- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock /news-archive/tag/kat-hall/ ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Thu, 25 Apr 2019 19:41:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Expo showcases student research and creative works /news-archive/2019/04/25/research-expo-2/ Thu, 25 Apr 2019 19:41:30 +0000 /news/?p=74128 ...]]> University of Arkansas at Little Rock students showcased their academic work this semester at the recent Student Research and Creative Works Expo held April 18 in the Jack Stephens Center. More than 200 students representing every college within the university participated this year, with projects spanning research in computer science/information science, creative work, economics, education, engineering/engineering technology/construction management, health science, humanities, interdisciplinary, life science, physical science, service work/professional application, social science, and social work. More than 100 of the participating students received Signature Experience Awards of up to $1,000 to fund their research this semester. Kajal Shukla, a senior computer science major, used machine learning to predict coronary heart disease. Shukla, who was mentored by Dr. Mariofannia Milanova in the Department of Computer Science, chose to investigate heart disease because a data set was already available for heart disease that allowed her to experiment with three different machine learning models to determine which was the most useful. Shukla will graduate May 11 with a Bachelor of Science in computer science and plans to start a master’s degree program in June. More than a dozen entries in this year’s expo were creative works. Aaron Prosser earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic art in December but returned to campus to exhibit his “Organo Guys,” a series of action figures that combine his love of toys and his graphic design talent. Inspired by Captain Planet, Swamp Thing, and the Ninja Turtles, Prosser’s action figures were sent by Mother Earth to enforce the preservation of the environment. Prosser was mentored by Kevin Cates. Kat Hall, who will graduate May 11 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre arts, explored the process and conventions used during the 16th century in England under strict sumptuary laws to transform male players into female characters on stage. Her project, “Cross Dressing: The Transformative Power of Costumes on Shakespeare’s Stage,” used contemporary flat pattern and draping methods to create costumes. “The Student Research and Creative Works Expo really captures the diversity, breadth, and calibre of our students, and is a testament to the expertise and engagement of their faculty mentors,” said Lawrence Smith, assistant professor in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Theatre Arts and Dance Department and co-chair of the Student Research and Creative Works Committee. “It gives you a great insight to the creativity and intellectual rigor that is the heart of our work at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock.” In addition to the expo, individual colleges at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock showcased their programs, research, and resources as part of a larger Research and Creativity in the Rock event. The College of Social Sciences and Communication hosted a two-day mini-conference featuring interdisciplinary panels with faculty, staff, and students. The College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences gave tours of its science laboratories to visiting high school students who were also treated to music and dance and music performances in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, a majors fair, and tour of the Windgate Center of Art and Design. The Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology also gave tours of its engineering, engineering technology, and earth science laboratories to visiting high school students who also toured the Emerging Analytics Center. The College of Education and Health Professions hosted an open house in the Bailey Alumni Center to showcase faculty and student research and information about the STEM Education Center, and the George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology hosted an open house with student poster presentations and demonstrations. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students discuss their research with visitors at the Student Research and Creative Works Expo held April 18 in the Jack Stephens Center. Photo by Benjamin Krain ]]> Hollywood costume designer offers advice to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students /news-archive/2018/11/28/costume-design/ Wed, 28 Nov 2018 22:48:26 +0000 /news/?p=72811 ...]]> Students in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Department of Theater Arts and Dance got an inside scoop on what it takes to be a professional costume designer from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock graduate Jacqueline Saint Anne, who is an Emmy Award winning costume designer and president emeritus of the Costume Designers Guild. Saint Anne has worked as a costume designer in theater and film now for nearly 50 years. Her films include “Seeing Other People,” “Lady in White,” “Normal Life,” and “Pippi Longstocking” while television credits include “Arli$$,” “Columbo,” “Quantum Leap,” “Webster,” and “Sliders.” She’s worked on more than 100 Movies of the Week and miniseries including “An American Story,” “Fatal Vision,” “Max and Helen,” and the “Munsters.” She also teaches at the Los Angeles-based , where she is the creative director the for film and TV costume design. A resident of West Hollywood now, Saint Anne returned to Arkansas over the Thanksgiving holiday to visit her sister in DeWitt. On Monday, Nov. 26, before she returned home, she led a master class for theater and dance students in the Haislip Theatre in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Center for Performing Arts, where she first got her start in costume design as a student at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in the 1960s. Saint Anne remembered the theater’s closet of costumes that she remade over and over again.

