The Saskatchewan Craft Council has connected with filmmaker Thomas Hale of Reghal Media to showcase Saskatchewan craft artists working in their studio spaces, in a series he calls Makers.
He has produced five short documentaries that we’d like to share with you, and asked him to answer a few questions about the project. We invite you to make them part of your holiday viewing to learn a little bit about the fascinating world of fine craft techniques and processes. The shorts feature Robert Assie (stone carver), David Freeman (luthier), Sherri Hrycay (milliner), Kathleen O’Grady (clothing designer/fiber artist), and Jason Peters (woodworker).
SCC: Introduce yourself and tell us about your connection to Saskatchewan.
TH: My name is Thomas Hale, I am a film director and journalist. I grew up in Saskatoon, went to the U of S, and studied film at Ryerson in Toronto. I have worked and lived all over the world and have a residence in New York City–but I always come back home to Saskatchewan. People may know some of my Saskatchewan films like A Year at Sherbrooke (with the late Thelma Pepper), and Rabbit Fall, my TV movie, which became the first ever dramatic series produced in Saskatoon.
SCC: What inspired these films?
TH: A few years ago I began to feel that we were spending too much time online for our own good. As David Freeman says in the series, “working with wood stimulates your senses”, and it is that sort of stimulation I was missing after yet another 12 hour day on the computer. I wanted to explore how to be more active, by reconnecting to skills that have been passed down through our culture for thousands of years. These craft skills are in our blood.
SCC: Did anything surprise you to learn through this series?
TH: I was surprised while making these films how much a film director has in common with a traditional craftsperson. Both require decades to master complex skills, both require constant innovation in order not to repeat oneself, and both require a fierce independence to withstand the financial peaks and valleys that come with the trade. To do this sort of thing is to live on one’s own terms, and it takes a certain personality.
SCC: What do you hope people take away from these shorts?
TH: I hope these films give people the courage to put down the phone and get active with a traditional craft. And since film is back in the mix in Saskatchewan, I hope people go away with the idea that Saskatchewan filmmakers are skilled craftspeople too. In fact, if a season two of Makers were to appear, I am thinking a filmmaker might be one of the subjects.
SCC: What are your upcoming projects?
TH: I am finishing up two New York documentaries which will be out soon. I wrote a dramatic pilot set in Saskatoon called The Encyclopedia of Alphabet City that I hope to launch. And I have two feature screenplays that are all done. A feature film is about the only major format I have not done so I am ready for that. And you never know, maybe another season of Saskatchewan makers.
Watch the Makers series here.
Stills: Kathleen O’Grady (right), David Freeman (left), Sherri Hrycay (bottom right), courtesy of Thomas Hale.