Quentin Fears ’03 BFA Acting: Turning Personal Style into a Career
When the 75th Annual Tony Awards aired on Sunday, June 12th, millions of viewers tuned in to see who goes home with the coveted statuette, but that’s not all they were watching. Checking out what the stars are wearing has become as much a part of the show as learning who gets the awards.
Quentin Fears (’03 BFA Acting) knows just how much work goes into getting that red carpet look – he’s a Los Angeles-based stylist who’s dressed the likes of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills actress Garcelle Bouvais, R&B and soul singer and actress Macy Gray, Lucifer star Rachael Harris, and celebrity chef Michael Voltaggi for various premieres and shoots. Fears has also done commercial styling for companies like Planter’s Peanuts, Buffalo Jeans, Reebok, and Guess. His work has appeared in fashion magazines like Harper’s Bazaar (Vietnam) and Vogue (Bulgaria). He also helps ordinary people figure out what to wear.
“As a personal stylist I feel like I’m helping people become the best version of themselves. People need to understand that what you put on your body communicates something to others, and that ultimately can help you navigate where you want to go with your life. One of the things I tell people is, ‘Say you’re watching Shark Tank. You see these business people in suits and you take them seriously. Would you feel the same way if they were wearing jeans and a tee-shirt? Would you believe in their product or idea as much and want to invest money in it?’” (more…)
Commencement Profile Kyrese Washington BM Performance: Woodwinds
Kyrese Washington has played a number of instruments but has always come back to the flute:
“From the minute I picked up a flute in sixth grade band class, it just seemed easy for me to make music with it.”
Throughout middle and high school in their hometown of Raleigh, Washington played through the woodwind section—flute, oboe, clarinet—switching instruments with ease, depending on what the band needed. In eighth grade, they started taking flute lessons at the Community Music School. Even then, Washington was ready and able to play anything they were handed:
“I just wanted to play music all the time. I played saxophone with the Community Music School’s jazz band. I played at their donor events. Anytime there was a performance opportunity, I jumped on it.” (more…)
Commencement Profile Chelsea Hilding MFA Dance: Choreography
Chelsea Hilding is determined to break through the barrier of body image to make ballet more accessible:
“We’re told ballet is for very thin, young girls, and women. Ballet studios are so often decorated with gendered photos of girls in pink tutus. But I believe ballet is personal, and it’s for everyone. Ballet is the love of my life. I was always told I don’t have a body for it. And it got to the point where it was like she’s never going to have a career in this. Find something else. Well, look at me now—I’m still here!”
Hilding’s dance journey began in Vermont when she was just three years old. Her parents put her into a ballet class as an activity, not realizing that they’d enrolled her in what was actually a top-rate studio. It turned out to be exactly the right place for her:
“The studio was run very much like a conservatory. I had incredible training with ballet celebrities coming in for masterclasses. I latched on hard. By the time I was five, I knew I wanted to be a ballet instructor. That was the dream—not to be a dancer, but to be a teacher. I had this VHS tape of Barishnikov, which I studied until it wore out. I wrote dance combinations on the bus on the way to and from the studio.” (more…)
A Growing Art Form: Painting with Bacteria
Peanut butter and jelly…spaghetti and meatballs…painting and bacteria. Wait, what?
It may sound like the most impossible combination, but it’s just the kind of art + science mashup that Karen Ingram (’96 BFA Studio Art, Concentration in Painting) loves to explore:
“I think there’s a real overlap, and I think that the more conscious we are as artists about that overlap, the more we can work with things like bacteria as a material. Art and Science are closer than you think. I’m interested in the idea of using bacteria as a medium but also conceptually what that means for the future of technology and biotechnology.”
Ingram is an artist, graphic designer, and creative director who focuses on science communications. She does work for government entities, and higher education. She got interested in bio-art after co-organizing a speaker series called the Empiricist League which is described by the science, politics, and tech outlet FiveThirtyEight as an
“ad-hoc, small scale TED Talk for scientists and the New Yorkers who adore them.” (more…)
