Totally distressed, by choice, one of the participants displays an almost finished product from the costume distressing Professional Development Workshop at USITT's 2007 Annual Conference & Stage Expo.

Photo/Tim Wong

Carey Hanson
Costume Design & Technology Commission

This year in the Valley of the Sun, Costume Commission members from across the United States and abroad took part in a variety of pre-conference workshops during the first few days of the week.

Starting March 14, Commission members had the opportunity to attend a variety of entertaining and informative conference sessions.

The Costume Design & Technology Commission offered two very successful Professional Development Workshops. Gail Wolfenden-Steib presented a dynamic workshop, Eliminating the Stress of Distressing Your Costumes. A highlight of the workshop was not only learning airbrush techniques, but getting to take an airbrush home.

Kristina Tollefson and Jason Tollefson put together a wonderful Professional Development Workshop held before the conference that dealt with how to create a digital portfolio. In addition, each participant was taught how to create a website. In the age of advancing technology, this session really enabled Costume Design & Technology Commission members and others to step up to the technology plate.

Wednesday's activities kicked off with the annual Keynote address. After it concluded, there were so many interesting sessions to attend, members had the ultimate dilemma -- which ones to attend.

Several highlight sessions included: Irene Corey's Imaginative Journey Continues, Creating Gelatin Prosthetics, the ever popular Costume Poster Session, Native American Dress, Costume Shop as a Classroom, Costume Shop Management Strategies, Computer Printing for Fabric Modification, Careers in Costume Design: Film and TV, It's Not Just A Sewing Class, Developing the Design Idea Take Three: The Tempest, and Stretching Yourself: Modern Dance Costume Techniques. Members described this year's conference activities as insightful, humorous, motivating, informative, and engaging.

The Commission also had two very special guests attending this year -- Marina Raytchinova and Katherine Marshall. Each guest shared life experiences in the field of costuming to very attentive audiences. Commission members had many opportunities to meet and greet other costume designers and technologists from across the United States.

The 2007 conference had a little something for everyone involved in costume design and technology. During the annual Costume Design & Technology Commission meeting, members were asked to vote on programming for the 2008 USITT Conference & Stage Expo in Houston. If the list of choices is any indication, next year's programming should be just as engaging as this year's.

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