Today we’d like to introduce you to Abigail Mansfield Coleman

Hi Abigail, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.

I’m Abigail Mansfield Coleman. I am an artist and utilize the field of costume design to showcase my art. I design for mainly theatrical productions, but also have worked with wearable or more sculptural art, sustainable fashion efforts, styling photoshoots and album covers, and stage makeup design. I am also a mentor and an educator in these topics.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

The roughest part of my journey into this field was committing to choosing it. I have a performance background and trained in that first, not costume design, even though I have done costume design for over 15 years at this point in my life. Performance and costume design are on equal playing field now in terms of formal training and professional experience.

As an artist, your art starts as a part of you, sometimes a hobby, sometimes more, and as you continue to train and grow, as it consumes more of your time and life, sometimes you can start to loose the joy that brought you to your art in the first place. I have come close many times and had to take breaks for fear of burning out, or starting to hate my art. In fact, I chose costumes design over performing because performing had lost its sparkle and joy for me and I wanted to take a break to reclaim that love. Like I said, you have to recommit everyday, keep reminders of why you do this or else nothing matters. It is a struggle somedays, but continuing to find joy is key to any artist’s journey

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?

As I said earlier, my field is costume design, mainly for theatrical performances, but I have recently been working on sustainable costume/fashion research and initiatives. I feel costume design has adequately prepared me in a way for this research because in a costumes shop, everything is reusable. When you hem a pair of pants, you don’t cut off the length you don’t need and discard it, you press it up and flat and keep the pants original length intact for when they will inevitably be used again and the hem needs to be let out for a taller performer. I also like to experiment with unusual mediums for costumes and wearable art pieces.
I would say in productions I have worked on, I am known for my use of color, specifically color coordination, to define characters and family groups. I also love to play with color in historical productions that might not be entirely accurate, but does make the performance have a more modern feel. Recently I did a production of Little Women, so set in the 1860s, and put the March sisters in a lot of jewel tones and bright colorful florals. Each sisters’ color palette was based on a season, and while a bright pink for Amy March’s spring color palette maybe wasn’t available to someone in the March sisters’ class station, it is more fun to look at on stage and under the lights than the more practical and accurate tones of brown they would have had access to.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?

For me, finding a mentor has always been reaching out to people I want to be my mentor. Most people are extremely receptive to an email saying, “Hey, I’ve seen your work and it aligns with what I’m working on or studying. Are you open to talking with me about your work?”. I’ve also had great luck at conferences and just going up and starting conversations with other professionals. 99% of the time, other artists are more than happy to talk about their work and are looking to expand their networks as well. Sometimes you just have to initiate a conversation and you’ll end up with a wonderful mentor relationship. One of my longest held mentors I met when I was 16 because I just asked if I could work with her and a group of other local costumers. Graduate school is also a way to find mentors in your professors.

Mentorship is key in developing yourself as an artist. You need to have someone that holds you accountable, someone you can go to for an honest opinion on your art who will give you critiques to further your career. That relationship is key, and I feel honored to continue that with my own students.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://abigailmansfieldcoleman.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abigail_mansfield_coleman/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abigailmansfieldcoleman/

Image Credits

Photographer credits:

Catherine Dooley. Carly Scrum in partnership with the Daily Iowan, Adam Knight, Kaelen Novak, Rob Merritt, and Midwest Wedding Co.