the final word on the Hamlet jewelry

[labricoleuse]

Wow, a whole week has gone by in which i have not gone to a museum to write about or seen some random performance to discuss. (I did go to the American Folk Art Museum, which i decided not to write up because, beyond a scrimshaw corset busk that nearly made me cry [1], it didn't have anything i could argue as even obliquely topical. It was awesome though, i highly recommend going to it if you enjoy folk and outsider art.)

I'm still at the Public through at least Tuesday, hanging around in case there are notes during preview (since the show isn't officially finished until either Opening Night, or whatever point during previews the director tells us it's frozen) and helping with breakdown, packout, and restock.

TheatreMania has an interview with actor Andre Braugher (who plays "Claudius"), accompanied by a press photo depicting some of what i've been working on. You can see--not very clearly--the large medals on his jacket and the order hanging around the queen's neck. Every member of the royal family has around four of those large medals, and many of the royal court characters have at least two or three. I think at the last count my colleague and i made over 60 pieces for this show, of which around 12 wound up not being used. It took us basically a week and half, two people working full time on the jewelry alone, then the rest of the time has been maintenance, adjustments, alterations (i.e., additional or different closures and attachment findings, etc).

I'd thought about writing a post about the position of shopper--i frequently hear folks express a desire to be a professional shopper, and thought i might run up a job description in here. The Public had two full-time shoppers on Hamlet, as well as 3-4 other people who shopped part-time in addition to other duties. I've worked as a shopper but i don't like it much; some folks love it, but most everyone who gets into it is surprised that it is not what they imagined it would be. Maybe i will get it together in the next couple days. For now though, i just wanted to share that press photo and final info on the project, as well as a few more of my own photos.















I carry my camera around everywhere, because you never know when you are going to need to photograph something amazing, and i like how it subtly acts as encouragement to view the world more closely--is there something that can create an interesting composition, or something extraordinary worth documenting to share with friends or colleagues? I'm trying to photograph things that strike me as unusual or beautiful or fascinating, even if they are something as relatively mundane as the door to a school depicted in this series.


[1] I am a huge fan of folk art in general, but specifically sailor art--knotwork, miniature carving, scrimshaw, etc. The museum had on display a corset busk carved by a sailor for his wife that had some images of hearts and birds and two figures holding hands, and a couple of banners that said, i believe, "Far From Home, Close to Your Heart." I thought about the sailor who made it, spending all this time out on some hellhole of a whaling ship, carving this piece for his wife, and then after he gave it to her, her literally wearing it as close to her heart as a garment would get, maybe taking it out at night before bed to look at the little pictures he carved and think of him. See? Totally emotionally affecting.

Comments

run: fangirl mode

[martygreene.livejournal.com]

wait wait wait... you were designing stuff that ANDRE BRAUGHER is going to be wearing?! I know, may folk don't know who he is but he's certainly one of my favorite actors of all time. Wow. To design something that he would wear... that's awesome...

end:fangirl mode

Re: run: fangirl mode

[labricoleuse.livejournal.com]

I don't know if "designing" is the right term for it, since the Costume Designer for the show is Anne Hould-Ward (who won Tony awards for Beauty and the Beast, Into the Woods, and Sunday in the Park With George). She provided us with research images and costume renderings and we created the pieces from that, so i think technically i interpreted designs for stuff that Andre Braugher is wearing!