Jeanne says Goodbye … after twenty one years at AUC
After twenty-one years working in the AUC Center for the Arts, Jeanne Arnold, Associate Professor in the arts department, retires, leaving behind her magnificent years of scenic and costume design work for the theatre program in the Department of the Arts.
Before joining AUC, the professor worked in fashion retail and retail- management but then started studying theater and literature and utilize her studies later in costume design. Arnold received her MFA in Costume Design from the University of Washington in 1990 and is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and United States Institute for Theatre Technology.
Her recent creative work includes: costumes for Spring Awakening, Askar Wi Harameyya, Tartuffe, The Crucible, The Game of Love and Chance, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, The School for Wives, Three Sisters (with Nadeen Lotoyef), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Macbeth, Ghosts, and The Comedy of Errors. In over 20 years of professional design work she has designed costumes for Seattle Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle Opera, Portland Center Stage, and Colorado Shakespeare Festival among others.
In 2001 it was still a new field in the Arts Department and it barely had any resources, Arnold said, "everything needed to be built from scratch starting with creating a costume shop to developing well-established stock. What I love most about this place is the coming together of a great team and I had the pleasure working with the passed famous Egyptian director Mahmoud El Lozy and many others", I worked with them for seventeen years, can you imagine the network we have developed?
This is what attracted me to costume design. It was not the commercial aspect, but more of the context in which a character has been created to fit a certain role, considering the script, story and different surroundings.
As the industry of design is constantly revolving, Arnold mentioned the importance of having new fresh mindsets and new ideologies that can help the Theatre program to elevate and develop in different ways. She stated that usually there are no clear briefs, the real brief starts when the whole team comes together to brainstorm and share ideas until the visual identity of the character is created.
I love how I can collect bits of pieces from different areas like abstract photography, art history and even runway fashion. Then I create visual research on the cultural aspects, religion, background as well as interests
Arnold concludes, “If there is one life lesson I like to advise others with, it would be to never let the fear of failure stop you. Nothing is lost by trying. You need to remember that no one is perfect. It is about going for the extra mile and not waiting till it’s too late.”
AUC Center for the Arts will constantly value the deep passions of those willing to contribute to the community, in that aspect Jeanne Arnold will always be an icon in the Theater program.
