NOLA YERGEN

Teaching Good Design

“Good design is good design,” says Nola Yergen. “And once you know the basics of design – the color theory, balance, all of these different aspects – then putting it into a different format isn’t that difficult.”

The costume designer and assistant professor at Grand Canyon University was talking about her summer renovating cabins at her campground in Tennessee, and her joy in learning to use a nail gun. Learning, you see, is her happy place. She’s very good at it.

Drilling down to the basic components of the art of costuming and wanting to know how and why things work is part of Yergen’s genius as a designer. So is her passion for exploring what history reveals.

“A lot of design has to do with what’s going on socially in a society and understanding the different spheres of society and who would do what and why and how,” Yergen says.

Intellect, creativity, curiosity, and talent combined is how Yergen comes up with concepts like Victorian Wonder Woman. It’s why fiber optics and electroforming find their way into costume designs. It’s how, time after time, she nails theater directors’ visions and leaves impressions in the steampunk and cosplay scenes. It’s why she and her design partner were 2019 finalists in the World of WearableArt competition.

Yergen doesn’t consider herself a specialist of any design style. That’s a plus when GCU productions at Ethington Theater are as varied as “Hamlet,” which began the 2022-23 season, and “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical,” playing this month.

At GCU, Yergen splits her time between teaching classes, including introduction to theater, and designing costumes. It’s not uncommon, she says, for her work as a teacher and designer to overlap.

“A lot of it is about spreading the love of learning and the love of art,” Yergen said.

Good teaching is good teaching.

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