The Juilliard School New York

Hello from New York! As part of my course I needed to find work experience for 2 weeks in a professional environment, so I contacted The Juilliard School in NYC. I've always thought of it as an amazing place, it's situated in the Lincoln Centre - surrounded by the heart of the Performing Arts of the city.  My first (very cold week -10!) has been amazing! Getting out here was a bit of a nightmare though ... I can't believe British aviation can't function in a flurry of snow ... not to mention everyone knew we where expecting snow last Friday! Anyways I arrived in New York a day late (yup I slept in Heathrow on a cold floor!) and had no luggage (yup BA managed to loose my luggage for 3days!)

On Monday, bright eyed and bushy tailed I made my way from Port Washington to the big City of New York. I was so nervous to say the least, I still couldn't/can't believe Im in New York helping to paint the sets for Juilliard!

Juilliard is massive! Their paint shop is similar to ours, but they don't have a frame, and not going to lie I feel the organisation in their department is second to none! There are two professional interns, David and Rachel, who are super nice. Then there is the Charge Scenic Artist Jenny, and her assistant Emily who both made me feel very welcomed! There where also some freelancers helping paint this week - Claire, Nick and Hunter, all who are very talented!

I was so so so nervous, especially on my first two days, I was so scared of making mistakes that I painted so slow, and then as I was so worked up I kept on doing daft things like painting a straight line super wonky. Lets just say it wasn't my finest scenic art work. By the middle of the week I became much more confident and started to relax, I really started to push myself to speed up when painting and tried to strop thinking 'they are probably judging me!'

The Paint Shop

Currently at Juilliard they have been working on the opera 'Don Pasquale'.  It's been the first time I've seen a model box where the majority of the model pieces have been photoshoped, I've always been used to models that are hand-painted. The design is lovely though, and I have been working on the portals (they mask the wings), under direction from Hunter. We have been painted them look metallic and 3-D. It's been great learning new techniques such as using textured rollers in a new way and gold leaf (at RCS we don't tend to use gold leaf as it's rather expensive).

A section of the portals

On Friday I had bit of a change from the portals and got to work alongside Rachel and David on some black and white stripy flats. Working on this task I learnt a lot, as at RCS we usually paint straight onto the wooden flats, or if we have a larger budget we will paint on flats that have a framed canvas. However, at Juillard they paint on muslin which is primed with a 1:1 ratio of white latex and water, then sprayed with a starch solution which gives the flat a nicer and sharper finish. Anyways, I got the task of priming them, man I found it hard work and got two nasty blisters!

I've also learnt a lot of basic things that will come in handy when I'm back in the UK. Normally we just wash our brushes in water, but at Juilliard they wash them with Murphy's oil or soap. They never leave brushes in water over break as the water reacts with the binder in the ferrule. Housekeeping is done thoroughly, we usually just wash out buckets until they look good enough, but at Juilliard they wash them until they are pristine. I'm also getting to grips with the imperial system (hello inches). And finally maybe a Purdy brush shouldn't  always be my first brush of choice, at Juilliard they use a lot of Chip Brushes - we usually use those when using substances like using meths or glue!

Look at the organisation!

For improvement for myself as a Scenic Artist, I've realised that I really need to get quicker at painting. I feel I am good at drawing up model pieces, but I think I should start going to evening drawing classes to get even better, and seeing how much at Juilliard they paint on the floor, I now want to do a personal project of a landscape on the floor, painting with a fitch (a small sash brush) on a stick.

It's been a great first week, and I can't wait for next week to do it all again! I really want to move out here next year, I just have to keep working hard and hopefully I can create my own luck and make my dream into reality.