The Story Behind the Studio
Where Aesthetics and Awareness Meet
I’m Jolene Dames — artist, alchemist, storyteller, and the creative force behind Skewed North Studio and Made by Dames™. For over 25 years, I have worked behind the scenes in film, television, theater, and live performance — painting and designing immersive environments that carry emotion, atmosphere, and meaning. My work centers on how space supports narrative: how surface, color, and detail quietly shape what an audience feels.
As a scenic artist, set designer, and set decorator, I build the visual worlds of some of Hollywood’s most recognizable productions, developing a deep fluency in storytelling through space — a discipline that continues to inform everything I create today.
What Working Behind the Scenes Taught Me
Every set is a story. Every surface holds emotion.
Creating cinematic world-building taught me to read space as a language — not a backdrop. It taught me how light and shadow shape feeling, how color precipitates mood, and how the smallest detail can tell the largest truth. I trained my eye to see beyond what’s visible — and that became the foundation for everything I create now.
Storytelling → Perception → Space → Self Trust.
How It All Connects
That was the arc of my professional life — and now it’s the arc of my work with you. What began as scenic design evolved into something deeper. I no longer build worlds for characters on a set — I help people build worlds where they live. I help individuals see the patterns hiding in plain sight… understand what their space has been telling them… and realign their inner and outer lives with intention. Space as mirror. Story as compass. Self as home.
Now, I Help People…
Reorient their lives through aesthetics, awareness, and perceptual clarity.
Reorient their lives through aesthetics, awareness, and perceptual clarity. Whether through writing, art, teaching, or 1:1 guidance, my work exists at the intersection of beauty and consciousness: spaces that feel meaningful, stories that reflect truth, and alignment that is felt — not just seen. This is what it means to live with intention. This is what it feels like to return to yourself.
Explore my movie & television work
Set Design, Set Decorator & Scenic Design
My cinematic roots — the worlds I helped shape — still live in every perceptual tool, visual insight, and creative decision I teach and make.
→ Visit the Movie page to see the work you’ve actually seen — even if you didn’t know it was mine.