PHOTO : DAVID COOPER |
KEVIN LAMOTTE
• PDirector of lighting design for the P P Shaw Festival
• PCreated lighting designs for most P P theatre , dance , and opera compa-P P nies across Canada .
• PHas won a Pauline McGibbon P Award , and either won or been P nominated for a Jessie Richardson P P Theatre Award , Dora Mavor Moore P P Award , and other honours
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LOUISE SIMPSON
• PDesigner & Operator for Feist , P Bahamas , July Talk
• PTours with Matt Mays , Tim Baker , P P Donovan Woods , John Butler Trio
• PHouse tech at the Danforth Music P P Hall in Toronto
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STEVEN SMITH
• P Toronto-based freelance lighting P P designer , Pprogrammer , and Ptechnician
• P Toured with Barenaked Ladies , P Marianas Trench , Metric , Great Big P P Sea & others
• P Worked on the NHL ’ s Stadium P P Series of outdoor games & their P related concerts and events .
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new ideas to bring to the table when concerts do start to go again on how we can improve our products for entertainment . Other than that , I have been having regular Zoom chats with other designers and artists I often worked with before the pandemic — sharing ideas , experimenting with different concepts virtually . In a lot of ways , I realized I haven ’ t had the opportunity to focus so much on creativity without an end game or multiple projects at the same time , so that has been a real gift to be able to just indulge ideas . I have also really paid attention to visual artists through Instagram and other social media sources like Brady Villadsen or Fezz Stenton , which has been really inspiring .
Herkimer : I think a lot of us all had this same thought : how can we use this time to better ourselves ? I struggled with it . I felt like mostly I had work to do on myself . It ’ s hard to know who you are without the work we do . It ’ s an all-consuming job .
Eventually I pulled up myself up by the bootstraps and dove in to upping my pre-vis / design game . Big part of that was becoming an owner of a Capture pre-visualization licence and coming up with a workflow that got me from an idea to a workable MA2 file quickly . This allowed me to demonstrate ideas to my clients a hell of a lot quicker .
Previously , I had to be a lot more invested in my ideas before getting them to the point of previs . Capture has allowed me to draft and export to MA2 almost at the same time at any stage in the design process . This freedom really opened me up to creating riskier ideas without being so attached . Being attached to an idea because of the amount of work you put into it , is not the way to go . You want to come up with as many ideas as possible and press forward with the best one .
Lamotte : It was important to remain engaged and productive over these past months . This downtime has afforded me the opportunity to concentrate on my ongoing read , listen , and watch lists . Unfortunately ,
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the increased “ design time ” for reading , research , and discussion seems less applicable without a project at hand . For this reason , it felt essential to reach out to colleagues and connect with the theatre community to exchange ideas . The Associated Designers of Canada also conducted meetings and workshops that were integral in keeping the design community informed and connected .
Simpson : I spent a big chunk of last spring and summer getting the July Talk drive-in show together . I ended up being the LD and production designer . There were so many moving parts in that show , and making it all fit on the stage so that each department had what they needed to do their best was a fun challenge . The end product was something we were all very proud of – a career highlight for sure . The collaboration between all of us was off the charts .
Smith : I had such a busy 2019 and early-2020 that I was really just enjoying the time at home without work . That lasted about a month or so before the boredom started taking over and I decided to try and brush up on some skills . At the time , a lot of companies were offering their online courses for free , so it was the perfect thing to take advantage of . Over the months , I found the urge to learn or brush up on aspects comes and goes . With everything that is going on and the uncertainty , it can be difficult to find the motivation to do anything for your career ; however , I do think it is important to try and force yourself to do it once in a while . A quick once over on topics can help keep you from getting rusty , and it is actually the perfect time to improve networking and programming skills .
Most of my resources have been courses that were free at the time , the typical social media and forum groups , as well as just creating personal scenarios and seeing how I can approach them differently . I have also done a lot of work creating and modifying spreadsheets and databases to help make my work more efficient once the industry starts to pick back up .
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PL & P : In terms of your work in lighting and production , what method or avenue have you found most helpful to stay inspired and informed over the last year ?
Bhogal : Staying inspired was honestly best learned through reaching out to friends , colleagues , and seeing what they were / are doing . It ’ s inspiring to exchange stories of what events they are looking forward to in the future in and out of the industry , even if some of those events are a long way from coming through . Social media also keeps the information rolling in for what people are doing / using , or where some folks have their heads at for the industry .
Gorton : I have made time each night to either operate visuals / lighting in previs or watch other designers that I look up to . I feel like every morning I write “ make art ” at the top of my to-do list to varying levels of success . I have spent a ton of time re-watching some classics , like the 1994 Pink Floyd Pulse live , Amon Tobin ’ s ISAM , Nine Inch Nail ’ s Lights in the Sky Tour , etc . It ’ s been refreshing to really dive into what makes other designers tick . One massive standout recently , though , has been the collaboration between Noemi Schipfer and Takami Nakamoto , a . k . a . “ NONOTAK Studio .” I ’ m incredibly inspired by their work and so eager to channel some of their use of projection and light in future projects .
Herkimer : It ’ s been difficult . There ’ s a real lack of that in everyone ’ s day to day . I find reaching out to colleagues to be the best way for us all to stay inspired and informed . When that option hasn ’ t been available , listening to Chris Lose ’ s LD-at-Large podcast has been a lifesaver in this department .
Lamotte : Previously , I would look for inspiration that was solely based on a project . It seemed to come easy and was often achieved from an image , a piece of music , or a director ’ s vision among other ideas . The last 10 months have afforded me an opportunity to expand my focus in search of inspiration . More time to read for work and pleasure has been a gift .
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32 | Spring 2021
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