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Written by Lucie Florio in Sculpture 1

From the moment I started my phone conversation with Susan Vermazen, a great aura of whit, laughter, and knowledge echoed from the other side of the phone hundreds of miles away in Boston.  Susan Vermazen studied Government and Political Science at Boston University and then received a Masters in Fine Arts of Filmmaking at UCSF.

LF: Susan, what was your experience as a student like? What did you enjoy most?

SV: I never liked the part of school where you had to sit in a classroom. The country was in upheaval. The Vietnam war, assassinations of political leaders on the left, abuse of power, Watergate, plus my HS background in civil rights made me want to change the world. I worked on the BU News, demonstrated against the war, worked on political campaigns, volunteered at Head Start.

LF: What made you want to work with the news and how did you get to where you are today? Would you change anything?

SV: I started out by working for Terrence Malick on “Days of Heaven.” Then I worked for Rolling Stone Magazine in San Francisco and moved with them to New York City. I worked with Annie Leibovitz on her shoots. Then I worked for George Romero on “Dawn of the Dead” and “Knightriders.” Then to New York Magazine where I started out as a photo assistant and ended up as Director of Photography for the whole magazine group. At NYMag I recruited the best photographers in the business. I produced covers and features using a new and different approach to assigning (like a casting director) that won us prestigious awards at the biggest photo contests in the world. I produced the books and curated the exhibitions for James Nachtwey’s “Deeds of War,” “War Torn,” a collection of images of victims and witnesses of war (an original concept), Douglas Kirklands “Starlight,” 30 years of photographing Hollywood and the National Geographic’s Sam Abell’s “Stay This Moment.” I was a photo editor on “Day in the life of America,” Spain, China and Italy. While at NYM Premiere Magazine was launched and I was asked to be consulting picture editor. I had a very different vision than the art director. The editor of Premiere agreed with my ideas and I put Terry O’Neill on contract. The art director wanted the cover image to be the actor in character, full body almost a cartoon of the concept of the film. I wanted an insightful portrait of the actor. My reputation as an innovative thinker led me to be recruited by The Boston Globe.

I was intrigued with the vitality and work that Susan had worked in for so many years and yearned to learn more.

LF: What do you do in your job and why do you enjoy it so much? Do you think that your job reflects the kind of person you are?

SV: I retired from The Boston Globe 12/30/2011 as a multimedia producer and editor. I was there for 11 years. I produced videos, photo galleries, special issues and books. I would start the day off with meetings about content and then produce it. That means reading the stories (if they were written), deciding how it should look and working with the photographer or videographer to get the right images. Then the work has to be edited either for an online photo gallery, the newspaper, or a video. The last year I was working twelve hour days, sometimes more, just to get everything done and at the level of excellence that I needed to be proud of it. I was also producing the book on Fenway Park being 100 years old – I did the research, the edit and decided how each page would look. As a visual person, I love producing a story that I am passionate about. I can tell the story with images, which is what I love to do. In the print Globe, words dominate. But online, images do.

LF: What skills are essential in your job and how did you acquire them?

SV: First and foremost is having a good eye. I don’t believe this can be taught. You either have one or you don’t. The second is the ability to grasp the essence a story, whether you have the manuscript or not, and figure out how best to present it. You need to be a visionary. You have to be able to organize big projects and be knowledgeable of all the details.

LF: What is the most challenging thing about your job? How do you deal with it from day to day?

SV: Newspapers are insular organisms. If everyone does what they are supposed to, then my biggest challenge is to make it sing for our readers and viewers. If an editor forgets to involve the photo or video department we are forced to scramble at the last minute. Sometimes editors are careless about the correct information in an assignment (who what where why and when) and the photographer misses the most important thing

LF: It is a tough world for artists to be successful, how do you suggest they get started and what advice would you give them? In addition, what advice would you give someone interested in perusing your position and passion?

SV: Be independent. Write a letter to the top person saying who you are, what you’ve done so far and what you think you could bring to the company. Read the publications you are interested in. See the movies of the director you want to work for. Be knowledgeable of their work. Discuss their work and say how you would like to contribute. You must have passion. You must know in your heart that this is what you want to do no matter how hard the struggle to achieve success.

Susan Vermazen was an extremely innovative and passionate worker who set her goals extremely high. She excelled at everything she set her mind to and shows those interested in politics, international relations, newspapers, and art that there is an ideal job waiting for them after graduation.

Written by Lindsay Horbatuck in Sculpture 1

 “The Impact of Art on Children”

The funding for many school districts is being cut dramatically which then means many schools are cutting programs they find unnecessary.  One of the of the first programs that are being cut are the arts.  I am currently in the process of being certified to be an elementary education teacher, and I will also be certified to teach ESL (English as a Second Language).  In my education philosophy I focus on the idea that it is vital for there to be integration of the arts into the classroom in order for students to get the most out of their learning.  The arts allows students to learn without even realizing that they are learning.  It also gives students the opportunities to do hands-on projects and be completely immersed in their schooling.  For my artist interview I interviewed Mr. Bryce Snyder the elementary school art teacher at Kelly Elementary in Lewisburg, PA.

LH: First can you please tell me about your education background; where you went to school and what you studied?

BS: I went to Kutztown University and got my bachelors of science in art education and my concentration was in drawing.  I am currently getting my master’s at Bloomsburg in curriculum instruction.

