David Hartman
Film Series
About the Filmmaker
David Hartman
David Hartman is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose recent work is focused on the creative process of some of Canada’s most exciting visual artists. The films take the viewer into the private creative worlds of the artists and offer insight into what drives their work. Commissioned by the McMichael, this intimate series of short films offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the inspiration, process and ideas shaping Canadian art today through the work of established icons and rising talents. Hartman’s films have been broadcast on PBS and Air Canada. David lives and works in Toronto, Ontario.
Film
Series
Meryl McMaster — Edge of a Moment
This first installment of our collaboration with Canadian filmmaker David Hartman features Meryl McMaster, whose exhibition Bloodline has toured across Canada.
Kent Monkman — Miss Chief Eagle Testickle
Watch the full film to discover the origins of Monkman’s character Miss Chief Eagle Testickle and how they confront settler legacies in their art.
Pierre Dorion — Photograph Like a Painter
In the work of Montreal-based artist Pierre Dorion, his paintings distill architectural and manufactured spaces into a distinctive graphic style that embraces figurative Minimalism.
Shelley Niro — Erratic Love
In this film, Shelley takes us on a journey into her artistic practice, unveiling her profound connection with the natural world and the myriad influences that shape her work.
Zachari Logan — Ditchflowers
Canadian artist Zachari Logan recalls his 2017 residency at the Thomson Shack at the McMichael and his compositions inspired by Tom Thomson’s wildflowers.
Margaux Williamson — Expanding the Present
Toronto-based artist Margaux Williamson’s interiors reveal spaces of expansive creativity, subjectivity, and a kind of anarchic experimentation.
Jen Aitken — The Forest for the Trees
In the summer of 2022, Toronto-based artist Jen Aitken took part in the RBC Emerging Artist Residency in the Tom Thomson Shack. During the residency, Aitken used the entirety of the Shack as a studio space to create a site-specific installation that responded to the building’s architecture.
Sandra Brewster — FISH
In April 2025, Sobey Award–shortlisted artist Sandra Brewster created a site-specific installation at the McMichael entitled FISH. This film captures Sandra’s creative process and explores the themes of migration and belonging at the heart of her work.
Iris Häussler — Divided Heavens
In this short documentary, filmmaker David Hartman follows artist Iris Häussler during her time as the McMichael’s Tom Thomson Shack Artist-in-Residence, offering an intimate glimpse into the creation of Divided Heavens.
Rajni Perera — Futures
In this new short film directed by David Hartman, we spend time with the Toronto-based artist Rajni Perera in her studio, tracing the ideas and influences that shape her practice. Blending science fiction, immigration narratives, and the adaptive intelligence of living organisms, Perera imagines mutated bodies and futures shaped by environmental collapse and global instability.