She's done music videos for Drake and Miguel, but every idea starts at home for this makeup artist
Summer O'Grady has worked on all kinds of film sets, but her home studio is where her creativity sparks
She'll get the job done, wherever work takes her: soundstages, mansions, The Real Jerk. Summer O'Grady is a Toronto makeup artist and casting director, and as Director X's go-to makeup and hair pro, she's had a hand in Drake and Rihanna's "Work" — please see previous reference to The Real Jerk — and more recently, Miguel's latest video, "Sky Walker," which premiered last week.
It's my little sanctuary.- Summer O'Grady, makeup artist
O'Grady tells CBC Arts that in the last few months alone she's worked with pop stars including The Weeknd, Daniel Caesar, Belly and Sean Paul. (Hell, she's even done makeup for another CBC Arts web series, Heartbreak to Art.) But for this episode of The Places We Make Art, O'Grady won't be taking you on set. Instead, she shows you where the real magic happens: inside her small Toronto apartment.
"When it comes to creating my art, a lot of it is created from home," she says in the short film, directed by JD Leblanc. "It's where I can do all my research and development. It's where I can really zone in and create the art that I need to. It's my little sanctuary. It's whatever music I want to play, wherever little world I want to dive into. That's where a majority of all my creations begin."
Watch the video, and follow her on Instagram for more.
More episodes of The Places We Make Art:
For Ekow Nimako, this is the best place in the world to play with Lego
Think you can handle a visit to this artist's kill room?
This artist gives us a whole new way to think about 'house painting'
The Places We Make Art is a CBC Arts web series about just that. Profiling Toronto artists from a multitude of disciplines, step into their creative lives by exploring the unexpected spaces that inspire them the most.