9 minute read
The Art of Work
BEN EPHRAIM ’20 FILMMAKER
-Mrs. Huber
These five Flint Hill alumni are debunking the stereotype of the struggling artist and showing the world and the teachers who believed in them that having a successful and fulfilling career in the arts is absolutely within arm’s reach.
Filmmaking is all about collaborating and working closely with others, but Ben Ephraim ’20 started film school just when we were all trying to keep our distance from each other. When Ben got to the University of Southern California (USC) he was savvy enough to launch a Facebook group to find filmmakers who were interested in quarantining together to collaborate on projects during isolation.
Collaboration was something Ben was known for at Flint Hill. Digital Arts Teacher Catherine Huber remembers how much of an impact Ben made in the School’s inaugural filmmaking class. According to Mrs. Huber, Ben stood out as a leader (even though he was the youngest of that cohort), taking on every facet of filmmaking — screenwriting, cinematography, directing and editing. “He brought people into his universe like a magnet,” Mrs. Huber recalls. “Everyone worked hard because he was working hard.” Ben spent hundreds of hours working outside of school in local student film organizations to learn this craft and ready himself for the likes of the prestigious USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Since becoming a Trojan, he has only elevated that work ethic, creating visual stories at warp speed, collaborating with other talented filmmakers and expanding his own notions of what the camera can do. He credits teachers like Mrs. Huber for encouraging his growth as an experimental
artist. “They just let me do what I wanted to do and motivated me to explore what’s possible.” Ben says his goal is to make films that elevate discussions of identity and drive social change but in a subtle way that invites viewers
to traverse new perspectives. After graduation, Ben hopes to stay in California to write and direct for television and pursue independent filmmaking.
SAM GLOE ’19 ILLUSTRATOR
- Ms. Brugnoli
Navigating art school during a pandemic is not for the faint of resilience. Luckily, Sam Gloe ’19 has that in spades and reflects fondly on her time at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL. Illustration and visual development, her current major, was a field of study first illuminated to her by her teacher, Nikki Brugnoli. “I wasn’t exactly sure where I wanted to go with art, and Ms. Brugnoli really helped me hone in on illustration.”
“As a student, Sam was desperate for technical challenges and for the space to critically and creatively think outside the box,” recalls Ms. Brugnoli. Sam had a huge internal drive and was destined, it seemed, to go as far as that drive could take her.
While art school is definitely demanding, Sam is absolutely loving it. “I really enjoy the community that comes with it. There’s a stereotype of a lonely artist and that’s really not the case. You’re typically working with teams to bring an idea to life.” She’s excited for the career possibilities available to her in visual development, also known as the “idea stage” of movie and video game production, and in illustration, which, she explains, is a lot less specific than people think. “It’s not just someone who draws the pictures in books.” Sam points out that illustration encompasses
a wide range of artistry including editorials, preproduction storyboarding, tattoo and logo design.
Marketing yourself and having an online presence is paramount in Sam’s industry. “Someone needs to be able to Google you and find your work,” she says as she reflects on learning to write an artist statement in her Portfolio Art class at Flint Hill. It’s a lesson that can be challenging for students: how to translate into words something you’ve specifically chosen to communicate with your art. Sam emphasizes the importance of picking up some dexterity in communication and self-promotion before considering a career in the arts: “You have to learn how to articulate what you do and advertise your value.”
TOI HOWARD ’19 ACTOR
- Ms. Pramstaller
To make it into Major Minors as a freshman is a coup. Flint Hill’s a capella singing group is as selective as it is popular. There was no denying the talent of a certain 9th grade student during the 2015 fall auditions though. Toi Howard ’19 experienced a bit of culture shock when arriving at Flint Hill because she came from a small school environment where there were many students who looked like her. She wasn’t sure at first how well she would fit in. “In joining Major Minors, I found my people,” Toi recalls. Having the gift of community in her freshman year helped her build on her self-assurance to continue getting out in front as a performer.