LH: Can you please explain more about the master’s in curriculum instruction.

BS: It primarily to fulfill my ACT 48 credits for certification but to be a curriculum coordinator at some point would be an ultimate goal especially with art where it is headed right now in our state.  People are really concerned about there jobs and they don’t know if there are going to be cutting programs, so to have that as a backup is very important at this point.

LH: What do you do in this job as an elementary school art teacher?  What is a typical day like?

BS: Duties as an art teacher; you have morning duties, afternoon duties, sometimes recess.  There are other responsibilities in the building besides just teaching; teaching is the best part of my job.  For the most part my schedule varies each day, but I usually have four classes each day for about an hour each.  Some days are lighter with only three classes while other days I may have five classes, which gets a bit crazy.  This is the first year that I am teaching all grade levels; kindergarten, first, second and third.  We have two teachers in the building and we split some of our work.  Our classes are very small, and as a school district we take pride in having classes that are around 18-20 students.  It helps because the student’s need  a lot of attention.  I think the hardest part about being an art teacher is catering to each student’s needs.  Art is a skill, it is tough to teach that skill to students that don’t have it.  If they don’t have the skill level you have to plan or alter your approach so they can achieve what you want them to.

LH: Do you find that the most challenging part of you job; catering to every child’s needs?

BS: I think that individualized instruction and really giving the kids the chance to succeed.  Ideally you want every project to turn out the way that you expected it to be, but that is not always the case.  Especially if I’m working with the laptops and there may be 18 hands up at the same type and you are completely overwhelmed by the fact that you have to get around to all of those kids, that is one of the more challenging aspects of my job.  I have to teach a skill and get around to every kid who needs help individually to the quality of work you expect them to do.  At times it can be very rewarding because you see kids who don’t necessarily have the skill level that others do but they are achieving at the level of others; that’s one of the best parts of my job.  We are blessed here at Lewisburg, to have laptops and our Superintendent is very pro-technonlogy.  We have a Dragon Foundation that donates laptops and there working on getting IPADs now.  Technology is very important especially in art in today’s society.  I can’t take the kids on a museum tour in New York city, but having these laptops I can show them stuff.

LH: With the laptop, are they doing actual art the laptop or are they researching art history?

BS: Both, there are programs on laptops such as KidPix, which is an art program, and the students have laptop time in their specific classrooms that they can use these programs.  They become very familiar with how to use the laptops.  For example, in first grade we did a sea-scape and the kids learned about complementary colors, warm colors, cool colors and they kids made a piece of art on the laptops.  Then in 1st and 2^nd grade they get into desktop publishing using Microsoft Word, and finding images off Google and then make self-portraits.  Then in 3^rd grade the PTA donated money and we bought tripods, which the students used to make clay-mation animation videos.

LH: I feel like technology is integrated more into the art classroom than when I was in elementary school from the booming new hype over graphic design and art involving technology.

BS: Like you said, that is where art is going with graphic design and very technology based.

LH: Do you find that you do other collaborative projects with the teachers in Kindergarten, 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd grade?

BS: As far as cooperating and co-teaching, we don’t do that much.  Art time is usually when the teacher has their planning time.  However I try on every lesson to integrate what the students are learning in their classroom.  For example with the clay-mation movie the students had to create clay figures that are correct human proportions.  At that time the students were learning about guess and check in math class, so what I had the students do was apply the information they were learning with their clay figures.  I am constantly making connections because first it helps the teacher and second it helps me.  This is because art programs are diminishing throughout the state, you have to cover yourself and show why you are marketable.  Art is the prefect way to do this, because art is visual, can be hands-on and kinetic.

LH: One big skill is being able to integrate what the teachers are doing in the classroom, what do you think are other essential skills for an art teacher to have?  And how do you feel that you acquired these skills?

BS: They have great training programs here at Lewisburg, they have a training session called APL.  First year teachers have to take this course, which is provided by the district.  It is basic skills that any teacher should know.  How to structure you lesson plans, how to deal with discipline issues, just basic common sense core teachings straegies.  Having that organization and structure is essential and necessary.   Art, gym, and music don’t get the same recognition as other teachers get but we have to have the same skill set.  We need the same teaching strategies that they use in the classroom.

LH: I know we just talked a lot about your art in the classroom, outside of the classroom do you do any art?  Do you have any exhibitions?

BS: I absolutely do, I do a ton of art at home.  Drawing is my concentration, but I do a lot of watercolors, and some oil.  I have had some exhibitions at the Ole’ Forge Brewery in Danville.  I don’t have the time to devote to that due to the fact that I am a teacher and that is my priority right now.  I get summers off and that is when I devote time to my own artwork.

LH: When you got out of school do you go right into teaching or was there some down time between when you started in the school?

BS: I had no down time.  I graduated in 2007 and then I applied for this job.  I was very blessed to get this job.  Being a teacher, I would have to say I am even more into my art now than before when I started teaching.

LH: Why do you think that is?

BS: I think it is because I need my own time to relax and do something that I enjoy with art for myself other than for someone else.  I think that is the great thing about teaching is that you can do that, you have the opportunity to explore other passions.

LH: Do you have any specific themes that you focus on in your work?

BS: For the most part, it pertains to fly fishing and my passion for that sport.  I am a nature guy, and I am always outdoors so I would say that is my centralized theme.  In college I tended to do a lot of black and white nostalgic charcoal landscape and some portraiture.

