Beauty Thibodeau

Artist Bio & Experience

While I have formal training in costumes/hair/makeup (and have won national awards in theses fields), I am a self taught visual artist.  My preferred mediums are Watercolors and Oils on a variety of surfaces and Silk.

Now, you may be asking yourself, "Self, if she's so accomplished in these other fields, why isn't she still working in them?"   Great Question.  As a designer or creator in theater and film, your job is to give others (the director, producers, managers, actors, etc) what they want.  Your creation is used to fulfill a role in someone else's production and is always subject to their approval.   While I am exceptional at creative problem solving and have very strong communications skills (both of which are very necessary in theatre), I found I was always being called upon to fix the same issues.  I was either a. working on the same 10 productions because that is what's safe and will pull an audience,  or b., producing a new-work that, because it had no budget, was unable to realize it's full potential and I wasn't getting paid.   As a visual artist, the only individuals I need to consider are myself, my subject (who is often not sentient), and my audience or commissioner.

Additionally, I came to realize how inaccessible most modern theatre is.   In my experience, directors overcomplicate the themes and ideas they are working with.  The result is that that the people who would benefit most from exploring these themes and ideas, can't understand them.  I'm not interested in creating for a limited and closed audience of my peers.  As someone interested primarily in telling universal stories, visual art gives me the ability to create a static product that others can discuss and relate to at their own pace.  My work in theater taught me valuable collaboration, planning, and storytelling skills, but most importantly, it helped me understand the kind of work I want to create.

As someone who has experienced a lot of childhood trauma, I find myself drawn to working with socio-economically disadvantaged Youth & Teenagers, and taught Visual Art for three years with this population.