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Bonds teaching a graduate class in design. |
Alexandra Bonds,
professor of Costume Design
By Brigitta Hawes
Professor Alexandra Bonds, known to her students and fellow faculty members and staff as "Sandy," projects a professional, organized and soft-spoken nature with an unwavering calm that is formidable.
In high school, Bonds experimented with acting. As she puts it she was "a stage-struck actor wanna-be." But after a few on-stage performances she realized that acting was not for her. Having always enjoyed art and design, she decided to focus on stage design in college. After receiving her B.A. from Syracuse University, Bonds pursued her master's at the University of Denver. Her shift to costume design came about entirely by accident.
"There were only two graduate appointments available -- one in stage design, one in costume design. Another student applying first got the stage post, and I ended up with the costume design post. For the first week I was miserable." The turning point, Bonds says, came when: "I realized you don't get hurt in the costume shop and you don't get dirty. I was always covered with paint and hitting my thumb with a hammer." And if dealing with power tools, hammers and nails was too much to deal with, Bonds soon found a "simpatico with fabric."
Over the years, Bonds has developed her costume design renderings into an incredibly precise and beautiful art. Several of these renderings are currently hanging on the interior walls of the costume shop. The shop's manager,
Vicki Vanecek-Young, refers to them as she speaks with one of her student assistants. The watercolor renderings are for the March 2003 Robinson Theatre production of "Le Misanthrope." The depictions of 17th-century court dress are so exacting in their detail that from a distance they seem like an actual photograph.
Costume drawings by Bonds for the production of "Le Misanthrope"
When all is said and done and another flock of design graduates has left to pursue their own destiny, what's the payoff? Bonds says for her it comes 5 to 10 years later, "because you never know when you are teaching a class who is going to use the information and take off with it. And so, I need to be patient."
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