Curtis L. Wiebe

I have been involved in the Winnipeg Puppet Slam since it's beginning in 2010 and have been it's curator/producer since 2017.  Puppet Slams are puppet variety shows by and for grownups.  The Puppet Slam Network (https://www.puppetslam.com/) was started in part by Heather Henson (daughter of Jim Henson) who still helps to fund puppets slams through her Green Feather Foundation.  This series of photos show some of my contributions to the Winnipeg Puppet Slams throughout the years:  My exploration of puppetry arts has been fairly diverse ranging from full body costume puppets to traditional hand and rod puppests to shadow puppets.  Videos of our live shows can be found here: (https://www.youtube.com/@winnipegpuppetslam9150). Check out the Winnipeg Puppet Slam on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/WinnipegPuppetSlam) to find out more!

Another Christmas another Christmas video!  This one is a music video about a smaller version of the bearded holiday icon who comes around to grant wishes to good adult humans at Christmas time.  My son wanted to be Santa Claus for Halloween, so I made him a costume.  When it came time for the Christmas video, I asked if he wanted to play the role of Santa and he agreed.  Thus the concept of the Little Santa Claus was born!  Special thanks to Leif and Heather whose house and neighborhood we used as locations and who both played several roles in the creation of this video.  Also, thanks to Julie Rempel who did a fantastic job in the lead role despite her hesitations about acting and of course, Rick Unger, the longest suffering and most loyal Phantom Planet crew member in existence!

The feature film I began developing years ago is starting to pick up steam again.  The film is still a long way off from going into production but I have received some funding to once again begin work on it.  Here is some concept art I have been making to help bring the characters to life.  The first image is of a poster made from a still of the first attempt I made at bringing this world to life through video (found here in an earlier gallery entry).  Next is a painting (acrylic on canvas paper) of one of the main characters, Calvert Wander, seen here gazing at the cabin in the clouds: the home of the Great Holys (the gods of this word).  He is playing a hand-crank record player which is his means of communicating since he is mute.  The 3rd image is of Sareth (Watercolour pencil), a reclusive Spelldrake (prairie wizard/witch/magician) sitting on top of her sod house.  The 4rth image is of the Hexhob (Watercolour and Watercolour pencil).  He is a Spelldrake gone bad due to an infection of The Sick which is a disease that covers the land and all it touches with black, root-like hair.  The 5th image is a portrait of the Maid of Grasses (Acrylic, gouache, watercolour pencil) the daughter of the Great Holys.  In this story she is the one who created all living things including humans.  The 6th image: Keel Fishsimmons, the river warden (masking tape sculpture, acrylic and varnish).  He is a holy: a small immortal creature charged with managing the natural resources of a small, particular area.  The 7th image is of Starla, the daughter of Calvert, riding John Handy, the metal man made of old tractor parts (watercolour pencil).  The 8th image is of a Whatbeast and a Grimneighbour (watercolour pencil).  The Whatbeast is an infected animal and the Grimneighbour is an infected human.  The 9th image is of the Colossus in the eastern wastes (painted paper collage).  The Colossus is the embodiment of the infection known as The Sick.  The 10th image is of Mon Stickmin, wandering warden of the plains (masking tape sculpture).  The 11th image is of Calvert Wander and Bome Gnomeski: warden of the western woods.

The children's book I have been working on for 2 years (see previous "Book Project" album) is done and printed!  Once a Wizard exists in the real world!  As proof, I have provided a photo of myself signing some of the first copies.  This album contains images from the printed book including the cover as well as some of my favourite pages. Following that you will find images from the first few pages of the book as they were in the creation stage including an early mock up of a possible cover image.  To make the illustrations I used a dark 8B pencil along with gouache, watercolour and watercolour pencils.  These earlier images are still in need of finishing touches and adjustments to contrast (the scans are not the greatest) but it gives you an idea of what the early draft looked like. This is a wordless book.  I wrote and illustrated the story with guidance by clinical consultant, Vicki Enns.  This book was commissioned by the Crisis and Trauma Resource Institute (CTRI) as a resource for families and counselors to help children find a way through experiences of loss.  While the book was written with this purpose in mind, my goal was always to make something that could be enjoyed/experienced on it's own merits as an engaging, visual story.  Learn more about the book and order it here: https://ca.ctrinstitute.com/book-once-a-wizard/  

This year's Christmas video!  I decided to take on the classic "yule log" tradition.  Conceived and filmed during an 8 hour session at my studio.  If I had more time I would have supplied all the music myself- instead I did a deep dive into the internet hinterlands and found some real holiday jems.  These videos would not happen without the loyal help of my faithful Christmas video conspirators: Rick Unger, Ben Dyck and Leif Norman.  One day, one day my friends I will once again make a moving picture that is not holiday related!  Until then... Feliz Navidad!

I have been hired to write a book for children that could be a resource to help them process a loss in their lives. The images presented here are from a picture book I started to work on around 2010.  I had the entire book sketched out and had planned to complete it but other projects got in the way.  I never forgot it though.  After considering the topic of this current book project I unearthed "The Snowy Night Wizard" and have started reworking the story to fit the topic.  I think it is making the story better and I am excited by the possibilities.  The book should be done sometime in 2020.

