Member 920, DGC Ontario Art Department Caucus
Member, Associated Designers of Canada, Sets and Costumes
Biography
Valérie C. Kaelin is a scenographer, poet and educator working in Toronto, Canada. Even as a child she equated dreaming with film-making and began her practice drawing and making hand-puppets and costumes with her mother, Pierrette, for the amusement of friends. Since 1996, she has worked to foster the theory and practise of comparative scenography in the interdisciplinary environment of Theatre, Film, Photography and the New Media: Wherever material culture is designed for performance or a narrative scheme, we find scenography practised across an historical continuum, world-wide. While we hope to master the range of techniques of its design proposals and realizations, they share a common culture of problem-solving and multisensory aesthetic engagement.
Born: December 30, 1953, Urbana, Illinois
1954 - 1955
Bordeaux, France
1955 - 1964
Madison, Wisconsin
Studies dance with Maxine Sheets-Johnstone
1964 - 1965
Bordeaux, France
Cours Moyen I'École Albert Thomas
Suscription, La Comédie Française, Le Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux
1965 - 1972
Tallahassee, Florida and la Province de Gironde, France
1971 - First Place in Pantomime, the Florida State Thespian Conference
1972 - Costume apprenticeship: The Asolo Summer Repertory Theatre, Sarasota Florida
1972 - 1976
BA, Fine Art, Florida State University (Magna Cum Laude)
1974 - Florence, Italy Study Program
1976 - 1978
MFA, Theatre, Florida State University (Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi)
1977 - Costume Apprenticeship, The Oregon Shakespearean Festival
1977 - USITT Travel Grant to Bratislava, the former ČSSR
1977 - 1980
Costume Technician, The Broadway Commercial Theatre, 25 productions
1977 - 1978 Lester Polakov Studio and Forum for Stage Design
1977 - 1978 David Manwaring Studio: Properties Technician
1978 - Ray Diffen Costume Company: First Hand
1978 - 1979 Brooks Van Horn Costume Company: Milliner, Dyer
1980 - Radio City Music Hall: Draper
1980 - 1982
Costume Designer-in-Residence, Lecturer:
California State University, Fresno; designed 17 plays and dances
1982 - 1986
Assistant Professor, Scenography, The Drama Department
Established the Costume Shop and Designed the Costume Curriculum
Concordia University, Montréal, Canada;
designed costumes for 4 plays and sets for 2 plays
1986 - present
Freelance Scenographer, Artist, Educator, Toronto, Canada
1986 - Directors Guild of Canada, Ontario District Council,
Art Department Caucus: Art Director, 8 Art Dir., 2 Production Design
1986 - Freelance Production Designer, Art Director, Drafter, Scenic Painter
and Properties Maker for Film and Television
1986 - Associated Designers of Canada 1 union, 9 non-union
Freelance Set and Costume Designer for Live Theatre
1986 - present
1986 - 1994 - Lecturer and Designer, York University School of Theatre
2008 - 2009, 2010 - 2012 - Lecturer, Glendon College,
Department of Multi-disciplinary Studies
2012 - 2013 - Course Director: “Spatiality and Spatial Representation”
1992 - 1995
Art Director, Groundling Marsh, Seasons I-III, Interactive Film, Portfolio Film and Television
1994 - Gold Medal in Art Direction for "Night and Day", The New York Festivals
1996 - present
Sessional Instructor, The School of Image Arts, Ryerson University
2000 - present
For Poetry, click here.
2004
Exhibition with Poetry Reading: La Scénographie de la Sirène
2005
Costume Designer, Requiem pour un Trompétiste, Théâtre la Tangeante
Group Show: World Stage Design—an International Exhibition of Set, Costume, Lighting and Sound Design,
Mar 12-19. Royal York Hotel, Toronto; works by the artist featured in the digital exhibit.
World Stage Design an International Exhibition of Lighting and Sound Design. 2005 Exhibition Catalogue
Designer Shorts - A Brief Look at Contemporary Canadian Stage Designers and their Work. Ed. Peter McKinnon. Streetsville, Ontario: Associated Designer’s of Canada, 2005.
2006 - present
Author, Coordinator: The Certificate in Design for Arts and Entertainment
The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, Ryerson University
2007 - present
Module I - VI – Animated Tutorial in Manual Drafting, with Dr. Soheil Homayouni
2007 - Module I / VI: "Geometry and Application, Tools and Procedures"
["Drafting for Entertainment: Getting Started"]
The Digital Media Projects Office, Ryerson University
Module II / VI – "Introducing Conventions of Spatial Representation in Drafting: Geometry and Application." Under development and seeking funding.
2007
Costume Designer, Sinbad the Sailor,
Jamsil Station Lotte World, Seoul, Korea; visit to Kyoto
2009
Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile; Zurich, Switzerland
2010
INTED 2010 Valencia, Virtual Presentation: Kaelin, Homayouni et al.
"Bridging Disciplines and Technologies to Experience and Represent Spatiality at the Undergraduate Level: A Project in Ongoing Development."
2011
Second International Conference on the Image, San Sebastian, 26-27 September.
Virtual Presentation: Kaelin and Homayouni. “Partners in Imaging Spatial Dexterity: Math and Scenography.”
2011
The Constructed Environment Conference, Chicago, 29-30 October, Virtual Presentation. Kaelin: “Consider Including Cognitive Scientists on Your Architectural Teams: Providing Access for Hidden Disabilities.”
2012
——— and Homayouni. “Partners in Imaging Spatial Dexterity: Math and Scenography.” The Journal of the Image 2, Issue 4 (2013).
2012
“Consider Including Cognitive Scientists on Your Architectural Teams: Providing Access for Hidden Disabilities.” Typeset proof approved. The Journal of the Constructed Environment.
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