User:Luv.lee.clayton

"Lee Clayton" (11 April 1975 - )

Is a New York Based Designer focusing mainly in Theater and Movies. He is best known for his work on "Violet Tendencies" and "The House of Blue Leaves."

Bio
Lee Clayton is a designer and maker living in New York City. As a ballet dancer in San Francisco, he become aware of how people live together in the world. He saw people of all kinds living in the same city with a positive attitude and this is the basis of all that Lee does. Now, as Lee works in the world of cinema, he is more fascinated than ever with people’s stories, which has been a life long passion.

Lee’s story began in Cincinnati, Ohio at a performing arts high school where he learned bassoon and ballet. Ballet stuck. Later, when he was 16, he left the comfort of his home to pursue ballet at the San Francisco Ballet School. Though these were hard years, SF influenced Lee more than any other place before him. He studied school in the day and in the afternoon studied ballet. After 4 years in the program he became a professional ballet dancer for several years in Cleveland, Denver, Hawaii, and San Francisco.

Ballet was his passion but eventually his passion started to sway and after much deliberation decided to leave the dance world to find a new course.. He moved to Hawaii and became a bartender and enjoyed some much-needed sun after so many years of concentrated work. Hawaii was everything you would dream it to be.

But how many beach days can one have before it’s time to get back in the game. So he picked up and moved back to Denver, where he’d been living and working at the Colorado Ballet before his retirement in Hawaii. It was here, in Colorado, after his mother’s suggestion, that he went to the Art academy and enrolled for Industrial design. Thanks to Lee’s mom, who told him what Industrial Design is, Lee’s is now a professional designer.

And though he had enrolled in the Art Academy, it was not long before Lee got distracted by the nightclub and circuit party world that he was working in now full time as a bartender. With access to a steady cash flow and no particular direction, Lee became a club kid and everything that came with it. He was 24 now and having the time of his life;

The slippery slope of party life took a turn for the worse in San Francisco, which has pulled him back to his old stomping grounds. It got to be too much and Lee needed a change. It was not school that brought him around, but love. It was the first love he had in a long time and it took him all the way to Miami/Ft Lauderdale.

And the hill got steeper until something had to give - but it wasn’t Lee giving up. Though it took a while, he finally made his way to New York and enrolled in Parsons School of Design. He was accepted into the Integrated Design Curriculum program and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts.

IDC allowed Lee to flourish by studying both Product Design and Technology Design. Parsons is an exceptionally intense school. While it is one of the most reputable design schools in the country, its focus is to prepare students to fit into the current system of design.

For many this was enough to fit in, but not for Lee. He worked for a few years doing product design and interiors for a firm, but found no satisfaction at the office. He was determined not to fall into old patterns of giving into being the affected; he wanted to affect his own future. It was hard, but he left the safety of the business world to find his own way again. He needed to stand out and find his own way, and that he did.

About that time an offer came to work on a theater production in Los Angeles with the LA Philharmonic. He took the job and left the safety of the business corporate world to branch out on his own terms and under his own conditions. It was a big risk but it paid off immensely. Though it took several years, his freelance career finally started to accelerate. It was not a straight shot and it was not always clear which way for him to turn, but is’t that what life is about.

After LA, he started with a few random design projects - most of which did not go far enough. But one thing that did catch on was film. He kept seeing and hearing the term, Production Designer. To Lee, this sounded like a person who designed the workings of a movie set. So he researched it and that was it, he knew this is what he wanted to be. The Production Designer is responsible for the over-all look of a movie. They are in charge of the Art Department which builds all the sets and props, as well as several other departments, including hair, makeup and wardrobe.

His first movie, “And Then Came Love,” was eye opening, but not satisfying. In fact, it took him right back to his days of being a cater waiter while in school. He thought this would never do. Later on while working on another reality television show pilot, the designer of that show inspired Lee. She showed him that video could be creative and inspiring, as well as financially viable.

So, the dream was reignited and it was not long before Lee had his first Production Design job working on a movie -it was just the experience he needed to gain confidence and continue to pursue his movie career. Subsequently, Lee has successfully completed about a dozen movie projects. To this day, Lee still works on movies as a production designer making movie magic come to life. He wants more.

In addition to movies, Lee works in the theater, building and designing props for a live animation company in Brooklyn. He designs window displays. He makes and builds his own design/art projects. He also volunteers for Live Out Loud, which brings a positive message to gay youth.

Once a year he goes on a journey to the Black Rock Desert for a one-week art festival called Burning Man. He, his friend Dzu and his bus Bessie enjoy this above all else, well almost all else. Lee also enjoys world travel, having recently been to Europe and the Middle East. He still wants more.

Dancer
Lee trained at the San Francisco Ballet school and went on to dance many years with the San Francisco Ballet. He began his training at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati Ohio. After several years in a regional school he was guided to a more prestigious program that took him from his humble beginnings to the Ballet Met in Columbus and eventually to the San Francisco Ballet School. He performed many times with the company during his four years in the program. It was with great honor he toured with the company of Helgi Thomason's new production of "Romeo and Juliette."

He has performed with the Cleveland San Jose Ballet, The Colorado Ballet, The Hawaii Ballet Theater and guest performed with Lake Arrow Head's Nutcracker. He performed Agnes De Milles's "Rodeo," the Cleveland San Jose Ballet's "Blue Suede Shoes," the first ballet ever performed to Elvis Presley,

Design
Lee studied at Parsons School of Design from 2002 to 2006. He graduated with Bachelor in FIne Arts. He focused in Furniture Design and Design Technology. His senior thesis project is featured in the 2006 parsons’s catalogue.