Man with a Mellow Mood – Visual Arts Student Spotlight

This week our spotlight lands on Johnathan Mellow, who is a second semester Entertainment Technologies major. Even though this is only his semester at Gulf Coast State College, Johnathan already feels well acclimated to the campus and the faculty. He is learning a lot from his classes and can’t wait to feel his expertise growing in this field. In fact, you might be surprised just how much he already knows about it. This major does require a great deal of work, not forgetting about the physical labor that is one of the main parts of it, but that doesn’t mean that Johnathan can’t have fun at the same time.

This graphic belongs to Gulf Coast State College and Chelsea Spiers, 2019

The daily tasks for an Entertainment Technologies major usually entails building sets for whatever show they have coming up, and if the show has already passed, the theatre department changes pace and begins the long process of tearing down. Besides that, the main portion of theatre tech work focuses on painting these sets. After the musical and play season has passed for the semester it is time to focus on each student’s projects. These assignment’s due dates are tailored to not conflict with the busy schedule of production times, so all of Johnathan’s projects are due the last few weeks of school. It might seem nice to not have to worry about homework until the last part of the semester, but Johnathan says that it can prove to extremely hectic if you aren’t organized.

These projects can cover a wide range of topics and mediums, each of them fitting in the world of theatre production. Some of Johnathan’s upcoming projects are focusing on different kinds of lighting that is needed for stage production. And you might think that it sounds like a simple project, Johnathan tells me that there is much more to it than you might think. You must take into account different kinds of lights that might overpower others, not to mention colored lights that can change the mood you are trying to set for a particular scene. There are also painting, sandstone, and marble projects on Johnathan’s horizon. He seems to be in good spirits about them, so I am sure that he has them all well under way.

Originally Johnathan was music production technology, a field that his older brother had gone into before him, but sadly the major was dissolved last year after several of the professors retired, and it was absorbed by the Entertainment Technologies department. This might seem like a huge letdown to most people, but it was like a breath of fresh air to Johnathan. You see, he is actually a big fan of carpentry, and has been for a long time. If it wasn’t for this apparent set back in his major dissolving, he might not have ever been able to rediscover this long-lost love. And the change in atmosphere proved to be a bit of a challenge at first, but Johnathan has already been able to adapt to his new surroundings. The noise factor, from all of the power tools being used was one of his biggest obstacles, and it is almost unnoticeable now.

In fact, taking what he learns from this program and moving into a career as a carpenter is exactly what Johnathan plans to do. Being that this has been something he was interested in for the past decade, it is easy to see that it is a passion. Even though this passion has fallen to the wayside over the past few years, with graduating high school, getting a job, and beginning college being the main factors. Even though it may have gotten dusty, his love for woodcraft hasn’t tarnished. All he needed to do was dust off his tools and get building again. After all, this was a family activity for Johnathan. Johnathan shared with me that his older brothers have been a big influence for him, which we have already been witness to. First there is the case of his initial plans to go into music production, and then his love of carpentry comes from his brothers introducing him to it at a very young age. Having such good memories of this craft can only add to the passion that Johnathan clearly has for this field, and I cannot wait to see how he grows in his knowledge here at Gulf Coast.

His knowledge grew a great deal over this semester as he was able to join the rest of the theatre department at the Southeastern Theatre Conference. Roughly 15-20 people joined him on the trip up to Tennessee, and Johnathan tells me that the drive there and back was rough at times, but he didn’t regret going at all. They were able to stay there for 5 days, and he went to as many workshops as he could manage. I know that Johnathan will take these skills he has learned and apply them to his classes, and I can’t wait to see what he is able to do in the future.

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