Born and raised 90 miles north of Pittsburgh, Borland believed life had more to offer than her tiny hometown of Oil City, Pennsylvania. A talented artist with an insider’s knowledge of carpentry — her grandfather and uncle built furniture for a living — she began venturing off to Ontario, Canada, each year hoping to catch a glimpse of the world-renowned Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
3 comments:
This article is so touching. I grew up in a household that preached the lessons of Mr. Rogers (thanks to my mom growing up with his show and loving it so much that she passed it on to me), and was so unbelievably excited to find out that the art director went to CMU drama! I’ve always loved the show’s attention to detail when it came to the art direction, but was surprised to find out that it was such a temporary set that they had to keep fixing up! I actually laughed out loud when the article mentioned having a world class education in adhesives, because I currently have about 9 different types of glue in my desk in 33. But in all seriousness, those crafty on the spot solutions to problems that we are going to be learning along the way will without a doubt be proven useful, even on the set of a recurring program like this. The fact that Borland had to create an environment that very much did welcome children and provide a safe space for them was a special challenge that they succeeded in. I love that in the photos on the side, Mr. Rogers seemed to have a good relationship with his behind the scenes workers, which attests to his wonderful attitude that I hear so much about. It’s so cool that I go to school just around the corner from where all this magic happened.
This article was so nice to read. It just made me happy. I love that this woman was an artistic director for an incredibly popular TV show, and now she's staying with CMU to be a police officer. What a fun and charming life she is living!! I hope one day I see her In a CMU police vehicle so I can say hi to her and ask her all about this. I think it is so awesome that she was so integral in making costumes and sets for Mr. Rogers, and that she took her job so seriously, yet not so seriously she couldn't let her creativity shine. It's so interesting to me everytime I hear about a CMU alum that they went to the same school as us. Like did they study in 33? I wonder how different the education that CMU provided was back then. Or even how similar it was. It is all so weird to think about.
This article is so pure my heart is happy. I never really watched Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood growing up because it wasn’t during my lifetime, but I have had the chance to watch clips of it via Youtube. I had never really considered how much problem solving and creative thinking it takes to put on a show like this. One quote that really stuck out to me was how she was talking about preserving the set so there was consistency but the set was never built to last in the first place. When she talked about fixing the mint green sink the night before a shoot reminded me of when we had to fix my brother’s car from 1980, but they no longer manufactured the parts for it. Now that solution can be fixed with the power of 3D printing, but that doesn’t quite work with a sink. I think it is so cool how this amazing alum a) found this program b) had such a cool and long lasting and impacting career and c) works on campus now. I do think that this article, due to the fact that it was a CMU written and published article, is a little bit biased or at least used language that hell highlighted CMU. Also I did not like the fact that they said she was accepted into the Set and Costume design program because a) that doesn’t exist (at least now) and b) if anything that would be the undergraduate Design And Production program but they said she got her masters, so did they let her double up which would be completely overworking herself or did the program change or is the article just straight up wrong, in that case what did she actually study while she was here.
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