ЕГЭ – диалог (интервью) 57 с вопросами и выбором ответов

1. At the time Van Monroe went into designing shoes, he was
1) studying management.
2)responsible for the company’s clients.
3) working as an accountant.

2. At the moment, Monroe is busy with
1) starting his own shoe brand.
2)designing tennis shoes.
3) airbrushing T-shirts.

3. Monroe’s new design implies putting
1)accessories on shoes.
2)colours on shoes.
3)pictures on shoes.

4. How does Monroe get his clients?
1)People bring him their tennis shoes.
2)He finds clients on the Internet.
3)He gets clients in different ways.

5. The Twentieth Century Fox easily accepted Monroe’s idea because
1)they knew his name very well.
2)they had already seen the Obama shoes.
3)he had presented the Obama sneakers to Will Adams.

6. What’s the final aim of Monroe’s work?
1)He plans to create a ‘lifestyle shoe’.
2)He wants to put biblical things on tennis shoes.
3)He is going to create his own athletic line.

7. In his work, Monroe is primarily inspired by
1)interesting subjects.
2)musicians.
3)artists.

1 – 2
2 – 1
3 – 3
4 – 3
5 – 2
6 – 3
7 – 1

Interviewer: Van, we know that you went to college and studied Psychology and now you are a fulltime designer. Have you always wanted to go into designing?
Van Monroe: Well, I knew this at a young age. My mother said I could draw since I was 2 years old. So even though I went off into management and then I was an account executive right before I quit, I would always still go home and paint pictures and draw or daydream about the stuff that I could do. I didn’t really follow my passion until it came to a point where I couldn’t concentrate on what I was doing at my 9 to 5 job and I knew it was time for me to give it a chance and see what would happen.
Interviewer: So as a designer, do you do both clothes and shoes?
Van Monroe: Well it actually started with clothing. Back in 2001, I was in college and I started airbrushing T-shirts. I mean everybody’s been airbrushing T-shirts forever, so it wasn’t like I was really standing out. Then I moved from there to designing tennis shoes and then moved into the beginning phases of trying to start my own shoe line, which is what I am working on right now.
Interviewer: When you first began, was it mainly just making the shoes a different colour or were you putting your art or accessories on the shoe?
Van Monroe: When I first started, I was just putting different colours on the tennis shoe and then it started evolving. I realized that I could now transfer to the shoe some of the stuff I was doing on the T-shirt. It was so new to people at the time and actually it is still even new now. People look at it and say, ‘Wow, you paint on tennis shoes?’ So you can imagine what it was like in 2003 when I was painting on tennis shoes and putting my own art on them. It was fun. I was just trying to do something different every time I picked up a new pair of shoes.
Interviewer: So how do you come up with your own designs? Do people just hand you their shoes and say go at it?
Van Monroe: Yes, definitely. That happened when I first started and it happens a lot now. Some people would give me a theme and say ‘I like this sport, I like this team — can you do something around that?’ Then I would just brainstorm, come up with something, pitch the idea to them, and if they like it, do it. So half the time is me composing an idea and putting it onto my webpage and people seeing it and saying, ‘Hey, I want to buy that.’ The other half is people coming to me and giving me their shoes and asking me to just run with it and do something different with it.
Interviewer: So tell me about ‘the Twentieth Century Fox’ promotion for the upcoming ‘Wolverine Origins’ movie? How did that come about?
Van Monroe: You know it’s a trip, because I didn’t even think that they would listen to me. But it turned out that some of them had seen my work before. Because Will Adams is in the movie and he had worn some of my Obama sneakers last year to an awards show. They didn’t know my name, but they had seen the Obama tennis shoe around. So it was a lot easier for me to pitch the idea of me helping promote their movie with the shoe.
Interviewer: That’s awesome! You mentioned that you are working on your own shoe line. What is your vision for the line?
Van Monroe: I wanna start it off with what’s called a ‘lifestyle shoe’. I plan to just touch on different subjects that a lot of other companies haven’t. Like, I have the Obama shoe, which definitely bridged the gap. So I want to continue to do that and I also want to put biblical things on tennis shoes. So I have got a whole host of things that I am trying to do, but I want to start them off at that level, then move on and eventually get into athletic shoes. I’m just trying to get in, where I fit in right now. But there is always that other level that you’ve gotta get to and that is what I’m working towards.
Interviewer: What is the inspiration for your art? Is it music? Things you see?
Van Monroe: I am inspired more by musicians than I am by artists. The reason is that musicians are so talented. Composers paint pictures with music and I just think it is so amazing. But my greatest motivation is hot issues. I am inspired by what I think is important for people to understand or for people to know. If there is a subject that I feel is not getting enough light, then I will put it on a tennis shoe to try to bring more awareness to it.
Interviewer: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me about your designs and upcoming projects. I definitely wish you continued success!