Hark back to the bygone warmer days of October, and of the memories that trickle out of the foggy haze of pre-Thanksgiving languor. There should, hopefully, be a few of the Big Game. And if it’s not too much of a challenge, try to remember what made the 115th Big Game so special. And of course, it was freshman Reade Levinson’s genius, if a little gruesome, Beat Cal poster representing Stanford.
INTERMISSION (INT): What gave you the inspiration for “Decalpitated”?
Reade Levinson (RL): That was actually Samantha [Maiorana ‘14]’s phrase.…I love challenges, so when I heard about [the poster competition], I just really wanted to do it, and I really wanted to win. I wanted to do something intense and gory, just because it’s so much more fun to paint. And then after Samantha had that idea, I just went with it. I had so much fun painting. To see it take shape, and to see how excited everyone in the dorm was about it, made me really happy. I feel like it brought our dorm together a little bit because we all went out to cheer it on.
INT: When did you get into art?
RL: I’ve been into art ever since I was five years old, when I drew a picture of a lion and it turned out just the way I wanted. Recently I had another look at it, and it was a disaster! But I was super small back then.
INT: What have you done since then?
RL: Drawing, figure drawing, sewing–I started sewing in fifth grade. In high school, I decided I wanted to paint, so I took a painting class [at Interlochen Center for the Arts]. I did collages; I designed costumes and stage makeup for theatre; I made a quilt in freshman year of high school. I also do calligraphy, photo manipulation, Photoshop–pretty much everything!
INT: So you’d say you’re really into art and crafts.
RL: Yeah–though not crafts for decoration’s sake, but more for a purpose.
INT: What’s your favorite thing ever that you made?
RL: Favorite thing ever, including designing and costumes? I had a really good friend who wanted me to make her homecoming dress. She was very specific about how it should look. All big dresses nowadays are really low-cut and really short, and she wanted hers to be elegant but also form-fitting, and she wasn’t going to find a dress like that [at a store]. So we designed it together, and I measured her and made it, and it turned out just the way she wanted it. She didn’t really dress up ever, and it was the first dress she’d ever had that was what she wanted it to look like. She was so happy at prom.…It made my life to make her so happy! So, probably that.
INT: Since arriving at Stanford, what have you been involved in, arts-wise?
RL: I take Sculpture 1, I’m attending a drop-in figure drawing class on Mondays, I did makeup and some costumes for the Gaieties production and I taught a stage makeup class for Splash. I also finished a painting of a cat that’s hanging up on Maya [Krishnan ‘14]’s door. I did the freshman art showcase, too, which displayed my painting of my stepmother, Naomi.
INT: One last thing–do you follow college football?
RL: No [laughs].