Choir teacher Sarah Pramstaller remembers how naturally Toi progressed as a leader on the concert stage. “Rather than lead overtly, she chose to lead by example and with quiet confidence,” Ms. Pramstaller describes. Because she shined so brightly in Major Minors, Concert Choir and in multiple musical productions, Toi’s teachers fully expected her to pursue a career as a performer. The twist they didn’t quite see coming was that she would concentrate on acting.
Upon getting into NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, Toi was placed in the Lee Strasberg Theatre program where she is currently wrapping up her fourth year studying method acting. “It’s a decision they make for you as far as where you belong within the artistic community at Tisch,” Toi says. While she has pursued film and commercial acting in her spare time, she’s come to embrace and really dive into her study of theater. This December, she starred in an off-Broadway play called “Everybody,” a modern retelling of the 15th century morality play “Everyman” that explores the meaning of life. She looks forward to making her living bringing life to the important stories of our time.
Toi not only left her mark on Flint Hill as a performer but also maintained the important connections she made as a Husky. From her mentor, Mia Burton: “Our before-school conversations and afterschool concerts have been replaced with text messages, meme sending and Zoom productions, but the joy of watching her journey as a student to now, a soon-to-be professional performer, has never changed.”
CLARE JESSEY ’14 UX DESIGNER
- Ms. Fragione
Clare Jessey ’14 started at Flint Hill as a standout varsity soccer player. After a serious sports injury forced her off the field, she channeled her energy into the art studio where her teachers noticed her unique ability to seamlessly blend fabrication and artistry. It’s no surprise to them that she now works as a UX (user experience) designer for Philips Healthcare’s HealthTech Innovation Lab. Her talent for “radical thinking,” as Clare calls it, helps her create thoughtfully designed user experiences for people visiting the cardiologist’s and radiologist’s office. Recovering from
her sports injury as a teenager gave her insight into the workings of the healthcare system, and she’s grateful for the opportunity to use her art to impact patient wellbeing.
Clare remembers how much her Portfolio Art class taught by Cianne Fragione challenged her to think creatively to accomplish skills that were outside her wheelhouse.
For her application to the top design school in the country, the Rhode Island School of Design, Clare had to submit a drawing of a bicycle. In contemplating how to show mastery of a skill she had less confidence in, she reimagined the assignment and submitted a drawing of a bike track in the snow. “She was inventive and that’s exactly what they wanted to see,” recalls Ms. Fragione.
JOANNE SEONGWEON LEE ’11 CERAMICIST
-Ms. Cardone
It wasn’t until 10th grade that Joanne Seongweon Lee ’11 first noticed the pottery studio and decided to sign up for ceramics. Prior to joining Flint Hill in 9th grade, she had never taken an art class. Her teacher, Julia Cardone, noticed right away that she was a natural with the clay and told her so. “It was so meaningful coming from her. After that point, I knew I wanted to do that for my life,” Joanne recalls.
Her inventiveness is constantly manifesting. During the pandemic, she recorded adorable videos of her cat, Charlie, to send to her grandparents and has parlayed those videos into a successful TikTok presence with almost 50,000 followers and more than one million views. Check them out @ohcharliecat for some pawsitive social scrolling. “
It’s not easy to imagine a career as a ceramist. Making pottery for a living comes with costly equipment needs and studio space as well as the “steadfastness to endure those lonely firings,” as Ms. Cardone describes it. But Joanne’s determination and commitment was evident to everyone during her time at Flint Hill. She took every ceramics class offered, spent hours in the studio and even traveled with Ms. Cardone and other students to the National Conference for the Education of Ceramic Arts — twice.
In between earning her BFA from Alfred University and MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Joanne spent time in South Korea as an artist in residence at the Korea Ceramic Foundation. The experience allowed her to deepen her connection to Korean artistry and learn new techniques. Today, she serves as the studio coordinator of ceramics at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, CO, where she plans workshops and organizes residencies while maintaining her own studio. Her goal is to open her own residency, inviting Korean artists to the states where they can have access to the equipment, studio space and collaboration opportunities that are hard to come by in Korea. Joanne thinks of her practice as “a link to my home and my culture.”
