We were lucky to catch up with Caty Maxey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi CATY, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I have worked as a Production Designer and Art Director for theatre, film, and TV for over 35 years, and made my ongoing personal art as well. Making glass or fabric or ceramic pieces (sometimes stand-alone in one medium, sometimes two media or all three in one) has always helped get through the down cycles of the entertainment industry.
Two years ago I was Production Designer for and incredibly complicated and important project, CIVIL WAR. The film accompanies 4 reporters on their journey to document the contemporary civil war that is raging in a not-too-distant future in America. The subject matter was difficult but extremely compelling- we took our visual cues from global headlines, and it was intense. Blowing up a deli, tracking snipers in an absurd field of giant Christmas decorations, building a mass grave, and destroying the West Wing and its denizens as a gruesome finale. The point of the project was there are many, many questions we need to ask ourselves about the current political situation, and the director chose to not spoon -feed our audience with any easy answers, but to ask us each to think for ourselves. Making this film sharpened my vision and renewed my hope and faith in filmmaking.

CATY, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got into theatre in college- I began as an actress at William and Mary, in main stage and bare-bones lab productions. One night, I was onstage about to deliver a speech, and it suddenly occurred to me that the platform of scenery I was standing on had been thought-out, designed, and crafted by….someone, and it made all the sense in the world to me to do that. I signed up for stagecraft classes and began to learn how what our instructors called “the noble profession”. I loved it, and eventually took a break year to do an internship at a theatre in Richmond, Virginia, where I earned a whopping fifty bucks a week. My boss from those days is still one of my greatest friends, and the lessons I learned in practically every facet of life still sustain me.
After transferring to Virginia Commonwealth University and graduating with a degree in Theatre, I moved to New York, worked for a year on whatever project was 1) interesting in some way and 2) paid the rent. Then I earned my MFA from NYU and transitioned into Film and TV, and left Theatre behind- I won’t say I never looked back- it was incredibly fulfilling, but I found my home in celluloid.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I believe that anything a person makes has value- if for nothing else than the time spent putting any project together. You can build something with love, or hate but never indifference. It doesn’t;t even have to be esthetically profound or even beautiful, but it does have to have some measure of human-ness.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I have always had to pivot- no one always gets the job they wanted, and we still have to make a living- I have been lucky to own a very wide skill set, from painting scenery to drafting and model-making, as well as my more private art.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://catymaxey.com
• Instagram: catymaxey art
• Facebook: catymaxey

Image Credits

A24, film released 4/2024