Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1152740
S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 1 9 | P E R S P E C T I V E 9 K E D R A D A W K I N S is a passionate, multifaceted artist committed to creativity and full self-expression through cinema and artistry. Much of her unique perspective comes from her experience as a youth of Panamanian decent and growing up in Orange County, California, and Okinawa, Japan. She studied environmental design at Cal Poly Pomona and has a BA degree in technical theatre and design with an emphasis in theatrical and costume design. She has been developing her skills over the years in Production Design and obtained a master's degree from the American Film Institute Conservatory in 2014. She was selected for the first Leslie Frankenheimer Scholarship from the Set Decorators Society of America and was one out of three chosen for the Art Directors Guild's Production Design Apprentice Program. Her feature film, For Here or To Go, screened for United States Congress at the House of Representatives in 2016. In addition to her network television experience on American Crime, Scandal and Snowfall, she has also worked in costume and fashion design. She was recently an Art Director on the network series Ambitions with Lionsgate and OWN. Kedra is a member of the Art Directors Guild – IATSE Local 800. P E T E R F R A N C I S joined the film industry in 1989, and began working on films such as David Fincher's Alien 3, Ridley Scott's Conquest of Paradise, three James Bond films, James Cameron's Titanic, two Harry Potters and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. With Production Design being the aim, he worked his way up through the Art Department and began designing award-winning short films such as The Phone Call (Oscar for Best Short Film) and Room 8 (BAFTA for Best Short Film). He then went on to design The Pass, based on the successful play by John Donnelly, starring Russell Tovey and Arinze Kene. Peter teamed up with Richard Eyre and Duncan Kenworthy for The Children Act, based on the Ian McEwan novel, staring Emma Thompson, and then once again on King Lear, starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Jim Broadbent to name a few. C O N T R I B U T O R S S T E P H E N C A R T E R left his undergraduate studies in acting and directing at NYU/ Playwright's Horizons for fear he would be forced to work in television to make ends meet. His early work includes set and costume design for theater at various downtown NYC venues, assisting various designers in regional theater and Broadway. This hard work eventually lead working as an Art Director for feature film, his credits including Alejandro Iñárritu's Birdman for which he won an Art Directors Guild Award. His film credits as Production Designer include Kill Your Darlings, Spotlight (which received an Academy Award for Best Picture), Stronger and Can You Ever Forgive Me? He is both pleased and amused by the fact that he is now earning a living designing for television, despite everything. It's a lot better than he ever imagined. M A T T H E W C U N N I N G H A M Matthew's recent works include vehicle, environment, prop and VFX design for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Aquaman, Suicide Squad 2, George R.R. Martin's Nightflyers, Doom Patrol and Space Jam 2. As an automotive designer, Cunningham has led projects and teams on future vehicles and systems design for companies like Toyota, Mazda and Volvo Trucks. This includes several hydrogen-powered mass transit concepts to be featured at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, and Volvo Trucks Smart Cities initiative. He is an alumni of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he studied industrial, transportation and entertainment design. Cunningham is an international lecturer on creativity and design theory, giving presentations as far afield as India, Greece and China. He currently teaches automotive design at Art Center College of Design and concept design at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art. His automotive design work was recently featured in Robb Report and Robb Report Singapore, shortly following Cunningham Concept Design's success as a top ten finalist in the Automobility LA 2060 design competition, alongside corporations such as Honda and Herman Miller.