A proud St’at’imc woman named Frankie McDonald
Frankie McDonald is an artist of two BC nations – St’at’imc Nation on her father’s side and Sto:lo Nation on her mother’s side. This Indigenous artist specializes in 3D Animation and is currently based out of Vancouver, originally from Lillooet, BC. Frankie is a graduate of Emily Carr University of Art and Design, completing her studies in 2020. Before that she attended Grande Prairie Regional College for Visual Arts, and Columbia Academy Film School with a Diploma in Videography. Frankie knew she wanted to have a career in visual media, but it was not until Emily Carr that she wanted to do 3D Animation.
Much of her work explores Indigenous storytelling, language revitalization, raising awareness for the MMIW, and protecting the Wild Salmon. More recently, Frankie aims to teach the younger generations the St’at’imc language through an episodic series called “St’at’imc with Kaya.” She also plans to tell St’at’imc stories through 3D animated shorts. She believes the St’at’imc Nation needs more resources for our community to access our stories and videos to learn our language. She has been the recipient of multiple funding awards from First People Cultural Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and Urban Screen Public Arts Grant.
Film Experience
Lawa7 (2022)
2019-2022
Lawa7 is about is girl named Nahani who tries to fish down at the river. When she is unsuccessful she is met by a samon name Lawa7 who turns her into a salmon and takes her on a journey through the river.
- This film calls attention to the salmon crisis, environmental issues such as pollution, fish farms, and pipelines.
- This project was done completely solo from start to finish.
Shroomville (2019)
2019
- For this music video/short film, I was working solo which meant I did story development, modelling, character design and animation, lighting and rendering and editing in after effects.
- I wanted to experiment with music and visual effects and combine them with some motion graphic work I was doing.
Supercops (2018)
2018
- This is a short video done in collaboration with the Vancouver Police Department and City Studios. Myself and a 2D animation student were asked to create a film to show what the new 529 app does and get people interested in joining.
- I was in charge of modelling the 3D environments, texturing, lighting, rendering, and compositing myself and my partners assets together. I was able to collaborate with a 2D animator and seamlessly edit our medias together.
- Teamwork and taking feedback and applying them every week was key to the success in this project.
Frankie McDonald 