2009 Summer Symposium
"Creating Creatures with Foam and Varaform"
August 6-8, 2009
Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
The 2009 Costume Symposium is an opportunity for participants to learn about and create reticulated foam and Varaform creatures. Each participant will get a detailed workbook illustrating step-by-step development processes, basic patterns for creating donkey heads and puppets, and a DVD that details the development processes in action. Hands-on workshops will have you sculpting, adapting patterns, and assembling thermoplast and foam creatures. We’ll also explore a variety of approaches to designing creature costumes and show you simple rigging tricks to help your creatures “come alive”.
For additional details please download the:
Project Examples:
SYMPOSIUM INFORMATION
Athens Ohio is a small, quaint college town in the Appalachian foothills of the south east corner of Ohio. You can drive from one end of town to the other within about 15 minutes so all hotels, restaurants, and entertainment sources are close by.
Accommodations:
The local Hampton Inn (740 593 5600) with the convention rate of $105 double occupancy a night but there are a variety of other local hotels with rates running from $42 a night and up. Within a 15-30 minute radius there are also a variety of bed and breakfast and cabin options that take advantage of the area's rolling foothills and lakes. If you want to explore other housing options visit www.athensohio.com.
Food:
Snacks will be provided daily along with a wine and cheese reception at The National Quilt Show at our local art museum The Dairy Barn
Travel Options:
Car: Traveling by car is the easiest way to get to and around Athens but we will provide limited bus service to and from the Columbus Ohio airport (1.45 hours north) and around town. Campus parking passes will be provided for any vehicles. Car rental at the Columbus airport runs roughly $170 (Enterprise) - $267 (Avis convention rate) for a 5 day rental for an economy car with unlimited mileage. Car rental in Athens runs $32 a day or $176 a week. They can pick up clients at their hotel. Driving Directions: Maps of the area and driving directions to Athens and the School of Theater's Kantner Hall where the conference will be centered are available at: http://www.ohio.edu/athens/travel.html.Participants need to bring a costume craft kit that includes the following items:
- craft/kitchen type scissors
- low-temp hot glue gun
- plastic ruler
- pencil & hand pencil sharpener
- measuring tape
- 1" cheap bristle paint brush
- pointed or needle tracing wheel
- 1 or 2 small detail paint brushes
- blow dryer
- 1 or 2 needles for use with Silamide thread
- a box of ball head quilting pins
- points/nail scissors
- a roll of scotch tape
- several washable markers - broad and fine tips
- a box of t-pins
Each participant will receive: :
- Three fun- filled days developing creatures in foam and Varaform plus
- A step-by-step DVD of foam/varaform processes
- Patterns for the Donkey puppet and headdress projects
- A half scale head form for developing patterns for puppets and headdresses
- A vacuum form plastic animal mask
- And materials for the development of:
- A full scale reticulated foam donkey head
- A donkey hand puppet head
- A foam block for carving a Varaform head
- A full scale varaform mask
Symposium co-chairs
Holly ColeHolly Cole received an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA from Northwestern University and has costume design and craft credits from across the country. As a freelance crafts artisan and costumer she has worked on Broadway, in film and regionally; her credits include craft and prop work for the Muppets, the Metropolitan Opera, the Eaves-Brooks Costume Company, Arena Stage, the Juilliard School, the Pioneer Theater, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, the Folger Theater, The Enchantment Theater, and the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. She has designed for the Steppenwolf Theater, Lincoln Center Institute, Utah Shakespeare Festival, and the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. She won the 1993 Denver Critics Circle Award for her costumes for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival production of Pericles and the 1982 Helen Hayes Award for costumes for the Folger Theater production of Merry Wives of Windsor. Holly heads the MFA and BFA Costume Design and Costume Craft programs at Ohio University and her website can be found at: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~cole Her book: Costuming for Film: The Art and the Craft came out in 2005. She and David Russell and Kjersten Lester-Moratzka are currently collaborating on a book on Creating Creature Costumes with Foam and Varaform.
David Russell Mr. Russell's varied career includes costume and scenic design, costume and property crafts, and event design and project management. David received an MFA in Costume and Scenic Design from New York University’s TISCH School for the Arts and a BFA in Production Design and Technology from Ohio University. David teaches design and costume crafts at Ohio University and his website can be found at: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~russeld1 Mr. Russell is the Master Craftsperson of Props at The Santa Fe Opera, where he has been a staff member since 1992. He has also worked as a craftsperson for Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey and Arena Stage in Washington D.C. His event design and project management experiences in New York City include the International Toy Fair, Little Golden Books at the U.S. Open Tennis Center, and Save the Children, at Chelsea Piers. Mr. Russell has designed for Theater Works in Hartford, Connecticut, Barrington Stage Company in Massachusetts, The Professional Theater Training Program at the University of Delaware, Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio, Williamstown Theater Festival, New York, and in New York City at New York University, Off Broadway Cap 21, and Lincoln Center. His recent design work includes costumes for Midsummer Night’s Dream and Julius Caesar at the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey and costumes for Lobby Hero at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. He was also responsible for the costumes, puppets and scenic designs for The Enchantment Theatre Company of Philadelphia's Pinocchio, The Firebird, and The Velveteen Rabbit whose productions have toured with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland and Seattle Symphonies. He is currently developing sets and costumes for their upcoming production of The Arabian Nights.
Additional Presenters
Kjersten Lester-Moratzka
Kjersten Lester-Moratzka received her MFA from the North Carolina School of the Arts and has worked as a professional freelance tailor and draper for numerous theaters including The Utah Shakespearean Festival, The Colorado Shakespeare Festival, The Children's Theatre Company and The Guthrie Theatre, and most recently at The Santa Fe Opera. She has worked for any number of production companies, most notably the Tony Award winning Broadway musical Bring In Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk, and the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. Her design work has been at The Dance Theatre of Lynchburg, Va., Swine Palace Productions and Louisiana State University. Kjersten is the head of the Costume Technology MFA and BFA programs at Ohio University and her website can be found at: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~lester-m
Marit Aagard
Marit received her BFA at UT-Austin and is currently completing her MFA in Costume Crafts and Technology at Ohio University. She has developed hats and crafts for Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Santa Fe Opera and is currently heading the craft shop at the Santa Fe Opera.
Brandon Kirkham
Brandon has a BFA from the University of Indiana at Evansville and an
MFA from Ohio University in Set and Costume Design. Brandon has a long held interest in puppetry and costume crafts and has worked for The Milwaukee Children’s Theatre Company, the Pioneer Theater, the Santa Fe Opera, the Cincinnati Playhouse, and the American Players Theater.
His design work has been exhibited at the Prague Quadrennial, the Young
Designers Forum, and the National Portfolio Review.
Past Symposia:
2007: Costuming in the Entertainment Industry
2006: A Master Class in Tailoring Techniques for Men's Wear
2005: Working and Shopping in New York
2004: Teaching Costuming: Sharing Stragegies-Creating Solutions
2008: Fabric Modification
