Pursuing my MFA at The Ohio State University

This year has been an exciting one as in the fall of 2023 I officially left my job in corporate graphic design and decided to pursue my love of theatre and scenic design for my master’s degree. OSU has provided a wonderful opportunity for me to do just that, and here are some samples of projects created this semester.

Drawing & Painting

This class was a wonderful way to bring me back to my art school roots and remind me that imposter syndrome comes for us all. Within the course, we started with traditional media; pencil, charcoal, watercolor, and acrylic, and then worked our way into digital renderings. Each project represented a specific specialization in design; costumes, lighting, and scenic design, to develop a well-rounded appreciation for all.

I have had a decent amount of experience with Photoshop in the past, but not in this context, nor had I ever learned how to do digital painting. It’s amazing how powerful software is in that you can use it for years without touching certain tools or understanding their purpose.

Samples of my sketchbook during this class

Acrylic Rendering of Lilly Arnold’s “A Doll’s House”

“Topdog/Underdog”

Final Project,
bringing it all together

This final assignment allowed us to show off what we learned in each of the sections, costuming, lighting, and scenic design within one rendering for the show “Topdog/Underdog” by Suzan-Lori Parks.

I thoroughly enjoyed doing the visual research on this show based on the reading.

Digital Rendering of Scenic Design for “Topdog/Underdog”

Studio Praxis

This class is intended for experimentation and portfolio building, so none of the concepts below will be fully realized. Each year it’s offered in the fall with a different teacher and theme, and this year’s theme was “This and That” with the idea of juxtaposition making concepts stronger. Our professor went to a theater that was putting on two different shows per day in the same space, needing to be swapped between a matinee performance and an evening performance, with the next day’s matinee repeating the evening show and then swapping back. How does a theater design its set to accommodate two shows back to back? What do the logistics look like?

“The Glass Menagerie”

Scenic Design

In the vein of the theme of “This and That” the class was broken into pairs of shows that, on the surface have little in common, but working together we found an aesthetic direction that suits the themes of each show.

The concept for “The Glass Menagerie” was treating the memory play like a moment frozen in time, preserved in a dusty attic. Scenes are treated like snapshots of a dollhouse in the MC’s memory.

“The Giver”

Media Design

This project was created in conjunction with another student who developed the director’s pitch, and I took on the media design and effects for this show.

This project was a neat way to develop a more well-rounded sense of each of the roles within a show and see how they work together.

“Secret in the Wings”

Director’s Pitch

Developing a package to provide direction for all designers, which was handed off to another student to design an aspect of the show. She chose to design concepts for a couple of the puppets in the show, and with her permission, I designed the wings for a different scene.