An Invitation To The Party
It’s not going to be easy to go into the solo showroom to see The Party, by Whitehorse-based artist Nicole Bauberger…
Visual Arts
We have it all in the Yukon! Visual arts, music, dance and culture. Explore all the visual arts stories and discover our creative side. What’s Up Yukon, our local arts magazine is the number one place to learn about local artists like painters, sculptors, musicians, carvers, mixed media artists, cartoonist, illustrators, jewelers, beaders, weavers, photographers and more!
Come To The Fire
In 2023, the Yukon Arts Centre (YAC) will invite visitors in by asking them to gather outside. That’s the idea behind a new firepit…
Gwich’in Moccasins
In 1995, the Yukon Arts Centre began acquiring works of art by Indigenous and northern artists—art significant to First Nations…
The Purolator Artist
Purolator has unveiled this year’s limited-edition holiday art boxes representing all provinces and territories including a Yukon artist.
When the Mountains Call, Bring Your Sketchbook
When opportunity knocked for Kluane National Park and Reserve to host an Artist in Residence program this past summer, enthusiasm was high.
At Home With Art
Lemker is at home with art and calls Whitehorse his home, as well as an endless source of inspiration to create.
YAC Permanent Art Collection: Carl Beam
The Yukon Arts Centre began acquiring works of art by Indigenous and northern artists significant to First Nations and northern Canadians.
What’s Going on at KIAC This Fall?
It seems things are finally back in full spring, or fall, after a long two years with limited opportunities for arts and culture events.
Hecate Press, a stepping stone for northern comic artists
Hecate Press, founded a few years ago by artist Kimberly Edgar, is creating new opportunities for the Yukon’s established and emerging comic artists.
Arctic Highways Breaks Down Borders
Tomas Colbengston, who takes a lot of inspiration from the Nordic Scandinavian landscape prefers to show his work outdoors.
Yukon Artists Spotlighted at Vancouver Art Fair
Yukon Artists Spotlighted at Art Vancouver, a 4-day event where artists and gallery owners can show and sell high-quality art.
Graphic Novel: Journey to Makalu
Artist Esther Bordet visits the same Himalayan summit as her great-uncle, to create a graphic novel based on his travels.
Yukon Arts Centre Permanent Art Collection: Bella Simo
In 1995, the Yukon Arts Centre began acquiring works by Indigenous and northern art significant to First Nations and northern Canadians.
Nathalie Parenteau: The Accidental Artist
It was never Nathalie Parenteau’s intention to be an artist. She still views her vocation as something she stumbled upon.
Spring Reflections in Dawson City
In a previous edition of the KK, I commented on the amount of snow we received here this winter, how it narrowed and raised the street levels. This column is about the flip side of the equation, when the white stuff becomes wet stuff. Except for Front Street, which is part of the Klondike Highway, …
Mary Caesar: An International Artist Continues to Shine
Splashes of lavish roses, bared teeth of an outraged woman, portraits of people stick gambling—all appear in the paintings of Mary Caesar.
Monsters Parade Through an Imagined Garden
Nicole Bauberger’s final exhibition as emerging curator at the Yukon Arts Centre Youth Gallery, monsters and flowers created by children.
A look at the fate of Earth’s other inhabitants, should humanity disappear?
If humanity for some reason disappears, what will become of Earth’s other inhabitants? David Curtis: Shall Inherit at Yukon Arts Centre.
YAC SHOWCASE Spirit: Alice Park-Spurr
Alice Park-Spurr explores the interplay of line and shape through the gestural application of paint on canvas
Drop Off Your Recycling, Pick Up Some New Idea
Raven Recycling’s Diversions Art Show. Five undertake projects that make use of materials that are abundant at Raven.
The Extraordinary First Year of Mésdzįh Eskiye Designs
Cohen Quash is 12, which may make him the youngest fashion designer the Yukon. His Watson Lake business is Mésdzįh Eskiye Designs.
This Spring at the Jenni House
Jenni house welcomed Paris Pick, working on new songs; & Martha Ritchie, printing on repurposed textiles, as resident artists.
Artists inspiring artists
Yukon artists & Yukon Prize for Visual Arts finalists, Krystle Silverfox & Veronica Verkley, talk about who inspires them in art and in life.
Showcase at The Yukon Arts Centre
Softcore, at the Yukon Arts Centre, is the first exhibition by the Whitehorse-based North Node Collective, featuring Courtney Holmes, Rebecca Manias, Katie Newman and Heather Von Steinhagen. According to the artists, the medium of soft sculpture, humour and discomfort, are employed as a challenge to tired, stubborn body standards and harmful social constructs. “Connecting the …
Dreamland underground
Yukon Illustration Coalition (YILCO) Dreamland: Demystifying Digital Illustration reveals the digital illustration processes.
Collective Memory: Forty years of the Yukon Permanent Art Collection
Collective Memory exhibition: Marking the 40th anniversary of the Yukon Permanent Art Collection. Part of Yukon’s dynamic collective memory.
