Valerie Sofranko

Valerie Sofranko, also known as Valerie Sofranko-Banks, hails from the Pittsburgh area. After graduating with a B.A. in Fine Arts from Indiana University of PA. in 1975, she packed up her bags and moved to the San Francisco Bay area. She created and displayed her Fine Art in many juried shows and a few galleries across the nation. These artworks consisted of soft sculptures and oil paintings. After tiring of the unprofitable art scene, she was fortunate enough to stumble across Lucasfilms, Ltd., wherein, her career as a Special make-up effects technician began. From creating 3-d costume accessories for the principles on Return of the Jedi, to fabricatiing and puppeteering for the movies, Gremlins, Enemy Mine, Arachnophobia, The Fly, Naked Lunch, Nightmare Before Christmas, and many more, including international commercials. Valerie has returned to the Pittsburgh area and found herself with the wonderful opportunity to receive her Masters degree, here, at CMU's highly creative and progressive, Entertainment Technology Center. Learning and expanding her mind with 3-d modeling, texturing and animation. She is thrilled to be a part of the ETC and has high hopes of becoming a teacher in this arena and sharing her knowledge and experience in Special Effects with like kind. The oldest Grad student here.