The People Behind the Art: Stories with Dean Turner and Katie the Artist

Based in Brisbane, I film and produce artist interviews and documentary-style stories across Brisbane and the Gold Coast. I have always wanted to make documentaries. I love getting to know people, finding out what matters to them and working out how to tell their story through film. My films with Katie the Artist, alongside my recent work with Dean Turner Art, gives me a chance to explore exactly that.

There is something particularly rewarding about filming artists. The artwork gives you somewhere to begin, but the conversation opens up the person behind it. That is the part that keeps drawing me back.

I wanted to begin with two videos I filmed and produced for Katie the Artist. These projects belong together here because they reflect the kind of work I want to keep making: films that give artists space to share their stories.

Katie McErlean's creative practice includes original artwork, commissions, murals and workshops. You can explore her work on Katie the Artist's website.

The first film leads this post; the second continues her story below:

Katie begins with a wonderfully tactile memory: pushing cold paint around a kindergarten table and loving the feel and freedom of it. She talks about the encouragement her mum gave her, making space for drawing and painting at home as one of five children.

Then comes a small story that says so much. In Grade Two, Katie spent an entire school fete painting in a fence-painting competition. The prize was a cheeseburger voucher. She stayed all day, was proud of what she made, and won.

I love the way a detail like that lets us connect with someone. It gives us a child absorbed in making something, long before art became an adult practice. Katie finishes by reflecting that she cannot remember a day when she has not done some form of art.

Watch the first Katie the Artist film on Vimeo.

The second film follows that early encouragement into Katie's own teaching. Having found space to flourish through art, she now wants to offer that experience to others, including the children in her classes.

She talks about confidence, exploration and giving students permission to slow down. She values original ideas and creative thinking, recognising that technique can develop as curiosity leads students to ask questions and try things for themselves.

Together, the two films draw a connection between the space Katie was given as a child and the space she now creates for her students. That relationship between personal experience and purpose is exactly the kind of story I enjoy finding through an interview.

Watch the second Katie the Artist film on Vimeo.

I recently completed another video for Dean Turner Art, continuing a relationship that began with a chance encounter at a Gold Coast night market. You can read how that first project came together in Painting the Soundtrack: The Dean Turner Art Story.

Scott, Dean's marketing agent, has told me how much he enjoys the process: I can spend an hour talking with Dean, filming and asking questions, then come back a week later with a video story. His encouragement means a lot because storytelling is where my real passion lies.

What looks like a simple conversation is an important part of the filmmaking. I am listening for the thought worth following, the answer that raises another question, and the little details that help us understand someone. Giving that conversation room to develop is often where the story begins.

In the latest film, Dean talks about his lifelong interest in boxing, from watching Muhammad Ali as a child to trying the sport himself as a teenager. He remembers how demanding it was, with two minutes in the ring feeling like two hours. That experience gives a personal context to his admiration for the fighters and the lives they have led.

As he walks us through the artwork, the conversation moves between boxing history, references to Rocky and the decisions behind the composition. He explains how adding another ring gave the scene more space and perspective. There is humour, too, in his suggestion that any boxer a viewer cannot find could be just out of sight, talking to Ali.

Those details are what make an artist interview rewarding for me. We can look at the finished picture, then hear the memories, choices and personality that went into making it. The artist becomes our guide.

The edit is where I bring the conversation and the images together. I am looking for a thread the viewer can follow: an introduction to the person, something that holds our interest, and a reason to keep watching.

The questions I ask shape that material, just as much as the pictures I shoot. For me, a good artist film needs both. I want the audience to see the work and spend a little time with the person who made it.

Scott captured the value of that approach in this five-star review, posted under Dean Turner Art Online:

Dave's passion, experience and ability to lead interviews to get the best content from a filming session was outstanding... then the magic started... the filming set him up for video after video of outstanding social videos. That have been incredibly well received and make a meaningful difference to our advertising efforts.

One filming session = countless professionally made social videos. Incredible value!

Dave is such a lovely and professional guy - we couldn't recommend him highly enough!

These projects let me explore characters and practise the documentary storytelling that has always interested me. I get to be curious, ask questions and spend time understanding someone else's world. Then I get to turn that experience into something another person can watch.

That is a privilege, and it is a big part of why I love this work. Whether the finished piece introduces an artist or becomes a series of shorter social videos, I want it to carry something of the person we met during filming.

If you are an artist, maker or creative business with a story to share, I would love to hear it. Get in touch about an artist interview or story film, or explore my corporate and brand video production services.