About

“Blaze” Baronian is a Californian author and illustrator who is a veteran Professor of Foundation Arts at the Savannah College of Art and Design.  

“Blaze“ wants to light the world on fire with passion for art.  “Baronian” is her family name which means a great deal to her as a symbol of survival.  Her grandfather was the only child of nine to survive the Armenian Genocide, escaping, narrowly with his mother and father, to America. Eight children were lost, a fact that haunts her to this day. As those who are survivors of genocide know, no one ever speaks of what happened, leaving much up in the air to the imagination.

She creates work that she hopes to lead to laughter, as we all struggle with the absurdity of being human.  She explores how we artists find resilience in a world that viciously attacks artists.  Her work aims to answer the question: what do we do when we risk putting out our true selves as creatives, and the world says we are wrong or unwanted?

When she is not drawing or writing, she is visiting any museum in sight and wandering the streets of Paris.  She loves learning about history that is very human, and not boring.

Awards and Recognition

Presidential Sabbatical Award, Savannah College of Art and Design

Presidential Fellowship Award, Savannah College of Art and Design

Academy of Art College, First Place for animated short film full color. “Nirvana?! Nirvana!”

Bes Kimberly Grant, Carnegie-Mellon Most Outstanding Costume Design

Approved to handle and review the complete sketchbooks and photographs of Edgar Degas at the Bnf Richelieu Collections, Paris, France in support of her research for her novel “The Perils of Fifi La Pooshe”

Student of French language and cultural arts at La Sorbonne, Paris, France,  l’été 2023-2025

Oral presentations made for her studies:

“Deux Artists, Deux Mondes, Un Rêve” a comparison and contrast of Claude Monet and Jackson Pollock addressing their shared dream that mankind might stop killing one another.

“Edgar Degas: heròs secrèt .”  A presentation proving that Degas did not approve of the abonnés taking advantage of the young ballet students by using his artwork, discreetly, as proof.

Entertainment industry experience in costume design

  • Film experience

    • Key draper, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, Orion Pictures

    • Make-up crew, Day of the Dead, Laurel-Day Productions

    • Draper, Lambada! Light the Night on Fire, Cannon Pictures

    • Key costumer, Maniac Cop II, FADD Productions

    • First hand, Terminator II, Carloco Productions

  • Television experience

    • Costume designer, “Angel Street,” Murder Mystery Pilot, T.C.I. Cable, Marin, CA

    • Key draper, “A Star for Kitty,” Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, PBS, Pittsburgh, PA

    • Draper, Extraordinary Woman, Movie of the Week, CBS, Kelly Magillis Producer

  • Theater experience

    • Costume designer, Ringling Brother’s Clown College, Ringing Brothers, Venice, FL

    • Costume designer, Cancion Mixtexa, Dance Alloy, Pittsburgh, PA

    • Costume designer, Tales of the Vienna Woods, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

    • Costume designer, Vanities, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

    • Costume designer, Room Service, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

    • Costume designer, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Berkeley Ballet, Berkeley, CA

    • Costume designer, Dames at Sea, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA

    • Costume designer, Don Quixote: Pas Des Deux, Golden Gate Ballet, San Francisco, CA

    • Costume designer, Betty Boop-Boop-A-Do, Golden Gate Ballet, San Francisco, CA

    • Costume designer, The Imaginary Invalid, Saint Mary’s College, San Francisco, CA

Organizations

  • Member, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

Publications and presentations

  • “Is Digital Drawing the Enemy? Learning to Dance with the Digital Devil.” Sketchpads, iPads and Smartphones Oh My! How Do You Teach Introduction to Drawing in the Digital Age? panel presentation at FATE conference “Teutonic Shifts.

 
CONTACT BLAZE