Two Notre Dame women win awards in their fields, for design and the arts
Two stars in their respective fields. Two women with Notre Dame ties. One is a designer and inventor. The other is a teacher, artist and mentor. Both are good at what they do and recently won awards. Time to introduce Julia Cutajar and Christy Burgess.
Julia is a senior at Notre Dame and she is the designer part of this story. She received third place in the annual Student Design Competition for the International Housewares Association. The winning industrial design students and their products will take part in the Inspired Home Show scheduled for March 17-19 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.
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Besides being with lots of creative people in Chicago and having a good time, she won $1,500.
Her design is “Swishy,” a toothbrushing companion for children. It encourages children to brush longer and better. The kid-friendly design features a whale with a mouth full of teeth. The teeth light up in quadrants to show kids which teeth they should be brushing as they follow along with the two-minute-long sequence. The whale’s blowhole doubles as a toothbrush holder and triggers the whale’s mouth to open and close when the toothbrush is removed and replaced.
The competition asks college students to redesign an existing housewares product to meet future needs or a whole new product. Winners are selected for innovation, understanding production and marketing and quality. There were more than 350 entries.
Julia is from New York and planned to study architecture at Notre Dame. Her direction shifted to smaller designs, smaller products. “I have a great passion for designing for children. Take a mundane task, but an important task. Make the task engaging.” That’s what good design does.
Julia studied the design possibilities and talked to parents during the fall semester. “There were 50 ideas, and I narrowed it down,” she said. From there it was design, 3D printing and testing. “The whale fits into a bathroom theme and it is not jarring.”
The brushing process begins with squeezing the tail to activate the LED timer. “Each of Swishy's teeth light up green in succession for 35 seconds leaving some buffer room for spitting out toothpaste and potential distractions.” When the job is done, all the teeth are green.
In the marketplace, Swishy would be about $20.
She said the show may lead to an internship, employment or the chance to sell Swishy to a business.
How about an appearance on “Shark Tank?” Julia said it was something to discuss.
Her dream job is to continue designing for special needs children. “If you can design for a task, adapt to the skills, that is a confidence booster. The chance to help them to be self-sufficient is special. They are an underserved community.”
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The teacher and mentor part of this is Christy Burgess. She is the director of the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival's Community Company and works with the Robinson Community Learning Center. She recently won the Governor’s Arts Award, which is Indiana’s highest achievement in the arts.
“I’m so humbled to receive this award. It is such an honor. It means that the arts are important to the development of children. They learn language, the depth of knowledge,” Christy said. “They gain confidence to do anything.”
Lining her office walls are posters from performances and photos of students. Many of her actors/students went to college and careers in many fields. This year, 36 students are in the Shakespeare program at Robinson.
Christy attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks and received her master's degree in drama and theater education from the University of Warwick, Coventry, England. Before moving to South Bend, Christy worked at the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre as the education manager.
In Alaska, she traveled the rural parts of the state and led Shakespeare workshops with youths and Alaska Native elders. Christy was the North American teaching consultant for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2012-13 and currently serves as the education committee co-chair for the Shakespeare Theatre Association.
She arrived in 2008 from Alaska and things haven’t slowed down. As director of NDSF's Community Company, she leads the ShakeScenes, an annual Shakespeare event for students from kindergarten through high school, as well as Shakespeare After Hours, an adult event.
Since moving to South Bend in 2008, Christy also has acted with such local theaters as South Bend Civic, The Acting Ensemble and New World Arts.
At Robinson, she is the outreach director and there she has reached thousands of students and hundreds of teachers with drama classes, workshops and productions. Christy directs the RSC through three performances each year and guides youth participation in the English Speaking Union Shakespeare Monologue Competition.
In 2017, Christy and the RSC journeyed to London and Stratford-upon-Avon where they were the first company to perform at Shakespeare’s New Place and also received a workshop onstage at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
She recalled the introduction of Shakespeare to the Robinson community was a challenge. She said Velshonna Luckey, who was the youth development program director, opened doors in the community and got the idea to work. It took off and is a loved addition to the center.
“I love what I do," she said. "I love teaching.”
Kathy's email is kfborlik@yahoo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame women win awards in design and arts fields
