Sioux City native is production designer for Opera Omaha's 'Aida"
By Joanne Fox Journal staff writer | Posted: Friday, April 11, 2008
Sioux Cityan Catherine Ferguson designed the costume that Elizabeth Blancke-Biggs wears in Verdi's "Aida," presented by Opera Omaha. (Submitted photo)
Catherine Ferguson didn't take any art classes at Heelan High School, although she did babysit for a woman who painted murals.
Four decades later, Ferguson pointed to that "seed" that blossomed into a creative journey -- designing Opera Omaha's production of Verdi's "Aida."
The daughter of George and Pearl Watson graduated from Heelan in 1961 and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in English from Creighton University in 1965. Her first job was writing commercials for WNAX-Radio. She continued in the field of writing while living in Washington, D.C.; then, she and husband Terry Ferguson (a 1960 Heelan alum) returned to the Midwest, landing in Omaha in 1967.
"After that I started raising a family, but working on my own in art," she recalled in a phone conversation from her home. "One thing led to another and in 1973, I joined with some other artists in a cooperative, called the Craftsmen Guild in the Old Market."
Ferguson said she got the "bug" for art when she visited museums in Chicago and then in D.C., spending her lunch hours and weekends visiting art museums.
"It was an attraction for me," she stressed. "I had no idea or thought of being an artist."
But Ferguson did take some art classes in Omaha and started making batiks (a wax-resistant dyeing technique used on fabric) and learned how to screen print. That led to making fabric sculptures, Ferguson said.
"I became more and more interested in three-dimensional work, until gradually the form became more important than the color or the material," she said. "Then I began exhibiting and selling and continuing to study, visiting museums and doing a lot of reading."
Ferguson began accepting a lot of public art commissions. The director of Opera Omaha saw her exhibit at Creighton and saw a connection with a certain opera, but not "Aida," Ferguson said.
"My installations are large and I work with a collaborator so sound and light are included," she explained. "The viewer walks through them. It's different than creating an object that stands by itself; it's an environment that tends to fill a space."
It took some time and another Opera Omaha director before Ferguson and "Aida" joined together.
"Because 'Aida' is considered a grand opera, I took a month to think it over," she admitted. "The task for 'Aida' is larger than for many other operas. At one point there are 80 people on stage."
Ferguson was also concerned that people who had seen the opera would be expecting elephants and grandiose parades; things that aren't all that unusual in this production.
"It gave me pause," she confessed. "But they asked me to design something unusual instead of the traditional 'Aida;' otherwise, they could just rent sets, animals and costumes. They encouraged me to think outside the box."
In April 2006, Ferguson said yes to designing the costumes and the set and set out to find a concept.
"They introduced me to Sam Helfrich who is the director," she said. "We knew from the beginning we didn't want the story of 'Aida' to be lost in the spectacular, but we wanted to create a whole new look for the production."
Ferguson decided to design the set and costume to tell the story.
"What I really wanted to do was create a world that had an essence of ancient Egypt, while avoiding the cliches," she said.
Part of Ferguson's early research for "Aida" included a chance visit to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. While there, she heard a docent talk about the importance of the blue lotus in this civilization.
"When I learned about the cycle of the lotus, opening in the morning and closing at night, I recognized the parallel between the flower and the structure of the show," she said. "The day/night cycle of the lotus was the precise motif I had been seeking for the production."
Ferguson "abstracted" Egypt and made set pieces oversized -- columns 22 feet tall and a 20-foot tall open lotus in front of an orange scrim.
"It's a very colorful production, using rusts, oranges, reds, teals, turquoise, golds, and blacks and white," she said. "I've got thick notebooks of sketch after sketch for costumes and hundreds of computer files for the sets."
Although the work may have seemed at times like constructing Egyptian pyramids, Ferguson said the joy would be when something would fall into place.
"It was also great to collaborate with other people instead of being a solo artist," she said. "I'm working with a director who's 'sculpting' people, giving them expressions and emotions and a lighting director who comes in and 'colors' it all with lights."
Ferguson said opening night was a bit of nervousness combined with a lot of memories. There were 30 friends -- a large number of them her classmates -- who came to the premier.
"There were people from Chicago; Austin, Texas, New York City; Minneapolis; Tacoma, Washington; Denver; and Sioux City," she said. "Some of us had not seen each other from graduation."
No "new" news surfaced, such as tales from high school, but each told stories on each other, Ferguson said.
"One of my friends, Denes Striny, came and since he had sung opera, I had originally asked him if I was crazy to take on 'Aida,'" she said. "He encouraged me and told me the show would be a good match for me."
Since her parents are deceased, Ferguson doesn't make it up to Sioux City as often as she would like. Except for that one annual pilgrimage she makes.
"We buy and pick up our peanut brittle from Whitfield United Methodist Church," she said. "And I've made it to every Heelan reunion."
