balcony. Best seat in the house (if you ask me)!!!

Earlier this week the lower school art teacher dropped off a MAJOR part of the set design: the faux stained glass panels.

Here they are lying in wait to be stapled into the standing window frames.

Here they are lightly coated in matte modge podge because though they were so pretty when they were so shiny, the stage lights bouncing off of them were blinding the audience members. I <3 Modge Podge!!! (But only the matte kind because the gloss kind is sticky and gross.)

One of my biggest personal challenges is the fact that I am terrible at delegating things. The fact of the matter is I have no issue sharing the "glory" or fun of whatever might need to be done but usually I end up swamped with things at any given time because I think so much within myself that it never occurs to me to ask for help. *shrug* What can I say? I'm working on it.  Thankfully, the Lord has been very provident and understanding and has provided me with amazing learning opportunities to learn both the advantages and wonderful value of delegating. (Read: "teachable" moments design just for ME to be taught such a lesson)

This week has just been such a crazy one for me because of all of the set stuff going on so I've really welcomed the frequently appearing "fun" projects (per request of my colleagues) that normally bog down my schedule and are hard to manage.  In the midst of all of the set stuff, I was requested to help decorate/upcycle an old basketball for one of our starting senior basketball player. He is finishing his high school basketball career scoring over 1000 points. I don't know anything about basketball but it's my understanding that that is a pretty amazing achievement.  To recognize this, the head basketball coach gave him one of the game balls and he asked that I help to make that ball a little more special. His simple request to paint just one section of the ball white (so that something could be written in that space) morphed into me painting two sections and also in a way that contributed to a real visual design incorporating the school colors.

Some of the buddies of said student had a grand ol' time helping to paint the ball. As I like to say, if you want something done right? Give it to the kids to take over and make happen!!! They are AWESOME at whatever you request of them and most of the time do a way better job at it than I would have done since I surely would have rushed the job.

This weekend the production opens and that means I am officially done with all the set designing for this school year. I estimate that I will have a little more than a month until discussion starts for next year's set design ventures (as steered by my amazing department head/the performance art department). 

[I will try and take pics to post of the finished set for you when I come to the show this weekend with my family. :)]

It is well with my soul, it is well

Spent a chunk of the weekend on grad school work and also trying to stay ahead of the game with set design and painting of the Sound of Music production. Ever heard of that saying that goes something like, "If you're on time - you're late, if you're early - you're on time... " Amazing for us but we actually might be on time or even early.

This set design and painting as been the most intense undertaking we have ever done but it's going to be so worth it. On Saturday afternoon, before I went to the set painting, I actually dropped to my knees in the shower (actually one of my favorite places/ways to pray because it makes praying a truly sensory experience) and laid out all of my "issues" to God because I was just feeling completely buried and crippled by them. Prayers aren't like birthday wishes in that if you tell them they don't come true [I seriously don't believe in that anyway!] so I have no issue telling you that my actual prayer was pretty much, "Lord God, I CANNOT do any of this without you but I even if I could I WILL NOT do this without you!!!" My prayers were answered and deliverance was offered in ways I never could have imagined when I showed up to the set painting and had so many people with their hands and feet ready to go and boy did they go!!

I have NEVER been good at delegating but after laying all of my inadequacies and woes at Christ's feet and opening my heart for Him to just take over as He saw fit, it was like I was definitely on auto-pilot and everything just fell into place beautifully.  The amount of work that was accomplished was that which should have easily taken two weekends rather than just one evening.

Two of some of the advanced art students in the midst of the faux marble effect painting. I love seeing how they both ended up in the same place in the end (not pictured) but started out in obviously differently ways/approaches.

Just a sampling of the AMAZING mountain ranges done by one of the school's most talented student artists in maybe all of school history.

One of the best parts of the whole day that I have not yet mentioned is the fact that this past weekend's round of set painting included my daughter and my husband. I am a bit of a workaholic but that doesn't mean I enjoy being away from my family in the least. I guess it could be said that I want it all but I definitely acknowledge that I can't have it all. *shrug* Well, sometimes, (I believe especially when you give "it all" to the Lord and trust Him to do as He sees fit) I get way more than I could ever bargain for and that just happens to end up being ALL of what I wish I could selfishly have.

My daughter and my husband joined me for ALL of the set design and painting and my daughter was an absolute angel (she will only be four in June!!) and my husband was THE MAN and got some serious amounts of major set work done as well as managing a chunk of the people who were there to just help out. Seriously. The whole thing was orchestrated like the best well-oiled machine you could ever imagine.

(Pictured) Two of the loves of my life: hands stained with paint from a perfectly wonderful day of painting and my wedding ring set from my endlessly supportive husband specially designed so I don't have to take it off ever - even when I am doing plaster or clay sculpting!!!  And he doesn't just encourage me symbolically like this since he was getting his hands dirty right alongside me.

Hard to believe but it was just a little more than five years ago that I used to sit alone in my little condo (just outside of the boundaries of Charm City - that's where I was working before I gave up a pretty wonderful second career) and I would look out my windows at the sky and dream of a job that would allow me to design, create, and PAINT with the gorgeous colors I saw every evening at dusk. It was in my heart to do that and I knew that God had given it to me. As my work BFF Megan would put it, I hitched myself to that dream and then just recklessly pursued the path that I felt God would straighten for me to realize the dream. And here I am. I swear to you I am LIVING that dream!!! 

I know life will never be easy but I can tell you that life IS good because GOD isn't just so good but He is so very incredibly wonderful.