A French-Indian girl from the bayous of Louisiana who loves to dig in the dirt and climb trees. I grew up with my grandfather, the band director, on the stage, playing music and being inspired by the creative world. Made my way through architecture school as the only girl in the graduating class and receiving an internship to NYC as a lighting designer. Two years working on the Statue of Liberty and other amazing projects, I made my way south again into Stage Production as a lighting designer for Pete Fountain Productions, Stage Right and numerous arenas and theatres as a rigger building steel for the Rolling Stones, to rigging the pig for Pink Floyd and riding truss spot for 5 years. Taking my son in tow, we moved to Arizona for a Masters in Solar Architecture and learned how to build with earth and straw from the elders. Taking all of that, merging my architecture with archaeology I moved to Portland in 1996, opened my own Ecological Design School, taught at Portland State and finished a PhD in Env. Archaeology working on Easter Island for the last 14 years. As a teacher 2 years ago I landed on San Juan Island to teach archaeology and began volunteering at the San Juan Community Theatre. This time lights and sound and all in between. Its been a welcome return.
Skills
1. Architectural drafting, building and design including earth materials and plasters with ancient techniques using natural materials
2. Artist, sketching, rendering, painter, clay sculptor,
3. Lighting Designer, technician, sound board operator, stage crew,actress and musician
4. Climber, Wilderness First Aid Certified, Mazama, REI Climbing Supervisor
5. Excellent organizational skills, leader of expeditions, field schools and teaching
Education
2011 Ph.D. Environmental Archaeology/Science Portland State University, Oregon
Deforestation, Drought and Humans: New Discoveries of the Late Quaternary Paleoenvironment of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
2001 Post-GRAD: Cultural Anthropology, Methods and Theory Portland State University
1993 M.S. Building Design/Solar Arizona State University, Tempe.
Passive Solar and Thermal Mass in the Ancient Buildings of the Anasazi and Pueblo People
1986 B.Arch (5yr Prof degree)/Anthropology (dual degree focus) Univ. of Louisiana, Lafayette.
THEATRICAL Lighting
Work experience includes – Stage production, rigging, follow spot, truss spot, lighting design, architectural drawings, lighting designer and operator, electrician, carpenter, wardrobe, equipment and forklift operator. A brief listing of tours and shows – Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, INXS, Simple Minds, Disney on Ice, The Cure, James Taylor, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Def Leppard, The Nutcracker, Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli and Sammy Davis Jr. (1536 hours* tour list available upon request)
ARCHITECTURAL Lighting
Architectural lighting experience includes – Design in lamps, reflectors, and fixtures. Layouts of detail drawings, site observation, focusing, circuiting, distribution, dimming and control systems, computer specs and construction documents.
Major jobs designed and worked – Statue of Liberty, NYC; IBM Westlake, Dallas; Univ. Circle Dev.,Cleveland; McCarter & English, NYC; Fulton County Gov’t Ctr., Atlanta; Century City, Los Angeles; U.S. Embassy, Oman; Ankara, Turkey; Cityfront, Chicago; ABC West End, NYC; Bal Harbour, Florida.
UNIQUE ARCHITECTURAL EXPERIENCE
25+ years in Ecological Design/Build including Strawbale construction; Rammed Earth,
Adobe and Earthships; Living Roofs; Rastra Block; No Site-Waste Pre-Fab House Designs; Passive Solar and innovative breathing house designs; Rainwater collection and Greywater collection, Blackwater, Compost and Living Machine designs; Solar Thermal Heat-Exchange systems, SHW and solar hot tubs; 100% veggie oil furnace design; Bottle walls, cob, organic stucco recipes and innovative local natural material incorporation. (http://www.solar783.com/HP129_pg48_Patterson.pdf)
RECENT WORK EXPERIENCE
2015 to current San Juan Community Theatre, Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, Sound and LightTechnician including: Pigs on the Wing, The New Old Time Chautauqua, Lord of the Stark Realm, OnBook Theatre, Almost Maine, 9-5 productions.
References: Bobby Ryan, Artistic Director SJCT; John Shaller, Technical Production Manager and Cole Arendt and Parin Columna stage and volunteer coordinators. 360-378-3210.
