Marian Wihak

Marian Wihak, a Toronto-based production designer with 25 years of experience across the country, said she's seen a lot of business that's usually slated for her hometown go elsewhere in the country - she's now working on a Canadian movie-of-the-week in Vancouver.Working with crews here, Wihak said she's getting a strong sense that people know Vancouver is moving ahead of Toronto right now, which wasn't the case years ago.

Executive producers: Howard Braunstein, Michael Jaffe, Andrea Simon; Co-executive producer: Robyn Snyder; Producer: Steve Solomos; Teleplay/co-producer: Kelli Pryor; Director: Daisy von Scherler Mayer; Music: Jeff Cardoni; Editor: Adam Weiss; Production designer: Marian Wihak; Director of photography: Rhett Morita; Casting: Jami Rudofsky.

Artist Marian Wihak's Studio

Jeweller Lisa Keaney hard at work during the Holiday Marketplace event

Marian Wihak (Studio 278)
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Looking around artist Marian Wihak's studio (Studio 278) it's clear she has been here for a long time , it feels like home, settled, worn in, and full of creative memories.There is an intriguing collection of oil paintings in various stages of completion; more often than not they are somewhat haunting images that evade detection of beginning and end.They are what Marian refers to as nocturnes, lightscapes, and captured movement; " an experiential collection of remembered images, sensations, moments, which by their nature are ephemeral."Marian is nestled in the east corner of the second floor in a lovely little micro-community.She has been in her studio, which started out as essentially a storage space in a large open studio, for almost eight years and over the years it has expanded as others have grown up around her.

Other than the tangible evidence of her creativity, there are few clues in Marian's studio as to the second hat she wears as a designer.She has been working as a production designer in film and television for twenty years, with a couple of Gemini awards under her belt as an acknowledgement of her talent.However, her studio is a painting studio and she has worked to keep it quite separate from her other artistic world.Marian acknowledges that she, in some ways, made a conscious decision to keep her work as a designer separate from her more personal work as a painter.This is not to say they are not closely connected, influencing each other on many levels, but she felt the space should be reserved for Marian the painter with only very occasional crossovers like building the model for the stage play The Leisure Society.Marian's dual endeavours are not so unlike those of many artists who are forced to seek out other professional avenues to support themselves and their artistic practice.She feels that there is a very comfortable balance between her two worlds; luckily she enjoys being a designer as much as she flourishes as a painter."They certainly feed back and forth, and when I design films or theatre it's probably in a painterly fashion, and when I paint, people often say you can tell that I design for film and theatre.They influence each other that way."

As a child Marian always enjoyed drawing and painting and there was never any doubt that she would pursue this as she grew up.How she ended up in theatre design was kind of a "happy accident."She was attending the University of Regina where and it was suggested to her that she might be right for theatre design.So she moved to Nova Scotia to finish her degree at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD).After graduating from university Marian worked at the Shaw Festival and the National Ballet, making props and doing other design work.She then moved into film and television, designing at the CBC and eventually moved into the freelance industry."I really enjoyed it and it suited me very well.But I was envious of my visual arts friends as I'd never really followed that as much as I thought I would."So Marian began taking classes at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD), studied in Florence for a summer, and gradually started renting studios to explore being a painter.
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After being part of the inaugural group show at The Oneo Gallery in Prince Edward County last fall, Marian is continuing to expand a new series of paintings as she works towards her first solo show.
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Marian Wihak

Marian Wihak
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Looking around artist Marian Wihak's studio (Studio 278) it's clear she has been here for a long time , it feels like home, settled, worn in, and full of creative memories.There is an intriguing collection of oil paintings in various stages of completion; more often than not they are somewhat haunting images that evade detection of beginning and end.They are what Marian refers to as nocturnes, lightscapes, and captured movement; " an experiential collection of remembered images, sensations, moments, which by their nature are ephemeral."Marian is nestled in the east corner of the second floor in a lovely little micro-community.She has been in her studio, which started out as essentially a storage space in a large open studio, for almost eight years and over the years it has expanded as others have grown up around her ... more
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Marian Wihak

A rtist Marian Wihak in her painting studio.

Last week, I met with production designer Marian Wihak. I worked with Marian on my short film, Letter from Francis.
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Marian arrived at our meeting excited by our script (and with great questions about it), inspired by the visual possibilities it offered. She responded to "the embodiment of reflections in the story" as she put it.

Marian Wihak Production Designer:

At both sides of the Leisure Society's elegant, dove-grey set, designer Marian Wihak has placed some iridescent pieces of see-through ... [FULL STORY]