Tear Down This Wall: The Renaissance Pioneer or the Specialist?

Naomi Miller is a designer and scientist working at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to improve lighting quality using LED light sources and to bridge the gap between technology and application. Her pet peeves include flicker and glare, and she is an active member of CIE and IES committees developing recommendations on outdoor glare, flicker, and light’s effect on human health.

Stan Kaye is the founder and principal consultant of SKD. Throughout his 35 years of experience as a designer, educator, and consultant, projects have taken him to nearly all fifty states as well as Europe, Asia and Australia.  He has served as the director of the graduate design program at the University of Florida from 1999-2003 and 2011-present.  He held membership in United Scenic Artists local 829, the Illuminating Engineers Society, and the International Association of Lighting Designers. Combining an interest in photography, the human visual system, entertainment design, and museum artifact illumination, he has developed a deep knowledge and expertise in lighting design and technology for performance facilities of all types as well as architecture and museums.

Scott Rosenfeld is lighting designer at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery. Scott’s research focuses on detailing the attributes of light, luminaires, and what makes a successful lighting design.  He is especially interested in discovering the relative merits of metrology vs. a designer’s eye. To achieve this goal Scott collaborates with color scientists to learn how light may improve vision, manufactures on how to build a better luminaire and museum conservation scientists to reduce the damage to artifacts. Scott is a Fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society where he leads an international team of experts to develop ANSI Standards and best practices. 

Kathy has designed lighting for Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theatres such as American Conservatory Theatre, Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory, Seattle Repertory, St. Louis Black Repertory, Alliance, Goodman, Steppenwolf, Baltimore Center Stage, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, New Federal Theatre, Mark Taper, Yale Repertory, Actors Theatre of Louisville, People’s Light, and Playmakers Repertory. Kathy is the recipient of numerous research and design awards, including Ford Foundation, Fulbright, National Endowment for the Humanities, an NAACP Image Award and Henry Hewes Design Award. In 2007 she was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. She received her BFA from Howard University and M.F.A. from the University of Michigan. Kathy is faculty Emerita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In his 40+ year career Dennis has designed the lighting for shows on every major television Broadcast and cable Network. His international design repertoire includes theatre, dance, live events, soap operas, talk shows, news magazines, government projects, corporate facilities, concerts, sporting events, political conventions, Presidential debates, award shows, and the latest ‘craze’ – home studios and podcasts. He’s written for trade journals and taught at several Universities, including Carnegie Mellon, Penn State, and the University of Scranton. He has been nominated for the EMMY Award 12 times, and has won five. Dennis is an Executive Vice-President of the LIGHTING DESIGN GROUP—an international Broadcast lighting design company headquartered in New York City.

Chip Israel has been a lighting designer for over 35 years. In 1992, he founded LIGHTING DESIGN ALLIANCE, a full-service architectural lighting design firm, where he built a highly-select team of lighting design professionals who now serve a variety of clients worldwide. As CEO and Founder, Chip works closely with the owner, design team, and manufacturers to ensure lighting systems are fully integrated with the architectural design and enhance the designer’s concepts.

He has been elected as a Fellow of the IALD, the International Association of Lighting Designers; Fellow of the IES, Illuminating Engineering Society; has received the Pennsylvania State University College of Engineering’s highest award, the Outstanding Engineering Alumnus Awards and Martin’s Professional Lighting Designer of the Year. He currently serves on three Technical IES Committees and is Past Board of Directors and Past President of the IESNA, Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. Chip is also Past President of both, the IALD Education Trust and the Designer’s Lighting Forum.

Chip is committed to promoting excellence in lighting design through education. As a leading industry spokesman, he has presented technical papers and educational seminars in over eleven countries and lectured at over a dozen universities across the country.

Lighting Design Alliance has also been recognized by winning over 300 National and International design awards, including multiple awards for sustainable lighting design.

Jeff Ravitz is a Primetime Emmy®-winning lighting designer, lecturer, and writer specializing in live entertainment being captured for multi-camera television. He is the co-author of the book, Lighting For Televised Live Events. Jeff has designed TV specials, from awards shows, concerts and stand-up comedy to debates, interviews and entertainment scenes in films. He is the broadcast lighting advisor to the Coachella festival. His concert credits include world tours for Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, John Mellencamp, Styx and Ringo Starr. Jeff was named a Parnelli Lighting Designer of the Year. His design firm, Intensity Advisors, is based in Los Angeles.

Anne Militello is an internationally recognized lighting designer and fine artist with a career spanning all aspects of creating with light. Noted theater work includes original productions directed by Sam Shepard, Maria Irene Fornes, and David Lynch; the Broadway production of ‘Cuba and His Teddy Bear;’ and Christopher Alden’s opera production of ‘The Flying Dutchman.’ She has designed touring concert productions for Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Robert Plant, KD Lang, Lou Reed, The Decemberists, Neil Young and Pearl Jam. Numerous architectural projects include the façade of the New 42nd Street Studios and original integrated light art and media installations that continue to grace buildings in NYC. She designed Disneyland attractions with Walt Disney Imagineering and worked with Universal Studios on ‘The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man.’ Anne is the Principal and Founder of Vortex Lighting.