An Exploration of Metal and Self
This project is an exploration of metal, erosion, and self. I was originally inspired by metal because I recently broke my ankle and had to have a metal plate put in my leg. This injury changed my life in very unexpected ways. The colors and textures of rust and distressed metal I found to be incredibly beautiful and inspired many of the colors and shapes used in the designs. These designs have more questions than answers. How does the addition of something metal or otherwise change us? What is exposed with erosion? What does it take for us to let down our walls and expose that beautiful eroded part of ourselves? What will happen to us when our hard outer shell erodes away and we are exposed? When we change ourselves for any reason, what does that do to our true core meaning of self?
Fingernail Moon by Annie Lennox - Costumes Inspired by Sound
Our costumes can be inspired by many things including a song, a sound, or a feeling. This project explores the feelings provoked by a song and how the motion of music can inspire design. The upward motion of the chorus in Annie Lennox's "Fingernail Moon" inspired a feeling of floating up to the moon while the feelings of loneliness drain out of the character imagined for this piece, shown with the melting and release of color. The mixing and melting together of color is just like our lives - we can't always keep one area from touching another. What happens when we let go and let what is weighing us down or hurting us go, and the negative energy drain out and away? What will be left?
Yerma
This version of Yerma is about restriction. Yerma is restricted by the rural Spanish societal norms and Catholicism. Although she is a good Catholic woman and wife, Yerma is barren and cannot fulfill her one truly desired role - mother. Juan restricts Yerma to the house, so she fills her time with needlepoint, housework, and being consumed by her lonely thoughts. Yerma's nightmares begin to invade her real life until the end of the play when the two worlds mold together. When she cannot discern between the two anymore, the darkness and madness set her free from her restrictions - she kills Juan, killing any possibility of ever becoming a mother.
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
This world is one that is being destroyed - the people who survive scrounge things together and steal to survive. Hunting and gathering is a necessary skill, or a life of trickery and deals. The faces of this population reflect the effects of their environment and the pollution of their government. Grusha's kindness and sacrifice to save the baby Michael saves her from this corruption and her face remains unaffected. In this cold, unforgiving, and bleak world nature doesn't matter. It is nurture that shines through to prove the true mother of Michael, who is the only one to keep him from becoming a product of his environment.