About
Welcome to craftwercz Studios.
I’m T, a Scenic Artist in the Film and Television Industries, proud member of IATSE Local 873 and sole proprietor of craftwercz Studios presently located in Toronto, ON. CA.
I have been working as an artist for over a decade and a half now and my skill set varies greatly from multimedia- web design, graphics, illustration, digital art, branding, logos to traditional sculpture, painting, calligraphy… I am a fully qualified painter from basic prep work- drywall, plaster, paint to high end finishes including prop design and construction, sign writing, distressing, back drops…
I have yet to show my art publically as it just hasn’t been a temptation, perhaps that will change in the future, however, I have done several commissioned pieces over the years and my skill set can be seen in a cinema near you. Please feel free to check my Production Listings and Portfolio for past and present work.
My mom is an artist so naturally I grew up with an appreciation of art and I’ve used art as a therapeutic release for as far back as I can recall. I would awake from a dream and instead of writing down the details I would sketch the imagery. I doodled constantly as a child and perhaps based on my vivid dream world I often created art whilst sitting in bed. When I think back on how many dovet covers I’ve ruined with paint I can’t help but laugh. Why I used a bed rather than a desk I’m uncertain, fortunately I don’t ever recall my parents chastising me for this.
My only formal training as an artist came when I was 19 and I attended The Art Centre at Central Technical School in Toronto. I loathed every minute of it. What I had hoped to be an enlightening, creative experience was instead a very disciplined, structured environment in which one was given a very limited pallet of mediums and materials. For me personally, it was suffocating. I wasn’t to use my own style, rather learn from those which went before me and then, eventually, develop a style based on theirs. I’ve never been one for rules or being told what to do. Realistically they produced talented artists, one’s ready upon graduation to enter the work force as graphic artists, illustrators, photographers… Many years later when I began working as a Scenic Artist for Hot Sets Film I realized that art in the workplace isn’t really art. We don’t create, we simply mimic and produce, an assembly line of artisans all working jointly within a very tight budget and time scale. That is the reality of earning one’s keep through art.
I have never considered myself to be a fine artist, though daily I utilize the techniques of fine art to create specialty finishes. Technically I am an Applied Artists. I personally believe to be able to create a great piece of art, be it on canvas, drywall or a computer screen, the prep work, the underlying medium must first be perfected. Doesn’t matter how great your faux marble technique is if the wall or flat you are painting on has imperfections, they will be clearly visible in the finished product, hence you have just wasted time and material creating something substandard. In every pursuit I undertake, be it high end or low budget, I work to the absolute best of my ability. I believe what I do impacts people and if they have entrusted me to do a job for them then it is my responsibilty to ensure they are happy with the end result, that they can live with it for many years to come and that it will last. For that reason I always do sample boards, working mock ups of the design to allow a client to see the end result and live with it for a while before commencing the actual project on the larger scale. A colour sample on a piece of card board the size of stamp simply isn’t enough to truely get a feel for how it will affect your space. You need something at least the size of a sheet of bristol board, painted several times to get an accurate colour, mounted in the space you are going to transform to see how the lighting in your space affects it, how your furnishings, art, accessories relate to it and most importantly how it makes you feel.
Many a family member or friend has inquired in the past when Film is quiet and my resources are running thin to non existant why it is I don’t just get a job with an established painting/renovation company. The answer is simple. I have tried that in the past and soon discovered the majority of companies are out to make money as quickly as possible, cutting corners, using substandard materials and under qualified labourers. The end result, dissatisfied clientelle and a bad reputation. I will not allow myself to do less than I can, nor will I cut corners to save money because in doing so you actually cost the client more with them then having to hire a new crew/designer to redo what you have just done poorly. I am a professional, I have a well rounded skill set, a strong work ethic and I am ethical in all that I do, by associating myself with a company or individuals whom do not work in the same manner to the same standards I am lessening my integrity, degrading a skill set that has taken me many years to master and ruining my reputation as a company and as an individual.
I have yet to meet anyone working as a Scenic Artist in the Film and Television Industries whom actually chose it as a career, we seem to have all stumbled into it via a friend or an associate. Having started in this industry back in 1994 when a friends boyfriend kindly pulled me in on a job to assist with the recreation of Maple Leaf Gardens on a 300 square foot piece of canvas it wasn’t until a decade later in 2004 when it dawned on me, this is my career. I love what I do and feel blessed when I am fortunate enough to be able to do it. I am the proverbial starving artist, it is my reality because I choose not to abandon my career when it goes through dry periods with very few Films being shot here in Toronto. I produce art daily be it theoretically or literally. I always have something on the go, something I am creating for myself or for others, paid or not. There are occassions when I look at those around me and think oh, to own a home, or to have fancy clothing, new electronics… and all I have to do is change careers and I too can stop struggling. The truth is I can’t. I am too good at what I do and I love it too much to walk away from it. A nine to five in the same space everyday with the same people doing the same thing is like torture to me, a living hell which I was subjected to for many a year before I found Film.
I am now rediscovering my original skill set, that being graphics and illustration and I am in the process of combining it with today’s technology to hopefully expand my artistic abilities, employment opportunities and my financial resources. I am an artist, it’s what I do, it’s what I know and it’s my way of life. My motto is “Live what you believe” and I do. I don’t show in galleries because at the moment the type of art I create is inappropriate for that environment. Does that mean I am not an artist, to some yes and they are entitled to that opionion. For me, we are all artists, on our own particular paths, creating that which we need out of our own personal longings. If i’m not creating I’m destroying, same can be said for most of us. So I create.
Thanks for stopping by.
T.
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