Jennifer Matthews, Theatre
After spending most of my time at Sewanee solely as a costume designer, it seemed time to ‘brush up’ on my dormant scenic painting skills to be able to teach scenic painting in Advent 2024. As a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, our scenography program prepared me to become a diverse theatre artist- one who thinks of the entire design in a holistic way, and many of us had significant second areas of design.
Although costume design will always be what I am most drawn to, I appreciate the process of scenic design, and as part of my training, I spent a year as a ‘scenic charge’ during my graduate assistantship. A scenic charge transforms the scenic designer’s work from paper to paint. This position requires mastery of a variety of techniques to paint textures of all types, as per the desire of the designer.
I was fortunate to be able to bring Jennifer Rose Ivey, author of The Scenic Charge Artist’s Handbook to the Tennessee Williams Center in July for an intensive workshop in traditional and new techniques for scenic painting. Additional focus on material safety and best practices provided insights that encourage creativity while focusing on well-being. Ms. Ivey is a gifted and imaginative teacher who consulted with me on current pedagogy of teaching scenic painting to reimagine THTR 346 to current professional and creative standards. While in residence, Ms. Ivey performed an assessment on our scenic painting studio and resources.
When attending the Theatre Sewanee performance of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, the community will get to see our collaboration. Ms. Ivey is the guest scenic designer for the show, and my students in THTR 347 and I will be painting her designs on the set.