Featured Artist: Jackie Bagley

Do you have any favorite memories or anecdotes about Shatner?

Last year, I worked as an Assistant Art Director on a made for TV movie - Everest!  - a true account of our 1982 Canadian Mount Everest team, the first Canadians that reached the summit. William Shatner played a journalist. Since we are all Shatner fans in the art department, I made sure to be on set to capture my own firsthand view of the "Canadian Icon" that we are all so proud of. Mr. Shatner has a presence that fills the room and the space around him. He commands attention, and maintains a steady sense of humour. He also had an uncanny way of keeping me in his peripheral. I'm sure he sensed my intense stares, wanting to take him all in. For this reason, this piece shows him with ferns for hair — a true thespian (a reference to his "shakespeare days"). The tap and plumbing pipes that lead up to his head nourish the ferns. The source is unknown — likely  a gift he was born with — or perhaps Mr. Shatner can divulge some influences that led to his rich career?

 

 

What, if anything, was difficult about illustrating Shatner?

Good reference / Picking an age: I had an autographed photo from the movie to use as a reference, but there just wasn't enough information to create a 3D version. I supplemented this with a number of internet images, all at different ages — for some reason, he looks very  different at each stage of his life... a constant change in looks. This confused me at first and I actually took my first piece apart and started all over. I would love to be able to some day have Mr. Shatner sit for me in person, so that I can sculpt him in real life — I'll have his grandiose presence and the full information of the real thing to start from... now that would be a great process. And a very great honour!