“Because I had some sewing skills, that made me the the costumer,” she said. At that time, she wasn’t planning on a career in design. She was a biology major and was on a pre-med track that her parents wanted for her. “The great thing about a university education is that you become educated about what’s around you,” she said. She earned a Bachelor of Science but never made it to medical school. Instead she went to the University of Miami for a master’s degree in costume design. Her first job out of college took her to Grand Ledge, Michigan, where she worked the summer at the Boars Head Theater and costumed 12 shows in 13 weeks. The hectic pace was valuable training. It’s where she learned to work within a budget and on tight deadlines, developed her work ethic, and started making a reputation for herself. She returned for three more summers and taught theater at State University of New York’s Auburn campus the rest of the time. After four years, she returned to Miami and became entrenched in theater costume design. She turned down several offers to work on films before she finally said yes to “Shock Waves,” a 1977 horror film (starring Peter Cushing) about underwater Nazi zombies. “They presented unique costuming challenges,” Saint Anne said. “The uniforms couldn’t be made of wool because of the water. Filming would go on for months, so the costumes had to hold up and maintain color.” Students were interested in how Saint Anne crossed over from theater into film. “The way a costumer succeeds is having a sense of the medium in which they are working,” she told them. “The most important thing in theater is the audience. I feel my success comes from my ability to see what my audience sees, so if it’s a big opera house or a small intimate stage, or film being shot on HD or 35mm, there are differences in the communication that I’m making with my audience.” She also gave the students practical advice – from having a label for their costumes to having a website they can show to clients on their phone – to professional advice on working with difficult people, collaborating with set designers and directors, and staying current with industry trends. “It was nice to hear her talk about the difference between theater and film projects,” said Kat Hall, a senior design student who has worked on both theater and film projects and hopes to work as a wardrobe supervisor at a regional theater after graduation. Saint Anne’s advice was also helpful for senior dance major Emily Shellabarger, who is taking a course in flat patterning and drafting this semester from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock costume shop manager Don Bolinger. Unlike the students, Saint Anne learned stitching skills on her own. A self-described “Air Force brat,” she was was born in Panama and moved around a lot growing up. “One of the fortunate places I lived was Paris,” she said. As a teen, she saved up money to buy fabric, and her mother showed her how to thread her sewing machine. “I would go to design shops in Paris and look at clothes,” she said. “Then I’d go home and try to figure out how to make them. I taught myself pattern making. My skills were not taught to me. They were intuitive, the result of trial and error, just wanting to know how things were made and having curiosity about how things are put together.” Early on in her career, while working on “Little Mary Sunshine,” Saint Anne developed a disciplined approach to how she works, and she’s stuck with it ever since. “I was still sewing a piece for Act 2, after the Act 1 curtain went up,” she recalled. “I was physically destroyed. I said I will never do this again. And fortunately, I haven’t. I’m in my 48th year as costume designer. I would not be able to do that without taking care of myself and knowing what I need. Some people thrive in chaos. That’s not me. To this day, I finish anything I’m working on three to four days before opening, so that if I need to change something, I have the time and clarity to do it. “My preparation is never last minute,” she said. “If I’m going to do an all-nighter, it’s going to be a week before the show. It won’t be the night before because that makes me feel out of control.” For the past 13 years, Saint Anne has designed mainly for opera. She doesn’t do modern TV projects anymore, prefers instead to costume period pieces or fantasy. She also offered this nugget of advice to young people just starting out: “At a certain place, when you are the master of your craft, you have little forbearance for people who are ignorant or rude,” she said. “It’s important you learn how to be considerate and kind. Your collaborators – and your competition – will be with you your entire career.” Top Right Photo: Costume designer Jacqueline Saint Anne greets freshman theater student Kaitlynn Mitchell after a master class in Haislip Theatre. Above: Costumer designer and ��Vlog��ý Little Rock graduate Jacqueline Saint Anne poses for a group photo with students, faculty and staff in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance. ]]> ��Vlog��ý Little Rock theater students find work on “God’s Not Dead 3” /news-archive/2017/10/25/theater-students-gods-not-dead-3/ Wed, 25 Oct 2017 19:51:46 +0000 /news/?p=68382 ...]]> Three University of Arkansas at Little Rock students landed jobs in the latest installment of the faith-based film being filmed in central Arkansas. Kat Hall, a junior theater major who wants to be a professional costumer, worked one day as a background costumer and was responsible for dressing the extras who were on set. One of the extras was Leah Gelé of Little Rock, a technical theater major who has worked with light and sound for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock theatre productions as well as for several community theater productions in central Arkansas. “I got involved on a whim really,” Gelé said. “Kat called me and asked if I wanted to be a homeless extra for the day. I said, ‘Sure! Why not?’ There were about 40 homeless extras there, and they just picked us when they needed us. I got picked and was able to interact with both of the main characters for a scene or two.” Selena Mykenzie Gordon, a Fort Smith native majoring in theater, was cast as a “hipster hostess” in one scene and as a churchgoer in another scene. Filming, on average, ran about 11 hours a day, she said. “The experience, for me, has been a once in a lifetime opportunity. This being my first role in a movie, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but from the moment I stepped on set everyone had a positive attitude, and it was obvious that they were all there to do something they loved and build a movie that they were passionate about. I did get the chance to meet the lead actors and talk to them when we had breaks, and the things they had to say regarding acting and schooling really impacted me, and I’ll definitely be taking the advice they gave me and applying it. “I also got the opportunity to spend some time on set with Cissy Houston (American soul and gospel singer and the mother of singer Whitney Houston), and she is hands down the sweetest woman I have ever met with the voice of an angel.” Gordon was familiar with the film series having watched the first “God’s Not Dead.” “I loved it,” she said. “I haven’t had the chance to watch the second, but I plan on watching it before the third is released.” “God’s Not Dead 3” is due for release in spring 2018. In the upper right photo, Selena Mykenzie Gordon is one of three ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students who recently worked on the set of “God’s Not Dead 3.” Submitted photo.]]>