LH: I know we talked about many schools are cutting the funding for art.   Why do you think that it is essential for schools to keep art in schools?

BS: I am blessed to be in a district where the arts are very important.  In my graduate class this summer I did a class on, “Why Teaching Creativity is Important”.  You should check out Sir Kenneth Robinson, he does work on creativity and how it is being limited in the classroom and how it is affecting kids these days.  It is said that the top ten cooperation’s that run the business world that we live in today’s number one aspect or quality that they are looking for in their employees is being a creative thinker.  What better realm to teach that than in the art room.  When people say, “Why get rid of art”  I say that kids can come in here and be creative and do the hands-on stuff they are learning in the classroom.  They can also use that left and right side of the brain to develop those skills that are lacking in a lot of kids now a days.

LH: I know that is has become a very big issue now.  I have always been very creative and have been exposed to art my entire life.  That is why I find it very important to being into the classroom because it stimulates the mind in a different way.

BS: Exactly, and the kids enjoy it, because there is so much standardized testing now.  These kids are feeling more pressure, so to give them a setting where they can come in here and learn concepts they are learning in class but enjoy themselves and listen to music and have less structure than the regular classroom.

LH: I feel like sometimes the student’s don’t even feel like it is learning; there’ learning without knowing there learning.

BS: I would compete agree, and that is why I like teaching.

LH:  Thank you very much for doing this interview with me.  One last question, if any of my classmates or my professor would like to follow up with you, would that be okay with you?

BH: Of course.

Photo by Richard G. Anderson

On a hot July afternoon, Jan Estep is at work in her office in the Regis Center for Art. She has spent the morning mulching her garden, a physical, hands-in-the-dirt activity that she claims nicely balances her previous day’s marathon work session at the computer.

It’s the kind of balance on which Estep thrives. She is a writer who paints, a sculptor who embroiders, an undergraduate biology major with a Ph.D. in philosophy, and an assistant professor with a faculty appointment in the University’s Department of Art—where she teaches photography.

“For some reason, I can’t just do one thing,” Estep laughs. “I like what happens when you bounce back and forth between media.”

In Estep’s case, “what happens” is usually a multisensory feast of words and images. To get a taste of her work, witness her exhibition “Areas of Inaccessibility,” which she developed between 1998 and 2004. The subject is Antarctica, a wilderness that intrigues her because “I could never fully know it,” she says.

To explicate this theme of exploring the unknowable, Estep created a large (11-by-13-foot) topographical map of Antarctica (Topo Antarctica), using layers of Polartec®. She also made an expedition suit modeled on turn-of-the-century outfits and created black-and-white photographs of polar explorers, inserting herself into the picture—dressed in that suit.

In a graphic rendering of the quest, she sketched abstract drawings based on maps of shipping routes. She created a wall piece, etching text from vinyl and calling it “Because snow never melts,” a reflection on what it might be like if thoughts were like the never-melting snow that falls on Antarctica.

She embroidered blankets with the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton’s words, “Optimism is true moral courage,” and created a video with an image of a ship’s prow breaking through the ice as scrolling text names the ships that took part in expeditions searching for Antarctica.

Creative Mixing

Mixing media—and so allowing each to contribute its unique perspective to an idea—comes naturally to Estep, who once talked a college professor into letting her draw her science experiments. For a time, she considered becoming a medical illustrator as a way of mediating the tug-of-war between her practical and artistic sides. But in her last year of college, she took a philosophy course and, in another twist—and despite the “shoulds” about practicality that echoed in her head—decided to study philosophy.

“Actually, I went to graduate school ill-prepared,” she reflects. “My peers were better writers, better thinkers. But I had great desire to know lots more than I knew. I’m always putting myself in situations I don’t quite understand. Getting too comfortable makes me dissatisfied.”

Along the way to her philosophy Ph.D., she made a promise to herself: If she finished her dissertation, she would go to art school—and so she did, earning an M.F.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she also taught philosophy.

But what about art as a career?

“Art is not necessarily a practical choice in terms of jobs,” Estep admits. “I sympathize with that. What it does, though, is expose you to a way of creative problem-solving, of cultivating the life of the imagination so you can answer questions.”

In her case, it did lead to a job—at Chicago’s New Art Examiner magazine, where she was senior editor until the magazine folded in 2002. Then the faculty position at the University opened up, and the nimble, intellectually restless Estep was just what the art department was looking for.

These days, Estep is mixing it up as much as ever, creating exhibitions like “Ad Infinitum,” a video in which an optimist and a skeptic debate their ideas while traveling through the desert. True to form, she accompanies it with a series of drawings and word poems based on the place names of various sites in the desert landscape.

She also embroidered text pieces that record the history of the term “skepticism” as traced in the Oxford English Dictionary and Descartes’ Meditations.

Grounded in ideas that are as diverse as her media, Estep’s art truly defies definition. “Technique isn’t the only thing, and may not be the primary thing,” Estep says. “There’s more to being an artist than knowing how something comes together. To do something well, you need thought behind it. It’s all idea-driven.

“In my classes I stress, ‘We’re going to talk about this thing you’re making, but also why you’re making it. How is it related to your background? You can bring all sorts of things into your art. You can open up.’”

