Site-specific and integrated art
2-D art, including murals, mosaic, photography, etc.
Literary arts, including poetry, creative writing, fiction, and non-fiction
Pittsburgh Creative Corps Artist Directory
Jolene Dames
Skewed North Studio
Primary Discipline
Artistic Practice
Assemblage, including found objects, multimedia
Painting/works on paper/printmaking
Spoken word/storytelling
Max Talbot, 2025. Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, 16″ x 20.”
The Pup, 2018. Acrylic on canvas, 24″ x 24.”
Rusted Garden Pot, 2017. Casein based paint, 18″ x 24.”
Antique Ford, 2016. Casein based paint. 60″ x 60.”
Bowie, 2016. Acrylic on canvas, 18″ x 24.”
About the Artist
Jolene Dames is a multidisciplinary artist, scenic artist, set designer, and founder of Skewed North Studio, where aesthetics and awareness meet. For over 25 years, Jolene has worked behind the scenes of film, television, theater, and live events, painting and designing environments that shape how people feel, move, and experience a story. Her career began in 1998, painting theatrical sets with no formal training, and evolved into a wide-ranging creative practice that includes scenic painting, set design, set decoration, charge scenic work, and on-set scenic artistry for major film and television productions.
That decades-long practice of building cinematic worlds deeply informs her work as a visual artist. Jolene’s personal artwork explores navigation, orientation, memory, place, and transformation — both literally and metaphorically. Inspired by world travel, lived experience, and the emotional architecture of becoming, her large-scale paintings and visual work invite viewers to consider where they have been, where they are, and what is quietly calling them forward.
Her work has been exhibited across the United States, including the Carnegie Museum of Art’s 2 Minute Film Festival and the New York Academy of Sciences. Across mediums, Jolene’s work reflects a lifelong fascination with signs, symbols, direction, beauty, resilience, and the invisible stories held in the spaces we inhabit.
In addition to her professional work in the arts and entertainment industry, Jolene brings training in life coaching, feng shui, yoga, art therapy, TEFL, color, visual design, and creative education to her practice. As an instructor, speaker, workshop facilitator, and guide, she helps others see their stories, spaces, and creative lives more clearly — and design accordingly.
Through Skewed North Studio, Jolene combines cinematic design, intuitive perception, and lived experience to help people reorient their inner and outer worlds. Her work is rooted in a simple belief: everything tells a story, alignment can be designed, and beauty can become a compass.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Web
Accreditations, Certifications, and/or Awards
- Neuroaesthetics, 2025
- Certificate in Art/Color Therapy, 2018
- Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certified, 2015
- BA Interdisciplinary Studies, Grand Canyon University, Arizona, 2012
- Life Coach Certified, 2009
- Certified Feng Shui Consultant, 2008
- Associate in Arts, Technical theater with focus on Studio Arts, WCCC, 1998
Provides Fabrication Services to Other Artists
Yes
Teaching Artist
Yes, ages 7 and up
Joined the Directory
April 2024
Related
PROJECT
Pittsburgh Creative Corps
Designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh Creative Corps initiative engages artists and creative workers to activate the public realm while providing economic opportunity.
“Collaboration is important to me because it leads to more innovative and diverse ideas, increased productivity, and a stronger sense of community and shared purpose.”
Jolene Dames
Contact the Artist
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Related
PROJECT
Pittsburgh Creative Corps
Designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh Creative Corps initiative engages artists and creative workers to activate the public realm while providing economic opportunity.
