Our Work
This portfolio/dossier is crafted for the Creative Arts Commission LOI reviewers. The endeavors highlighted here are selected to show our creative capability and ability to manage project logistics.
You will see seven citations from Jesse Ferguson followed by three entries from Brenda.
Welcome!
01
Full-Scale Wilderness Tabernacle Replica
Jesse constructed a full-scale replica of the biblical wilderness Tabernacle commissioned by Meridian Church in Idaho. The project involved researching biblical descriptions and Jewish writings, interpreting those sources through physical craftsmanship, and creating detailed furnishings and artistic elements.
Among the project's most distinctive features were hand-sculpted wooden furnishings and original designs for the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark included relief panels depicting biblical stories, as well as artistic representations of Gabriel and Lucifer whose gestures conveyed aspects of the spiritual conflict central to the Great Controversy theme.
This work demonstrates Jesse's ability to translate theological concepts and biblical narratives into physical forms that invite people to engage with their meaning. That same combination of theological imagination and visual storytelling is central to Gethsemane: Making the Invisible Visible.
Documentation: Heidi Baumgartner, “Adventist Artist Sculpts Visual Story,” Northwest Adventists, December 20, 2019.
https://nwadventists.com/news/2019/12/adventist-artist-sculpts-visual-story
02
Beauty and the Beast
Set Design, Construction, and Stage Effects
Jesse designed the set and led its construction with a small volunteer team for a local theater troupe's production of Beauty and the Beast.
The project brought together scenic design, mechanical effects, performer safety, and digital media to create a theatrical environment capable of supporting a visually dynamic production.
Notable elements included:
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An enchanted rose: A practical theatrical effect that allowed the rose to drop its petals automatically.
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Transforming set pieces: Scenic elements designed to change during the performance, supporting transitions and the evolving story.
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Concealed stunt safety features: Hidden crash mats incorporated into the set to support physical stunts while preserving the stage's appearance.
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Large-format digital media: Integration of a 30-foot-wide digital screen into the scenic environment.
The project illustrates Jesse's ability to coordinate a small construction team while integrating mechanical effects, scenic transformations, safety considerations, and digital technology into one cohesive stage design.
These capabilities are directly relevant to the planned Gethsemane production, where lighting, projection, puppetry, stage effects, and physical environments must work together to communicate a complex story.
03
Tiny House Big Living
Design, Construction, and Project Management
Jesse designed and built his own tiny house, an artistically distinctive home featured on Tiny House Big Living, Season 8, Episode 5, titled “Artists Nautical-Fantasy Tiny House.”
Beyond the hands-on construction, Jesse project-managed the contributions of people with different skills who came together to help complete the house for the final reveal shoot used in the episode. This required coordinating work, integrating different specialties, and guiding a complex creative undertaking toward completion on a production deadline.
The project demonstrates Jesse's ability to move between artistic vision, practical construction, technical problem-solving, and collaborative leadership. These same skills are essential to theatrical production, where sets, props, lighting, effects, and digital elements must be integrated into a finished audience experience.
See Episode:
04
My Face
Ancient Jerusalem Unit Art Direction
Jesse served as Art Director for the Ancient Jerusalem unit on the recently released film My Face. This work involved contributing to the visual environment of a film production through art direction and set design.
The experience extends Jesse's work beyond live theater into screen production, where visual details, setting, and the relationship between physical environments and the camera all contribute to storytelling.
His experience with historical and biblical environments is especially relevant to a production centered on the life of Jesus.
05
Drummer Boy
Scriptwriting and Stage Design
Jesse and Brenda originally wrote the script and developed the stage design for Drummer Boy, a Christmas program featuring children with disabilities. The program has since been reinvented as Special Stars Christmas.
The project combined storytelling, performance, and theatrical design to create a meaningful Christmas experience centered on participation by children with differing abilities. One peak moment in the performance was the appearance of Jesse's invention of mechanical attachments to three wheelchairs, transforming them into the camels of the wise men, with walking legs.
This work reflects an interest in using theater to make stories accessible and emotionally engaging, while designing a production around the needs of its performers and audience.
KING 5 coverage: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/federal-way/federal-way-play-kids-with-disabilities-nativity-play/281-11511368-b1dd-4d2f-8734-6416bd98e7d4
Special Stars Christmas: https://specialstarschristmas.com/
06
The Handwritten Bible Project
The church leadership team initiated a project to produce a handwritten Bible, but the undertaking stalled before completion. Jesse stepped in to help bring it to fruition.
He helped coordinate and complete the handwriting, organized and supervised the artistic contributions, and oversaw the process through the final binding of the completed work. He also filmed and edited a documentary documenting the project, including the process and its emotional and spiritual impact on the people involved.
The project required more than artistic skill. It involved organizing contributions, helping a stalled initiative regain momentum, coordinating different forms of creative work, and documenting the human significance of the finished result.
These abilities are relevant to a production like Gethsemane, which will depend on bringing together multiple artists and technical contributors around a shared spiritual and artistic purpose.
Artistic Coordination and Documentary Filmmaking
07
Street Theater: Living Statue Mime
Live performance and physical storytelling
For approximately 15 years, Jesse performed as a living statue in public settings around the Pacific Northwest. This form of street theater depends on physical control, visual communication, character embodiment, and the ability to capture the attention of passersby without relying on conventional dialogue.
Jesse's living-statue performances also led to several television appearances. His short documentary video on YouTube has gained more than twenty million views.