"Wow, this guy sure does a lot of Christmas videos!"  It's true! Why do I do it?  It's a chance for me to keep up my film-making chops and exercise creativity by working within the limitations of a theme.  And it's fun. For the past 3 years I have been the curator for the Winnipeg Puppet Slam.  A Puppet Slam is an evening of short form puppet performances for adults. The two puppets in this video are reoccurring characters from those events.  

Another year, another Christmas video!  I really thought I wasn't going to do it this time but I got this idea and it just wouldn't go away.  So here it is!  A video featuring a scatting Christmas tree inspired by TV commercials from the 80's and 90's.

The annual Christmas video for 2016!  This one was a bit of a last-minute creation.  Over the past few years I have been experimenting with sculpting puppets using masking tape.  I had built Synthmaster Alan's head awhile ago and I always loved his expression.  He looked like a real character.  Then, just a few weeks before Christmas I had a vision of little Alan playing a synthesizer.  I quickly built a body for the little guy, got my crew together and filmed this little music video.

For over a year I have been involved in a documentary project titled: The Imperfectionist.  The doc, directed by Jonathan Le (https://newmediamanitoba.com/directory/people/1474/jonathan-le), is about me and my creative process focusing mainly on my attempt to bring the Thrift Shop Band to life.  Our vision for the doc is for it not to provide too literal a view into my creative life but for the film itself to be an example of my art.  We plan to film several cinematic sequences that illustrate experiences, visions or themes that are important to me.  One of these sequences involves this mountain headed character.  I sometimes feel as though ideas fly into my head like a thousand cliff swallows into a cavernous rock.  Once there, some of them change and evolve into other bright, living things and spill out again into the world as art or music- others fly away unheard, unseen... the video is a test fitting of the paper-maché mountain head I created for this sequence.

The Thriftshop Band is an automated music machine meant to serve as a backup band for a live musical performance.  This project is designed to be the successor to my previous theatrical band The Secondhandpants (https://www.facebook.com/The-Secondhandpants-13961397039/).  I have been working on this for over two years.  The sketches included in this album show that the concept originated as a very simple design (See first sketch: a bicycle wheel drum machine).  As time passed my ambition grew.  The machine now exists as an entire thrift shop wall facade.  "But what does it do!?" you ask?, well! The lamps light up to a melody, the vintage radio cabinet's speaker illuminate to represent the bass notes, pots and pans play automatically to serve as percussion, two display mannequin heads serve as automated backup singer puppets who open their mouths along to recorded vocal tracks, a grandfather clock spins it's hands and pulses light to the beat AND the orange shirt claps it's sleeves.  All of this was presented in a short stage performance at the Valiant Theatre in Winnipeg, MB, Canada on May 22nd (see photos).  Special thanks to Rylaan Gimby and Rick Unger for helping with the technical challenges of making everything work!  This performance was filmed as the finale to a documentary chronicling my journey building the machine (working title: The Imperfectionist).  The documentary is set to be completed sometime in 2017.      

This year's Christmas film stars my little tree character, Bome Gnomeski. Chaz, the X-mas tree lot proprietor is a puppet I initially built to star in a music video for James Culleton (artist, musician, furniture designer) http://jamesculleton.com/. This gallery also includes several on-set photos of the production.

The result of a two week artist residency at Deep Bay Cabin in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba, Canada in August, 2015. An exploration of characters, visual ideas and music regarding a feature film I hope to produce one day. The film's working title is: The Last Spelldrake of Saskatchewan. The story follows a wizard-type character as he makes his way through a re-imagined, mythical version of the Canadian prairies. The second video is a closer look at the creation of the Treeknight costume.

Queen Hazel and the If-Pigeons is a song novel (concept album) I conceived and created in the twilight of my 20's.  A decade later, I rediscovered it and was inspired to continue work on the project.  I made this lithograph print around 2007 depicting a duel between Queen Hazel (the Queen of the Faeries) and the Pigeon King.  The following  graphite illustrations were finished in June, 2015 and were used to decorate a self-published book of song lyrics.  The entire Song Novel was recorded in my living room (with the help of Donald Willms on percussion) in July of 2015 and can be heard in it's entirety here: https://soundcloud.com/curtiswiebe/sets/queen-hazel-and-the-if-pigeons

It is my tradition to make a short film every Christmas.  This past December (2014) I decided to give my puppet, Walter, his first real staring role in this short musical film.

A short film documenting a search for the obscure cowboy balladeer who inspired the music for Curtis L. Wiebe's short film, Of Truth and Magic.

Trailer for the short film - Of Truth and Magic Released in June of 2014 in Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Stills from "Of Truth and Magic". Release date: 2014.

Production on "Of Truth and Magic" took place between 2010 and 2011. Here are some behind the scenes photos of the production as well as a short video by Mr. M. Wiebe (my creative consultant, collaborator, go-to camera operator and brother Marlon).

Phantom Planet Production's first film - 2005