Introducing our newest full time employee Craig Gottschalk! Craig joined our team about a year ago as a part time as a lighting designer. Now he is with the Firm Ground team full time and we couldn’t be more excited for you to get to know him a bit more!
If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
Galway, Ireland. I have Irish heritage from my mom’s side of the family and took a two-week trip through Ireland and Northern Ireland just after graduating college. I absolutely fell in love with the west coast of Ireland. Galway is such a fun and vibrant little city between the annual festivals and a pub scene that is better than Dublin (if you can imagine). The landscape in the surrounding areas is gorgeous, and I could spend every day taking in the Cliffs of Moher.
What is your favorite thing about your career?
Light is such an interesting medium to work in. In theatre arts, it is one of the most versatile tools: light can be practical by helping to see or even conceal, subconsciously evoke an emotional response, define space, transport us to a place that the stage can’t (like an underwater scene), and create spectacle – whatever it takes to help support the story being told on the stage. The same principles are at work when lighting is used for architecture depending on the project and the programming. It is exciting work, and with the continual advancement of lighting technology, the possibilities are just about limitless.
If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would it be?
I would love to lace up the cleats and play professional baseball for a day. That’s assuming that some comparable skill level would follow along and keep me from looking too foolish! I played baseball all while growing up, and I always imagined what it would be like to play in the big leagues.
What are your hobbies?
I have a whole bunch of activities I get great enjoyment in doing. I love to read novels (fiction or non-fiction), play guitar, go cycling, watching sports (especially baseball). The one I love the most is hiking. There are some beautiful trails in the MN/WI area, and our family likes packing up the backpacks, taking a drive, and hitting a trail for an afternoon – especially on a crisp fall day.
What's the tallest building you've been to the top in?
I have to chuckle at this question. I have driven through Chicago more times than I can remember and have taken numerous trips to that city for various things, but I’ve never been to the top of Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower). So, I would have to say it’s the Empire State Building during a choir trip while I was in college. I don’t even think I have pictures saved from that visit up the 102 floors, but I do remember the incredible view it afforded the few of us that went up.
What's your favorite zoo animal?
Zoo or wild it has to be the Cheetah. They are powerful and sleek with how they are built for speed, yet there is gracefulness with their movements. I remember watching a National Geographic video recorded at a speed of 1200 frames per second of a cheetah running at full speed. It was beautiful and amazing to watch this creature become completely horizontal to the ground with each powerful stride of its hind legs while running 60+ miles per hour.
What’s the best single day on the calendar?
The Summer Solstice! My family and I are usually at my wife’s family cabin just north of the Brainerd area right around the solstice. Summers there are amazing, and I love the longest day of the year up there where there’s still a sliver of daylight at 10:30pm.