This experience contributes a different kind of performance knowledge to the Gethsemane project: an understanding of how posture, gesture, stillness, movement, and visual surprise can communicate meaning directly to an audience.
YouTube Documentary (20M Views)
Complete Story on Webpage including links to TV Shows
01
Clean Slate Improv
Live Performance, Coaching, and Show Production
Jesse and Brenda each have more than ten years of experience performing on stage with Clean Slate Improv, an improvisational theater team that presented shows year-round in Seattle, Washington.
Their years in improvisational theater developed skills in ensemble performance, spontaneous storytelling, comedic timing, character work, audience engagement, and collaboration under live performance conditions.
Brenda took on additional responsibilities as a coach and teacher for new students auditioning for positions on the team. She helped prepare prospective performers and supported their development as they worked toward joining the group.
She also organized shows and handled advertising, contributing to the team's ongoing performance schedule and public presence.
This experience demonstrates that Brenda's contribution extends beyond writing and acting. She has experience helping performers develop their skills, organizing public events, and supporting the practical work required to sustain a live theater program.
Together, Jesse and Brenda's improv background gives them firsthand experience with the energy, flexibility, and ensemble coordination required for live performance.
02
Journey to Bethlehem
Brenda has been involved in Journey to Bethlehem for nearly twenty years. Her contributions include writing and revising scripts, coaching actors, and helping shape the production's storytelling and performances.
She and Jesse also serve on the production committee, where they participate in broader planning and budget decisions. This gives Brenda experience not only in creative development but also in the organizational considerations involved in sustaining a large community production.
Her work with actors and scripts is particularly relevant to Gethsemane, which will require emotionally grounded performances, careful handling of biblical material, and effective communication of complex ideas through dialogue and dramatic action.
Auburn Reporter, December 7, 2012:
Writer, script reviser, acting coach, and
production committee member
03
Between the Shards
Historical Fiction and Christian Storytelling
Brenda is the author of Between the Shards, an independently published historical Christian novel set in Grafton, West Virginia, in 1856.
The story engages with historical and moral themes including slavery, abolition, the Underground Railroad, stained glass, and the printing press. Her writing combines character-centered storytelling with questions of faith, conscience, and the choices people make when their convictions are tested.
As a novelist, Brenda brings experience in developing characters, shaping narrative arcs, building atmosphere, and exploring spiritual themes through human relationships and dramatic conflict.
These abilities complement the theatrical demands of Gethsemane, where the spiritual conflict at the center of the story must become dramatically understandable through character, dialogue, and action.
Author website: https://brendafergusonauthor.com/
Book listing: Amazon
From Concept to Audience Experience
Across their individual and collaborative work, Jesse and Brenda bring complementary strengths to the creation of Gethsemane: Making the Invisible Visible.
Their experience includes:
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Story development: Writing, revising, and shaping narratives for live performance and other media.
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Performance: More than a decade of improv theater experience each, along with acting, coaching, and ensemble collaboration.
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Scenic design and construction: Designing and building theatrical environments, including projects requiring coordinated construction teams.
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Visual storytelling: Using physical objects, sculptural work, historical settings, and theatrical imagery to communicate ideas.
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Technical effects: Integrating mechanical effects, lighting, digital projection, and practical stagecraft.
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Film and video: Creating, filming, and editing video projects and contributing to a film production's art direction.
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Performer development: Coaching actors and helping new performers prepare for auditions and live shows.
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Project coordination: Organizing creative contributions, coordinating teams, participating in budget decisions, and bringing complex projects to completion.
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Faith-centered artistic work: Developing projects that engage biblical stories, Christian themes, and spiritual questions through tangible creative expression.
Their work is grounded in a practical understanding that a compelling production requires more than an interesting idea. It requires a clear artistic vision, performers who can communicate it, technical systems that support it, people who can collaborate effectively, and careful coordination from preparation through performance.
Making the Invisible Visible
The central artistic challenge of Gethsemane: Making the Invisible Visible is to dramatize a spiritual conflict that cannot ordinarily be seen.
The production envisions the use of lighting, animated projection, puppetry, choreography, live music, special effects, and immersive staging to help audiences experience the emotional and spiritual dimensions of Jesus' struggle in Gethsemane.
The Fergusons' combined background in biblical visual storytelling, improvisational performance, stage design, mechanical effects, filmmaking, writing, and collaborative production supports this approach.
Jesse's work with the full-scale Tabernacle, theatrical environments, practical effects, and digital media demonstrates an ability to translate ideas into physical and visual forms. Brenda's work in writing, acting coaching, improvisational theater, and historical Christian storytelling supports the development of characters and performances capable of carrying the narrative's emotional weight.
Their shared experience in Journey to Bethlehem adds a long-term foundation in biblical theater and collaborative production.
Together, these experiences provide a practical and artistic basis for bringing an ambitious theatrical vision to the stage.
EXISTING FACILITIES
The production is being developed within a church community with established experience in theatrical arts and an existing building adapted for dramatic presentations.
Available resources include:
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DMX-controlled house lighting.
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Existing spotlights and two robotic spotlights.
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Fog machines already owned by the production team.
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A performance space customized for theatrical use.
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An existing community of people with theater and production experience.
These resources provide a starting point for the production's technical design. Additional artist participation would be developed in accordance with the final production plan and available funding.
The project also anticipates opportunities to collaborate with musicians, student performers, and other creative contributors. Potential participation by local academy musicians and ensembles would be explored as the production develops and commitments are confirmed.