Written by Christina Huang in Sculpture 3

For my arts-related profession interview, I was fortunate enough to meet with professional artist, Tracey Snelling during her short visit at Bucknell.  I do not have a word-for-word recording of the interview, so I will summarize her answers.

Question: Where did you go to school and what did you study?  What was your educational experience like?

Answer:  Tracey Snelling studied at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.  She decided to take some time off to work odd jobs and travel along the west coast before returning to the University of New Mexico to finish her BFA in Photography in 1996.  She enjoyed her junior and senior college years the most because she had the opportunity to take more independent study classes to develop her own work outside of classroom assignments.

Question:  What did you do after graduation?  How did you get to where you are today?

Answer: After graduation, Snelling worked in a few art-related jobs such as teaching as a substitute art teacher and mixing colors in a color lab.  During this time, she submitted her work to some art shows through galleries (galleries were more likely to accept walk-in portfolios unlike nowadays).  Eventually some of her work was accepted and it was at these open-call art shows that Snelling’s work eventually became recognized.  Her persistence is one of the reasons that has led her to her success.

Question: What is an average day like for you?

Answer:  Snelling’s average day depends on her work timeline.  On a regular day, she wakes up, goes for a run or goes to the gym, grabs some lunch and goes to the studio.  When deadlines are closer, more time is dedicated to the studio.

Question: What do you enjoy most about your job?  What do you find most challenging about it?

Answer:  Snelling enjoys having more freedom.  She likes being able to decide what to create and

how to create it.  As you can see, even though she studied photography as an undergraduate student, her present works are more focused in video and sculpture.  Snelling has used her freedom to explore different medias that interest her.  She even enjoys freedom in simple ways such as working under her own schedule and waking up when she wants to, for example.  Sometimes, all this freedom can also pose as a challenge because it requires self-motivation and time management skills to maintain.  Another challenge about her job is that it is not a stable living condition.  Snelling went overcame many obstacles to get to where she is today.  Now, Snelling has art exhibitions lined up, so once work for one deadline is finished, she is on to the next one!

Question:  What skills are most essential in your job?

Answer: Having good photography and documentation skills are important skills for an artist.

Question:  What advice do you have for young, aspiring student artists?

Answer: Snelling thinks that it is really important to be open to criticism from people that you respect.  Art is so subjective and everyone has different opinions, so it is important for the artist to remember what his/her personal interests are and to not forget his/her personal motivations for making art.  Also, Snelling advises that students “get used to rejection” and follows up by saying “even if someone gives you a ‘no’, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for your work to grow.”

Interesting facts:  Tracey Snelling’s work can now be viewed in the Downtown Gallery until August 2012.  Snelling will also be participating in a group show at a museum in Oslo, Norway later this year.

See Tracey Snelling’s work on her official website:  www.traceysnelling.com

Tracey Snelling is open questions from professors and students  via email.

Written by Deanna Boerstler in Sculpture 1

There are many alternatives to teaching for those who are looking to receive a degree in art education. However, not many of these are ever considered. It can be very beneficial for students who will be entering the work force to discuss possibilities with someone who has “been there, done that,” just as Gretchen Heuges has.

Gretchen has experienced life as a working artist, founded a nonprofit craft center, and is currently working as the main coordinator at the Bucknell University Craft center. She is also full of great advice.

Deanna Boerstler: So, to start out our interview, how did you get your start as an artist? Has it always been something that you’re interested in?

Gretchen Heuges: I’ve always had a love for the arts, all of them. I guess you could call it a fascination. I’m fascinated about how people create and the blurry line between craft and art. Everyone can express themselves in some way, and people enjoy expressing themselves. I love seeing people take part in that- finding themselves through other materials.

However, I guess I also have a bias. My mother was a painter, and she always pushed me towards art. Well, not pushed, I guess it was more of severe encouragement. There were four of us children, and I was the only one she really ever stressed going into art with. I guess she just had an inclining for my talents. The others found their own niche in the arts, however on their own terms. Without my mother encouraging me, I might’ve ended up with a similar job to one of them.

DB: It seems to make a huge difference when someone has your back with your plans for your future. Where did you end up going to school, then?

GH: I did my undergrad at the Tyler School of Art. That was before is became affiliated with Temple University. It was just this huge stone house that an elderly lady had donated to be made into an art school. At that time, it was in the suburbs of Philadelphia. It was such a close knit art community, and I loved the atmosphere there. We were all just creating and being encouraged to create. The art school was surrounded with this old stone wall with a huge stone plaque right inside the entrance. If you were on the outside looking in, the plaque said, “Temple School of Art,” but if you were in the inside the side you saw said, “The Real World.” I just think that completely sums up the atmosphere there. We knew our time wouldn’t last in this pseudo-reality that revolved around our artwork.

DB: That sounds like a great environment. What did you major in while you were there? I remember you saying you had a degree in art education…

GH: I didn’t focus on art education until graduate school. I received a bachelor’s degree of fine arts from Tyler. However, I didn’t specialize in any specific medium like most fine arts majors do. I was interested in everything. However, I did gravitate towards painting and sculpture, mostly because those were the two strongest departments. I think that happens at any art school though. Students want to take the classes with the most interesting professors. I ended up getting my degree in painting because of how many painting classes I had taken, but my interest in all different types of mediums is what ultimately led me to art education.

DB: Did you go right to graduate school after graduating from Tyler, then?

