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Colossal Stage Design
Jacqui Pyle talks about her work as an art director for a live entertainment company
Gareth Cattermole/TAS18/Getty Images
How does TAIT use scale in this set for Taylor Swift’s “Reputation” tour?
Courtesy of TAIT
Jacqui Pyle
Jacqui Pyle: I’m the art director for TAIT’s Art & Creative team. TAIT is a global team of creative engineers and producers that create live entertainment experiences, including concerts and theatrical productions. I work with very well-known artists and come up with crazy ideas for stage designs. I work with designers and architects to flesh out these ideas.
SA: Was art a part of your education?
JP: Education for me was difficult. I was always enthusiastic, but I don’t think I was academic. I was given more opportunities to draw because my teachers didn’t know quite what to do with me. It was like being at an art college when I was about 8. I drew all of the time. When I was 16, I went to Paris and to the Louvre. Those are the impressionable years, and I just got passionate about art.
SA: Can you describe the most exciting part of your work?
JP: The discipline of researching is exciting for me. What used to take two weeks, now you just google. Last year I was researching imagery for a design for a band’s tour. I went down a rabbit hole because I started reading and understanding how architects build skyscrapers and how internal structures differ. I’m often all about the form. When you’re finding images, and you’ve got 20 different ways you could go, you have to hone it down. I find that thrilling.
Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
TAIT’s design for Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show this year
SA: What is your working process?
Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images
JP: First you get “The Email” from a prospective client asking if you’d have a look at their idea for a project. I like when the client gives me measurements and the scale of the work in the space. I start by making drawings, and then I make maquettes and models before the final work. Then the pieces go to the technical crew, who disassemble them, dividing them into sections. Even though you may have this great big sculpture, it has to be broken down to go onto dollies and into trucks, and this happens quickly. Then the crew reconstructs it in the event space. Every single piece, every bolt matters.
SA: How is this career challenging for you and others in the field?
JP: It’s really fast-moving. Everyone has to be nice to one another because the more your time is compressed, the more anxious everyone becomes. But the people who are attracted to what we do enjoy that a little bit because most of them would be bored otherwise. Years ago, I thought, I don’t like this. I don’t want to do this anymore. I thought I’d become a watercolorist instead. I did that for about a week, and then I was bored.
Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images
TAIT’s inflatable astronaut for the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards
SA: What do you want people who see your work to walk away with?
JP: It all depends on the show. If I’m involved in a theater piece, and it’s supposed to make the audience weep, then I help to facilitate that. Sometimes I want to make viewers laugh, or hear them say, “Wow!” It’s really expensive going out to live performances. So when someone thinks they’ve had their money’s worth and had a good time, I think that’s fabulous.
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