Local 706 - The Artisan

THE ARTISAN FALL 2021 • 41 maintain the proper tension for the cap not to buckle. I met Julia and Robert Stevenson on In Living Color, which garnered us an Emmy nom- ination. Lea was my guide and arbiter of texture and helped interpret texture from the photos sent. She also locked and braided the hair. In the beginning, the only way to get textured hair was to perm it on skewers and toothpicks and air-dry neutralize. One of my first projects with Ziggy was making wigs for Nipsey Russell. At times, you could go through 2,000 skew- ers just to make one head (wig) of hair. It was grueling and time-consuming. Now you can buy AfroTech hair from His and Hers that is fabricated in Korea. Unfortunately, the pre- made hair does not come in ash shades and for men's wigs would sometimes be too warm. We adjusted the tones with fabric dyes. Most of the permed hair was of European, Italian or Indian origin. There were times when I was able to source out actual locks from someone who had grown them. I was able to incorporate them onto the caps and called it our "pin the lock on the wig" game. At first, we were locking directly into the ventilated caps. Later on, we would create the locks separately and crochet them into the caps. We evolved and created the caps and locks as separate appendages. We also crochet braids and other textures. Everybody notices when new techniques are created and they step into the arena. How many wigmakers and ventilators have you mentored? I'm going to say at least seven that stayed with me for a significant amount of time. The longest was Olga for about 28 years and she still works with Rob at Wigmaker Associates. Other people have come (and this is going to sound ageist) but the younger ones were more transient and not because they were not tal- ented but because they were trying to figure out what they really wanted to do in life and would eventually get other gigs that would take them away from the shop. The thing that was unique about Rob is that he came to me already self- trained with an understanding of manufactur- ing and business. He worked really hard to pick up on my specific set of skills and I didn't have to train him from scratch. I could look forward to retiring and have the base of my business continue so my clients wouldn't get dropped. I was lucky to be mentored by so many hair stylists and actors who took me under their wings and allowed me to create wigs for their projects. Robert Stevenson in particular, had me make all the wigs for Samuel L. Jackson over a span of 15 years. Alan D'Angerio helped raise my level of quality and introduced me to Sigourney Weaver. I had so much fun with Mary Ann Valdes and Barbra Streisand. Linda Flowers introduced me to Melissa McCarthy and we created so many wigs for her proj- ects. I must also mention Anne Morgan, Peg Schierholz, Kathy Bates, Dakota Fanning, Jamie Foxx, Courtney Vance, Chadwick Boseman, Bernie Mac, Laurence Fishburne, Delroy Lindo, Woody Harrelson, and all of the Bridges (Lloyd, Beau and Jeff). I got to work on one of your wigs for Delroy Lindo on Feeling Minnesota when I assisted Anne Morgan. It was hilarious, he played a pimp and you nailed it with the half-natural texture/half-straightened (permed) and bleached out tones styled into a ponytail. What other projects are you most proud of? In Living Color happened through Sheryl Ptak and that was a turning point for me. We met when I was with Bill Fletcher and he couldn't do some work for one of her gigs. He had me make a few wigs for her and from that point on she used me. When she got the pilot and the first season, they had me work off-site. Then it became more efficient to have me on-site to help keep up with the demand of the show. It turned out really well. We had to make a Rasta wig on short notice. Lea helped me with the locks. The writers created a nun- chucks gag that they needed me to realize. I prayed about it and came up with a solution. We took two pencils, wrapped them in the locked hair and attached them with a paper clip. Here's a partial list of some of the most memorable projects: What's Love Got to Do with It – Laurence Fishburne Lee Daniel's The Butler – Forest Whitaker Birdman – Michael Keaton The Cider House Rules Feud – Jessica Lange Enchanted – Amy Adams The Walking Dead – Michonne wigs Memoirs of a Geisha The Matrix Galaxy Quest

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