GH: No, after undergrad I moved to Allentown and taught at them Baum School of Art. I taught classes on how to teach “Saturday Art Classes”—classes that weren’t traditional, ones that might be taught at community centers on weekends. I really enjoyed teaching that class.

So, from there I moved to Lewisburg with my husband who is also an artist. He wanted to move to the middle of nowhere, so we did. We started our own nonprofit community art center. The community didn’t have anything like it, and they really enjoyed and utilized it. My husband taught the adult classes while I taught the younger students. I loved working with eight and nine year olds that still believe they can build an entire rocket ship. They just are so full of imagination.

DB: It sounds like you really enjoyed running your own community center. What ever happened to it? Why did you stop?

GH: Funds. If you look around, there’s usually some elderly lady with a love for the arts that funds something like that. We just didn’t have that. Money was tight. While we were running the art center, I worked as a free-lance tile artist. I would make my own tiles and create and install mosaics, mostly for people’s private use. I did a lot of fireplaces. I did a couple larger murals for hospitals though. The one was really special. It was for a children’s hospital, so I had the young patients draw up the design. Then, I recreated it on a large scale as a mosaic. We made it work for four years. I really do miss working with the younger children, but I can’t say I miss worrying about paying the bills and buying food. When I got offered the job at Bucknell University, working at the Craft Center, I jumped on it. It was similar to what I had been doing, but I wouldn’t have to worry so much about money anymore.

DB: When did you eventually go back to graduate school then?

GH: After working at the Craft Center for five years, I decided that I wanted to go back for my masters in Art Education. I continued to work for the Craft Center while commuting to Penn State to take part in their master’s program.

DB: Did you find it difficult to work while going to school, and do you think your experience was different from other students because of you working before furthering your education?

GH: There were definitely times when I wanted to rip my hair out—it was a lot of work. However, I would absolutely recommend waiting a while before going back to graduate school. I found that having experienced certain things that were being talked about in class gave me a deeper understanding of many of the concepts. It also added a lot of real life experience to the research that we were required to do.

DB: Overall, do have any regrets about your schooling?

GH: The one thing I do regret is not actually receiving a teaching certificate. When I went back to graduate school, I told myself to not graduate with another degree but no certificate. So, at one meeting with my advisor, I mentioned this. You know what she told me? To get a teaching certificate, I would have had to take the class that I was teaching at the time. Needless to say, I let that dream go pretty quickly.

DB: It’s a shame that you never got a teaching certificate. Would you have wanted to work as an art teaching in a public school?

GH: I don’t think that I would have wanted to work in a public school, per say. Instead I would’ve been more interested in working for a fine arts high school. There’s usually at least one in every big city. I enjoy being places where I can be absolutely surrounded by art. That’s why I enjoy the community center atmosphere. There’s always so much going on in so many different mediums.

DB: In your job now, are their certain skills that you find necessary to have that you learned in school? What is a typical day like for you?

GH: I can’t say that I have a typical work day. One thing that I find necessary is my knowledge of firing the clay projects. Some of those skills I learned at Tyler, while others I learned while creating my own tiles. The clay program is a very large part of the Craft Center, which is probably partly due to the fact that I do have a love of working with ceramics.

Other than doing the firings, I am also responsible to arranging classes for the students. Some of these are student taught, which are usually set up very last minute. It can be hectic at times. Other classes are run by professors, which are usually initiated with more time beforehand. My job is a lot of taking inventory, ordering supplies, checking emails, and making appointments. It is also very important for me to make sure that the space is clean, safe, and inviting, because many of the projects that are made here are created on a whim.

DB: That sounds like a lot of work. Is there a specific aspect that is the most rewarding? Likewise, is there an aspect that is the most challenging?

GH: I am very grateful that my job is under the Department of Student Affairs. It means that I get to work with the students directly. I get to experience the wide range of skills that the different students hold and I have to try and understand and accommodate for that. It’s a challenge, but it’s one that I enjoy. The most challenging aspect would have to be watching my senior attendants graduate. Most of them work for me for at least three of their four years here, and I enjoy watching them mature from scared, shy eighteen year olds to brave adults ready to conquer the world and share their talents.

DB: Is there any advice that you give to your graduating seniors that would apply to a young art education major as well?

GH: I always recommend to students that they experience as much as possible before shutting out other possibilities. The best thing I ever did was waiting before going back to graduate school. Instead, I took part in the real world. I experienced the things that are taught about in school. It let me find for myself what I enjoyed about art and what I didn’t like as much. From there, then, I could pick a career that I really love. I think that is important. So, what advice would I give? Get out in the world. Take summer jobs working at community art centers or summer school programs. Don’t set your mind on something until you’ve tested the waters.

Written by Michelle Steinberg in Sculpture 2

I spoke with Nannette Horan, an art teacher at Rachel Carson Elementary School in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

NH:  It’s funny that you’re interviewing me now.  I had to write a career report in 8^th grade and I interviewed an art teacher.  That actually made me NOT want to be an art teacher.

MS: Really? And why is that?

NH:  Because they didn’t make enough money! I decided to be a conservationist instead… I wanted to save animals.

MS: Oh that is pretty funny.. So tell me, where did you go to school?

NH: I went to undergrad at Buffalo State College in NY.  Then I went to school in California and Maryland to keep up with my teaching credentials.

