"Archives" meaning cleaning out the studio closet. I am sure every designer that has worked for a decade or more has a stash of sketches and renderings from their early days that make them cringe. The truly awful ones get burned or destroyed along the way and a few "cringe-ables" are kept to show in classes and such - to prove to students that they can learn and develop these skills, that we were not all spawned brilliant.
I had that rare experience the other day of coming across something from my "ancient designer past" that did not make me cringe: A set of renderings from an Advanced Scene Design project my last semester in undergrad. Two different sets for the same space, both for
A Midsummer Night's Dream, one unit set and one multi-set. The space chosen was the Kresge Theater at Willamette University, a thrust stage that I was weened on as a designer (the Music department had the proscenium stage - we had a thrust and an arena). I actually finished these renderings several years after I graduated, and I am pleased to say that they do not make me cringe today, even though my paint skills have developed considerably since.
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| Unit Set by Judith Cullen for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1984) |
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| Multi-Setting design by Judith Cullen for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1984) |