"Aida" will be presented by Opera Omaha at 7:30 p.m., Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Orpheum Theatre, 409 S. 16th St., Omaha. Tickets are $15 to $95 and are available by calling the Opera Omaha box office at (402) 346-7372 or online at www.operaomaha.org and through Ticket Omaha, (402) 345-0606.
Four decades later, Ferguson pointed to that "seed" that blossomed into a creative journey -- designing Opera Omaha's production of Verdi's "Aida."
The daughter of George and Pearl Watson graduated from Heelan in 1961 and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in English from Creighton University in 1965. Her first job was writing commercials for WNAX-Radio. She continued in the field of writing while living in Washington, D.C.; then, she and husband Terry Ferguson (a 1960 Heelan alum) returned to the Midwest, landing in Omaha in 1967.
"After that I started raising a family, but working on my own in art," she recalled in a phone conversation from her home. "One thing led to another and in 1973, I joined with some other artists in a cooperative, called the Craftsmen Guild in the Old Market."
Ferguson said she got the "bug" for art when she visited museums in Chicago and then in D.C., spending her lunch hours and weekends visiting art museums.
"It was an attraction for me," she stressed. "I had no idea or thought of being an artist."
But Ferguson did take some art classes in Omaha and started making batiks (a wax-resistant dyeing technique used on fabric) and learned how to screen print. That led to making fabric sculptures, Ferguson said.
"I became more and more interested in three-dimensional work, until gradually the form became more important than the color or the material," she said. "Then I began exhibiting and selling and continuing to study, visiting museums and doing a lot of reading."
Ferguson began accepting a lot of public art commissions. The director of Opera Omaha saw her exhibit at Creighton and saw a connection with a certain opera, but not "Aida," Ferguson said.
"My installations are large and I work with a collaborator so sound and light are included," she explained. "The viewer walks through them. It's different than creating an object that stands by itself; it's an environment that tends to fill a space."
It took some time and another Opera Omaha director before Ferguson and "Aida" joined together.
"Because 'Aida' is considered a grand opera, I took a month to think it over," she admitted. "The task for 'Aida' is larger than for many other operas. At one point there are 80 people on stage."
Ferguson was also concerned that people who had seen the opera would be expecting elephants and grandiose parades; things that aren't all that unusual in this production.
"It gave me pause," she confessed. "But they asked me to design something unusual instead of the traditional 'Aida;' otherwise, they could just rent sets, animals and costumes. They encouraged me to think outside the box."
In April 2006, Ferguson said yes to designing the costumes and the set and set out to find a concept.
"They introduced me to Sam Helfrich who is the director," she said. "We knew from the beginning we didn't want the story of 'Aida' to be lost in the spectacular, but we wanted to create a whole new look for the production."
Ferguson decided to design the set and costume to tell the story.
"What I really wanted to do was create a world that had an essence of ancient Egypt, while avoiding the cliches," she said.
Part of Ferguson's early research for "Aida" included a chance visit to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. While there, she heard a docent talk about the importance of the blue lotus in this civilization.
"When I learned about the cycle of the lotus, opening in the morning and closing at night, I recognized the parallel between the flower and the structure of the show," she said. "The day/night cycle of the lotus was the precise motif I had been seeking for the production."
Ferguson "abstracted" Egypt and made set pieces oversized -- columns 22 feet tall and a 20-foot tall open lotus in front of an orange scrim.
"It's a very colorful production, using rusts, oranges, reds, teals, turquoise, golds, and blacks and white," she said. "I've got thick notebooks of sketch after sketch for costumes and hundreds of computer files for the sets."
Although the work may have seemed at times like constructing Egyptian pyramids, Ferguson said the joy would be when something would fall into place.
"It was also great to collaborate with other people instead of being a solo artist," she said. "I'm working with a director who's 'sculpting' people, giving them expressions and emotions and a lighting director who comes in and 'colors' it all with lights."
Ferguson said opening night was a bit of nervousness combined with a lot of memories. There were 30 friends -- a large number of them her classmates -- who came to the premier.
"There were people from Chicago; Austin, Texas, New York City; Minneapolis; Tacoma, Washington; Denver; and Sioux City," she said. "Some of us had not seen each other from graduation."
No "new" news surfaced, such as tales from high school, but each told stories on each other, Ferguson said.
"One of my friends, Denes Striny, came and since he had sung opera, I had originally asked him if I was crazy to take on 'Aida,'" she said. "He encouraged me and told me the show would be a good match for me."
Since her parents are deceased, Ferguson doesn't make it up to Sioux City as often as she would like. Except for that one annual pilgrimage she makes.
"We buy and pick up our peanut brittle from Whitfield United Methodist Church," she said. "And I've made it to every Heelan reunion."
"Aida" will be presented by Opera Omaha at 7:30 p.m., Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Orpheum Theatre, 409 S. 16th St., Omaha. Tickets are $15 to $95 and are available by calling the Opera Omaha box office at (402) 346-7372 or online at www.operaomaha.org and through Ticket Omaha, (402) 345-0606.
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Marilyn Milbrodt wrote on Apr 11, 2008 3:23 PM: