Wow! So much has happened in the world, and in our little world, since we last updated you in March. Though the world changes are still settling, we’re excited about the directions AMUA has been taking over these past couple of months.
- We say farewell to our oldest instructor, Kevin St. James
- We say hello to two exciting new instructors
- We embrace online education and blended learning for the future
- We cancelled a lot of summer camps, but are still offering our oldest camp, Movie Magic
- We prepare to enter a new frontier of teaching students how to navigate the classroom and their careers post-COVID-19
Farewell and best of luck to Kevin!
Kevin St. James has been an instructor at AMUA since 2015. Over the past five years, he’s made a positive impact on hundreds of now professional makeup artists. Kevin is very creative and has practiced not only as a makeup artist and instructor, but also as a photographer, film producer, musician, and comedian. He’s recently been offered an opportunity to further his career as a producer, and we wish him the very best!
Thank you for your service to AMUA, Kevin!
I shared a lot of my personal experiences while at AMUA, so if you were in any of my classes you already know that my experiences went beyond makeup and into other realms of production as well. A couple of years ago I quietly wrote and produced my first feature film which was bought by a small distribution company. That led to another deal writing and directing a small, low budget series ("Stranger Hearts" on Amazon Prime). It really is who-you-know, as that networking ball just kept rolling. Right before the pandemic, I was offered a small contract to produce two more projects. In the downtime of quarantine I did a lot of soul searching and decided the winds of change are blowing. I'm taking the plunge into this new frontier! I had a long and enjoyable stint at AMUA and I wish all of my students, as well as future ones, well in their pursuits.
Kevin left some big shoes to fill, and we are confident we’ve found the right candidate. Logan has vast experience as a costume designer, makeup artist, and wig maker. She has lots to share with future students studying at Academy of Make Up Arts and will be teaching beauty, costuming, and photography courses at AMUA beginning in the fall of 2020.
Logan is a hair and makeup artist with a background firmly rooted in collaborative design. She is passionate about bringing to life the details of a character in film and television. Through her own educational experiences, first studying costume design and technology at the University of Evansville and later earning her MFA in wig and makeup design and technology from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, she sparked a joy for teaching. As her work took her to theaters and festivals across the country, she sought opportunities to enrich and empower other artists. Logan is eager to use her experience to help the students of AMUA become well rounded and well respected professionals.
Loryn is an amazing art historian and artist living and working in New York City. She’s already been an amazing contact for grads of AMUA moving to the big apple, and she’ll begin teaching History of Makeup and Intro to Drawing via online beginning this fall. In case your curious, YES you can enroll in her online courses! Contact us for more info on that.
Loryn Pretorius is a lecturer in The Art of Adornment: History of Hairstyling, Makeup, and Body Modification, and Drawing for the Makeup Artist classes at the Academy of Makeup Arts. She received her BFA in Art History from the University of South Florida in 2012, and her MFA in Wig and Makeup Design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2015. She is a full-time working makeup artist and bespoke wigmaker based in New York City, and currently tours with the band, The B52s, as personal makeup and wig artist to Kate Pierson. Past credits include: personal artist to Renee Fleming and Ben Whishaw (2019), principle makeup artist at the Metropolitan Opera (2017-18), and the Makeup Supervisor on the international tour of Shrek the Musical (2016-17).
Through interactive and hands-on training students will learn how to create realistic bruises, injuries, frostbite, and old age on themselves. By the end of the week, our creative campers will put their imaginations and special effects skills to work by designing and creating their very own zombie!
Materials will be available for students to use in the studio, but we recommend bringing your own set of cheap, all-purpose paintbrushes. Click here to sign up!