MS: So did you still want to be a conservationist at that point? What did you study there?

NH: No, the conservationist thing was short lived.   My major was art education and my minor was art therapy.  I had a concentration in ceramics.  Oh but before that I took a gap year in between high school and college.  I didn’t know what I wanted to do.  But then a friend convinced me to check out buffalo state with them.  And I just signed up to go.

MS: Just signed up?

NH: Yeah, we didn’t have to go through that whole admissions process with a counselor and whatnot that you guys have to go through now.  But anyway, in my gap year I took couple of classes at community college and I was also a waitress.  I went to Buffalo State because of their art therapy department.  I thought art therapist made more money and I liked the idea of working with smaller groups of people.

MS: What would you say your experience was like overall?

NH: I had an excellent overall experience! The art ed. dept was more of a community… The fine arts, graphic design, and art ed majors were all separate. I was very involved in the student chapter of New York State Art Education Association.  This really helped because I got to meet other professionals.

MS: So it was a kind of networking opportunity?

NH:  Yeah it was good for talking to people.

MS: So what did you get out of school that continues to help you today?

NH: Well there was this one class… it was more of a seminar really, called Redesign.  It was run by an art ed professor. Basically you had to go into a neighboring school and would propose a redesign idea.  Like a mural or sculpture.  And you’d actually work with kids the kids that went there.  I really learned a lot of real-world things.  We had to work on cost analysis, set up a schedule, decide level of involvement for kids, make a budget, and so on.  But the Professor was amazing! You know how sometimes you have a professor that just GETS you? Well he GOT me.  He said “Nannette, stop being lazy” and he just kinda looked into my soul and pushed me.

MS: Wow. That sounds like an awesome experience.

NH: Oh it was! You know, there’s actually a similar program being offered at MICA [Maryland Institute College of Art] right now.  And actually, you want to be an art teacher, right? MICA has a bunch of programs that you might want to take a look at.

MS: That sounds really cool, I’ll have to look into it.  And yeah I’m actually struggling now to figure out what the next step grad school-wise should be for me.  There are too many options and it’s kind of confusing.

NH: Well MICA actually has a lot of programs that you might be interested in.  It might be a good idea to start looking there. Really what you need to do is just go for certification!! You never know about the job market.   Just keep credentials current.  The good thing about teaching is it’s nice to have a regular job.  I’ve also taught at art camps, and places for emotionally disturbed kids… more I think you’re more respected when you go for jobs when you have a degree.

MS: Awesome, thanks! By the way, if you could be a student again, what would you do differently?

NH:  I don’t know if would have changed the art education or art therapy work…. I probably would have taken advantage of more clubs and student activities.. Also I stuck with same boyfriend since high school. And I would have wanted to be more social.

MS: So at this point it sounds like you still wanted to do art therapy.  What made you decide to be a teacher instead? Did you have an ‘Aha!’ moment?

NH:  I was spending time with kids early on at Buffalo State.  They put you in a class room right away.  Then there was also student teaching.   And I also volunteered in classrooms immediately. I love kids, I love art.  But there was this lack of confidence for me about going out and just being an artist on my own.  I love what I do now, but I really didn’t get to do my own personal work though at first.  Eventually I established a routine and now I’m able to make my own art. I love kids and can’t imagine not working with them.  I’ve taught pretty much every grade, but I really like elementary school kids the best.  They’re unencumbered and not afraid to try things.  They feed my own creativity.

MS: What do you find most challenging about being a teacher?

NH: There are times when I’m a waitress… It’s set up and clean up and set up and clean up.  Another challenge for me is organization.  I’ve been teaching 26 years though so that part has gotten better over time.

MS: Can you give any advice to someone who wants to be an art teacher?

NH: Try it out first, don’t feel bad if it’s not for you, that’s the only way you’re gonna know… Just jump in and get your feet wet.  But you would have to be absolutely insane to teach middle school.  You have to deal with all the social issues all the time.  Middle school kids are just constantly hormonal.  I taught middle school for 8 years but then Maddy and Camille [her kids] were getting to be that age.   You don’t want to have obnoxious people both at home and at school.  It’s just too much.   You also have to figure out what type of art education you’re gonna teach… You could do discipline based art education, dealing with periods of art and history, and then go through analysis, critique, and then have the kids create actual art work.   Now it’s more about 21^st century knowledge, which is teaching for artistic behavior and getting an understanding of the hows and whys of what we do…  What artists DO… One thing to keep in mind about kids… It’s important to not think that they’re gonna be artists in 15 years.  They’re still artists NOW, they’re just younger.   I also really want to have my own art studio, so that I can be mentor for artists and give them space to work.

MS:  So it’s kind of finding a balance between the disciplined stuff and the 21^st century thinking?

NH: Exactly. You don’t want to tell them what to do all the time.  Last week my Kindergarteners were using watercolors and  learning about Monet.  I gave them only 3 colors and they went to work and figured it out.  It’s better than a lesson plan with ‘yellow and red makes orange’ .

MS: Oh definitely.

NH:  Another thing I’ve been working on with them is teaching them that it’s OKAY to make a mistake.  In fact sometimes it’s even better to make a mistake because it might turn into a new idea!

MS: Gotchya. So back to you, what media do you personally prefer to work with as an artist?

