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Commercial art is the best place to explore the tacky and kitsch,
along with the brilliant and viable. The standard equation heard
from the fine art community is either art is popular and bad, or
unpopular and good. Don't let this fool you. There are two other
parts to the equation: popular art can be very good, and unpopular
art can still be very bad. There's a lot to love about popular art.
I grew up with it, along with fine art. And what I've learned from
taking on challenges presented by the commercial world has been
invaluable in producing my more personal works and children's books.
By accident I ended up working as a sculptor and painter in the
Play Industry. I loved working with a team of talented artists to
produce bizarre commercial works, including a 34 foot tall tree
with slide attachments that could accommodate 200 children for a
Baptist church in Texas.
807
Cover
Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop
: 807 Magazine
Creating a new layout and cover for 807 gave me lots of InDesign
practice. I also did photography and graphics.
Drunken God
In A World Created By A Drunken God
It was a fight to get good design and new ideas into this theatre
company's brochures and posters. I did publicity and marketing for
one season, doing my best to create worthwhile imagery for the productions.
Orca Bus
The Canucks for Kids fund of the BC Lions Society raised money auctioning
36 fiberglass orca whales in 2004 painted by artists from Vancouver
and Victoria. My whale became a bus with side windows and an advertisement
on its belly.
Play Industry
In Vancouver in 2004 and 05 I worked in teams for two companies
in the Play Industry as a "themer." We sculpted large
objects out of giant blocks of Styrofoam, much like sculptors do
for big theatre productions and for the movie industry. I worked
with talented Emmy Award winners (X-files), and other professionals
who made a good living working contractually for these big companies.
I sculpted trees with slides and stairs, cars, a truck, a boat,
a small hospital, cartoon bears, a mountain (with slide and stairs),
fish, and twenty other objects I don't remember. We also constructed
Ikea's play areas for North America. The workload was ridiculous
and it was a chemically toxic environment, but the talented teams
were a delight to work with, and I discovered within three months
that I could also be a sculptor.
Secrets of Victoria II
I created semi-abstracted characters using a scratch technique with
pins stuck through an eraser. The original is much brighter because
I was aware the printing process would dull it.
Skate Park Escape
Chickadee magazine asked me to write a story with illustrations.
I love deadlines!
Ugg Crashes the Set
This painting was recently commissioned by the Confederation Film
Department in Thunder Bay. Three thousand posters will be distributed
to Ontario high schools and colleges. The painting will also be
used in the story, The Ugg Travels.
Zombie Massacre
My brother Eric Weller is a filmmaker and film professor (program
coordinator) at Confederation College. In 2001 he was the first
local resident to create a full-length feature film in Thunder Bay.
I took on multiple roles (including cook!) with a crew of fourteen,
and created sets, environments, backdrops, and imagery for the film.
And I was a zombie.
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