Class Knox nutrition at Rutgers University last May.
Class Correspondent: Gayle Pikrone Richardson 1220 Crestview Drive, Batavia, IL 60510-1180, gayle.richardson35@gmail.com
1989 Class Correspondent: Mia Jiganti 1850 W. Cortland, Chicago, IL 60622-1035, 773-278-0814, mjiganti@prodigy.net
1990 Class Correspondent: Darcy Turner 520 Colony Woods Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27517, bonetbien1@nc.rr.com
1991 Class Correspondent: Jonathan Sheinkop 260 Cary Ave, Highland Park, IL 60035, jonathansheinkop@hotmail.com
1992 Class Correspondents: Celine Gura Matthiessen 6417 Marlar, The Colony, TX 75056-7119, 469-384-1805, celmatthiessen@hotmail.com Tammy Thorsen Ragnini 912 S. Summit, Barrington, IL 60010-5057, 847-3824022, rragnini1@yahoo.com
1993 Karen Eves Findlay writes: “Wow, my last update was in 2006, and my children were itty bitty, haha. Still in Chelsea, Michigan. Now divorced. Working for the State of Michigan as a social worker. My son is a senior. My daughter is a junior. Both are in robotics. Nick is working on a college plan that steers him toward mechanical engineering (yay, my retirement plan...ahem, what?). 2016 has been a remarkably crappy year, but I do believe we were not the only ones to feel this way. Can’t wait to update this in 2017 with lots of excellent, happy things. In addition to working with kids and families (pretty good at this by now), I pretend to knit and crochet and make jewelry and play with essential oils and herbs (like rosemary and sage, you druggies) very poorly overall, but I have fun on Amazon dreaming big dreams. Find my incredibly average life saga updates on Facebook—Karen Eves Findlay, if you’re interested. You’ll discover middle age rants and memes, like everyone else.” Class Correspondent: Rebecca Gillan Ballard rballard@knoxalumni.org
Liberal Arts Education Invaluable to Oscar-Nominated Work Chris Murrie ’95 Kubo and the Two Strings, an animated feature film edited by Chris Murrie ’95, was nominated for two Academy Awards this year—one for Best Animated Feature Film and the other for Visual Effects. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Motion Picture. Murrie, senior film editor at LAIKA, a film studio in Portland, Oregon, received a 2017 “Eddie Award” from American Cinema Editors and was nominated for a 2017 “Annie Award” from the International Animated Film Society. In addition to Kubo and the Two Strings, Murrie also helped edit LAIKA’s animated feature Coraline, released in 2009, and edited ParaNorman, which came out in 2012— each winning more than 10 film awards.
How has your Knox education impacted your film career? I honestly don’t know if I could do what I do if I hadn’t had a broad liberal arts education. I routinely call on principles I learned across many disciplines. Art, literature, philosophy, history. . . a broad exposure to the humanities is better preparation for working in film than film school is, in my opinion. Having been working in the industry for 20 years now, I can say that film schools turn out competent technicians, but not always great artists. To be a great artist, I believe you need to drink from many, many wells. The technological changes happening in the film world are certainly changing the career landscape, but only in that people are operating different machines or operating more efficiently. The reasons film works as an art form, however, have not changed. Citizen Kane still works because it speaks to a deeper human experience and truth. The technologies will always be changing around the edges of film making, but the reason we love film remains unchanged. Art makes us reflect on ourselves and the world around us. A broad exposure to diverse disciplines and points of view makes us better audiences and better artists. SUBMITTED
1988
What is the most valuable lesson you learned at Knox? One of the most valuable lessons I ever learned about the creative process was in a Knox pottery class. “Don’t be precious” is a mantra I repeat to myself daily. The only way to throw a great bowl, is to throw hundreds of bowls and realize that the individual bowl doesn’t matter. It’s the throwing that matters. You learn to not be precious very quickly in editing. I’ll routinely spend days and days on a particular version of a scene only to throw it out and start over from scratch. Like pottery, the art isn’t in the finished thing, it’s in the process that creates it.
1994 Leslie Combs says that she still loves her job with Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky after 19
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