NH: As an art education major, you get a taste of everything. I feel most comfortable with ceramics, but I think it doesn’t matter what you’re working in, it matters what you’re communicating and what you communicate best in.  I consider myself a multimedia artist.  Art is about ideas.   If you’re able to get ideas out, it doesn’t matter what it’s made of.  My students… I give them as much variation of media as possible. They’re artists now! They’re on a continuum…you never stop being an artist… you just get better as you go.  So you get an A on your report card? Doesn’t mean you’re done being an artist!

MS:  This is great, thank you so much! If my professor or people in my class wanted to follow up with you, is that okay?

NH: Yes, they can email me.  My email is Nannette_horan@yahoo.com.

Written by Nicole Mastrodomenico in Sculpture 2

What do Boardwalk Empire, President Obama, ESPN, and the Billboard Music Awards have in common with companies such as Busch Gardens or Nissan? The creative mind behind their design or production: that of Steve Marino.

As a creative designer and director, Steve Marino has worked on a plethora of projects in cinematography, ranging from television commercials to music videos to movie trailers and titles. His styles range widely as well, shifting from brightly colored and painterly stop-motion, to somber and subdued smoke effects, to catchy commercials with talking animals. Fresh from speaking with a group of New York University students touring the Nitrous Ltd. studio where he currently works, Steve graciously gave me just a bit of his time to get to know what life is like as a successful Executive Creative Director at a company in New York City, and what it takes to get there.

Nicole: As a friend of my cousin Richard, I know that you grew up in Florham Park, New Jersey, but what exactly is your educational background in art? What led you to the work you’re doing today, and what were your experiences getting there like?

Steve Marino: I went to the School of Visual Arts, and with a background in traditional animation, and ended up getting a job once I got out of school that I had for a number of years, working for one of my professors, who was a Disney animator. He was a very good guy, but he drove me crazy! So from that job I ended up going to R/Greenberg Associates, sometime in the late eighties. I started off there in the model shop – where you made models and production design for commercials – before CG was around, which gives you an idea of how long ago it was where there was a model-making industry.

Nicole: Is there anything specific you could name that I might recognize that you’ve done?

Steve: Yeah, there’s a commercial a few years ago – you could probably find it on the internet – for NICE cough drops that featured penguins I built. I had bladders in their stomachs, they would breathe, and I built their arms and wings, all that stuff. I also worked on quite a few things for Busch Gardens: I created a ride where [my team and I] made a very large (maybe 25 foot by 15 foot) salt water tank as well as a special snorkel lens that went on top of a motion-control camera, which would move through this world we created, filled with tropical fish. The purpose was to make you feel as though these were huge fish; it was a motion-simulator ride. That was model-shop wise, but I soon moved to the design department, and began shooting titles for feature films. I did the main title for twenty-five feature films, including Home Alone, Goodfellas, Silence of the Lambs…

Nicole: Now, when you say “main title,” what exactly does that entail?

Steve: It means the [opening], the main title for the feature film, I designed and shot it. If you watch Home Alone, when you see the main title sequence, I did that. There’s a whole bunch of films that I did, but from there, I got involved with desktop as far as Macintosh, when that first came out. Soon after, I ended up going to another company called Click 3x, which was the first company on this coast and the second in the entire country to have and use a system called the FLAME, which is a very high-end compositing motion tracking system used for commercial production. It was a very sophisticated machine, very good, and each one cost a million dollars. We had – at our height – about six of them.

Nicole: Wow.

Steve: I was there from a number of years, then from there went to a couple of other shops. You go to places and stay in places because of the mind-sets of the people that are there and the work that you’re doing, and really, more than anything else, the team that you’re working with. You want to respect those people, but when differences arise – different vibes and different mentalities – you move on, and find something else. So from there, I went to a few other places; I worked in [a few different shops, and had my own companies within a few of them] and have also had a couple of shops that were fully my own [as in, not an off-shoot of another company,] where I worked with partners. I opened up a design and visual effects company in Dubai, a number of years ago.

Nicole: Really? Is that still running?

Steve: Yeah, it’s still there. I was there for six months, before I returned to New York, and I’ve been back in New York for about four or five years, working at Nitrous Ltd. I’m the Executive Creative Director here, and I basically run anything that has to do with design or directing. Paul C. Rosen is the owner of Nitrous, he’s the senior editor, and handles everything to do with editing or editorials, and we work very well together. He’s a much calmer, nicer person than I am – I’m kind of reactionary and short-fused!

That’s basically where I’ve been for my career, which sounds pretty sad that I was able to sum that up in about five minutes!

Nicole: No not at all! I completely disagree – the work that you’ve done sounds like it’s been filled with a lot of really amazing opportunities and fun projects. You mentioned that you and your partner Paul C. Rosen work very well together, but do you ever find it frustrating to work with colleagues or interns? Perhaps especially so because you grew up in the art design world differently than students nowadays, who are going to school for programs like After Effects and Final Cut, programs that you learned within the industry by working with them as they were developed?

Steve: I learned at a time when the systems that I used when I was in school were not the same as what [students now are working with.] You didn’t have After Effects or Final Cut school, and what I find that upsets me [and a number of other people in the same position as me] is that you have a lot of kids coming out of school who think that – since they’re running these same systems in school that are used professionally – they know the same amount as you do, which is wrong. [Sometimes it feels like] you turn around and you’ve got a kid who’s an assistant and they think they know what you do, and you’ve been doing it for twenty-years. When you come out of school, you should be humble, and you should realize that there are people who have been doing this a long time, and there’s a reason for that. Their reputation is such that you shouldn’t second guess, and you should want to learn, and – most importantly – not take an attitude, because anybody with an attitude does not last long in this company, or this industry.

