Andrea Huelse

Andrea is a San Francisco native and Flux Factory family member, arriving in New York City for graduate school after receiving her BA at University of California at Santa Cruz. The daughter of two parents involved in the arts, she continued the family tradition with a major in literature and design, then attended New York University in order to receive her MFA in Design for Theater and Film in 1998. Now a freelance designer, as well as an Associate with the design group Creative Production Resources (CPR), Andrea has spent the past five years working hard to build both her business and her home in Brooklyn. Her work can be seen nationally at numerous theaters and film festivals, including the independent film Beautiful World, Pittsburgh Playhouse’s Gulliver’s Travels, the Connely Theater’s Candida, and Marin Theatre Company’s acclaimed Bleacher Bums. Though most of her work centers around the New York City area, productions often take her to other states and occassionaly other countries, an aspect that she finds very pleasurable, as exposure to new ideas and environments often inspires projects back home. Costume Design is her primary focus, and her goals include Broadway and international theater, and opera projects, but scenic painting, illustration, and fashion design have all played a role in rounding out her experience, and she even occasionally finds time to work on her own canvases for both pleasure and sale. This love of painting and the visual arts has motivated Andrea to also work with an entirely different sort of client – the public school children of Brooklyn, organizing art lessons and mural workshops that are free to any Brooklyn school child, providing supplies and instruction at her own cost. She is working with Flux Factory to make these classes available to more children, and to a wider breadth of age groups.

Flux Factory has provided a valuable forum of information and support for Andrea, not only because of the many friends who reside there (and the cable TV), but also because of the events, such as the weekly salons. These provide oppurtunity for exchange of ideas and exploration of studies outside of her own, as well as a supportive venue to which one can introduce a work- in-progress without feeling overwhelmed or vulnerable. The feedback for such new proposals or projects can go a long way towards gaining direction and understanding of one’s own ideas. In addition to the Salon evenings, Flux has also been a space for work and recreation, and a venue to utilize in getting what you need to get done, done. Be it the computer scanner, the dark room, or just a bit of space, everyone here is welcome to turn whatever Flux can offer to an advantage.