Nicole: I remember you mentioning that in a previous conversation we had. You told me that this industry very much about knowing people and making connections, right?

Steve: Yes, knowing people and making connections [is definitely an important factor]. It’s a small industry. If you come out of school and you have an attitude and you get fired from a place, you’re obviously going to go elsewhere; in the new company they’ll of course ask what you did or where you came from, and if they know me personally, they’re going to call me and ask about my experiences with the person. And I’ll admit that if I like someone and they do good work, I’m going to give them a great review. If not, I’m going to tell [whoever calls asking about them] “Don’t work with him, he’s got attitude, he doesn’t know what he’s doing,” because it’s going to be a reflection on me. It’s a small industry; you want your reputation to always be the best that it can be.

Nicole: Staying attitude-free and willing to learn: seems like good advice for any intern, especially those you’re working closely with on a daily basis. What is an average day like for you in the Nitrous Ltd. studios?

Steve: My every day? Well, I suppose there are two parts to that question [because it depends if I’m executive creating a job or directin]: If I’m executive creating, I’ll come in, and I’ll sit with the team I’m working with, and [my daily schedule then] depends on how hands on I am with the project.

Nicole: What decides how hands on you are?

Steve: Well, it depends what that project is. Here at Nitrous, we do anything from broadcast work to commercial work. One day, I might be doing something such as the titles for Game of Thrones, where I’ll sit with my team and create a template. Once that’s set up, my team can go ahead and start cranking out titles, and all I have to do is sign off on them. On the other hand, I will also work very hands-on throughout a project: we [just recently shot] a trailer for a motion picture that’s coming out, where I actually physically made elements for it in a bubble tank, shot certain live action elements, and was directing the piece. In this industry, depending on what you do, you wear many hats. That’s just me. It’s very liberating that I don’t do the same thing every day. We don’t have to wear a suit and tie and we’re not going from nine to fives shuffling papers, it’s always different. As far as the hours work, I’ll come in somewhere between nine and ten and stay until seven or eight, but I don’t mind it because I like what I do. The main thing is to like what you do.

Nicole: As Executive Creative Director do you get to pick and choose which projects you work on or how much you work on each project, or do you just work a little bit on everything?

Steve: It depends on the what individual project is and the workload involved. I put the same amount of time into something that I am directing as something that I am creative directing but there are certain projects [that are more time consuming than others.]

Nicole: Are there certain types of projects you enjoy working on more than others?

Steve: There will be projects that you work on that pay the bills. There are projects [I] want to work on that may not make money: I love directing music videos because I’m able to try out different techniques, things that I wouldn’t normally do on a commercial. But you don’t make money doing that. There are other jobs that might make a lot of money, but it’s not rewarding for your soul. The thing is that as far as the client is concerned, you have to look at every project you do – whether it’s something that you love, or might not love – you make sure that the client is happy and they know that it’s the best thing [you could produce.] You have to be committed to everything you do, you have to give more than just what’s required of you.

Nicole: And how exactly do you do that? What are some essential skills to have in your job?

Steve: If you want to go into design, you want to learn Adobe Suite and Adobe After Effects. More than anything else, that’s what you want to do. If you want to do animation, I would suggest you take a lot of life drawing classes and learn the basics of traditional animation, which is not the same as computer animation: traditional animation is drawn and will teach you [many techniques that] people who come out of school just learning [computer software don’t exactly grasp, and come to] find that their animation is very stiff. If you want to get into editorial work, you want to learn Final Cut. You get the understanding and backbone in school, the principles, but school is just meant to learn the basics and how to get your foot in the door to develop your career. When you get out of school, you’re a graduate, not a professional, and it takes years to become someone that people will respect.

Nicole: After all these years working, what would you say is one of the most challenging things, or one of the things you most enjoy about your job?

Steve: I like taking a project from the initial spark of the idea and shepherding it all the way to completion. I like working with clients, and working within the parameters of the budget of a job. Any of these would apply to both of those questions, because when you’re working with clients, they can be very challenging. And when you’re working within a time frame and budget of a project, that can be very challenging as well. But to see the result of your labors, to see [something you’ve worked on] on air or the big screen is very rewarding. And the path to get there is sometimes just as rewarding as the end project itself.

Nicole: As an art student myself I can really relate to that, and appreciate where you’re coming from. On that note, is there any advice that you would give to someone who might be looking into breaking into your field? What would you tell someone who was interested in pursuing your career?

Steve: Be willing to take criticism. Remember that the people you’re working with have more experience than you do and be willing to learn. Develop your sense of timing and your aesthetics. Be humble because you don’t know everything. In terms or portfolio or experiences, if I like a person’s work I’ll set up a meeting with them and see how they present themselves in person, and ask them what they want to do or where they see themselves. When you’re coming out of school, your website should show what you like to do, what you’ve done, a little bit of everything. Give yourself a broad [range] and then steer yourself in the direction you want. You’ll start as the low man on the totem pole and then work your way up, so expect that. You want to have as much knowledge as you can.

Click here to view some of Steve Marino’s videos on his website.