YAC launches first emerging curators program
Janet Patterson didn’t realize how applicable her journalistic skillset was to art until she co-curated a show at Yukon Artists @ Work (YAAW)
Abstractions underground: Two artists turn inward with new shows
2 exhibitions at Arts Underground. Focus Gallery, Tedd Tucker’s Winter Sketches. Edge Gallery, Heather Von Steinhagen’s Hidden Details.
Nourished by Nature
Their practices may seem different – Waters is a watercolour artist, Geary is a potter – their materials are drawn from the same elements.
Art in the Yukon, art in Montreal: Maybe not so different?
Clarence Epstein argued there are common threads between the situations of artists in the Yukon and artists in Montreal.
The recipient of the second annual Yukon Prize for Visual Arts is Joseph Tisiga
The winner of the 2021 Yukon Prize for Visual Arts, selected from 107 entries, is multidisciplinary artist Joseph Tisiga
Fantasy in Miniature
Fantasy in Miniature, brings a little magic. Sharing the Planet features butterflies & moths. Both are at Arts Underground.
Exploring fading memories at the ODD Gallery
The opening of the recent exhibit at the KIAC ODD Gallery was unique with a mixed live & virtual talk for the Gathering/Tethering exhibit.
Community Connection: Arts arts arts!
The return to emergency COVID measures took some people by surprise, but it certainly hasn’t got the community down! Performers, artists and presenters alike found safe ways to present a multitude of events at the Yukon Arts Center over the last fews weeks.
Watercolour wild roses
Learn & explore drawing and painting in a “wet on wet” watercolour technique. Today’s art is inspired by wild roses.
Walking the Elements: The Chu Niikwän Artist Residency is back at Arts Underground in Whitehorse
Rebecca Manias, Kim Roberts and Sheelah Tolton: Elemental Transformations. Works from Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
Through a Dark Wood
Jenifer Davidson, Yukon artist, has been creating art for as long as she can remember. More than a hobby, It’s benefitted her mental health.
Wonders Underground: Edge Gallery
Using traditional and contemporary influences, Peter’s modern clothing sewn from granny hanky fabric, which brings childhood memories.
Wonders Underground: Focus Gallery
The Eleventy-Leven postcards are years of original artwork postcards exchanged every Friday between artists Joyce Majiski and Zea Morvitz.
Yukon Prize for Visual Arts: And the winner is …
The Yukon Prize for Visual Arts provides one prize of $20K to help one Yukon artist focus full-time on creating art.
A Yukon Horror Story, So Far
Graphic novels are Gallagher’s favourite art form. This exhibit is an artistic journey to produce a horror graphic novel set in the Yukon.
Theatre in the Bush 2021
Ramshackle Theatre in the Bush “I’m already out in the yard,” Fidler says. “I’ve got my chainsaw out and I’m clearing the paths.”
Hot Eats Cool Beats: new family fun street eats festival
An expansion of the Street Eats Festival this year’s festival offers food trucks, live music, art installations and a historical tasting tour.
Vanessa Ægirsdóttir’s magical place
Meeting Bahm set her on a new personal journey, and professional path informed by his Tlingit heritage and traditional approach to trapping.
Under the Yukon sky: The nature of joy
Natasha Henderson’s brooding skies, dense, lush forests and dark city streets in the appropriately-titled Under the Yukon Sky.
Janet Patterson: Walking together
Janet Patterson, recipient of the Jenni House Residency is a multimedia artist whose work is focused on the history of the land we travel on.
Timelapse scenery at the ODD Gallery
Dan Starling’s exhibit “Unsettled histories: the transformation of a print” imagines the landscape of a Rembrandt evolving over centuries
Come out and see your friends
Drawn Together: embroidered portraits and Doortraits: Intimate Pandemic Images. Meaningful to a Yukon audience. Look for faces you recognize.
Karen Thomas’s 2020 Landscape series
Karen Thomas takes a light-hearted approach to art-making. This makes for a joyful experience for folks who take in her exhibit 2020 Landscape Series: A Path Forward which is currently showing at Arts Underground in Whitehorse.
Jesse Devost’s Superposition
In Superposition, Jesse Devost’s new exhibition at Arts Underground, Devost defines superposition as “the physical paradox of two distinct states, when added together equal a new valid state.
Arts in the Park is back on the air
For the second year in a row, Arts in the Park will be presenting an adapted season to fit with pandemic protocols.
A decade of Created at the Canyon
Yukon Conservation Society’s “Created at the Canyon,” a live multi-media art event celebrating the creative process of local artists.
Artist Annie Johnsgaard showcases the power of transiency
Annie Johnsgaard’s lovely (inventive, often amusing) ever-changing chalk murals brighten the walls of Yukonstruct Cospace, where she works.
The power of art
Victoria, Tlingit from the Gaanaxtei.di Clan and drum carrier for the Dakhká Khwáan, discusses what collecting art means to her.
Travels with a sketchbook
Virginia Wilson, whose exhibit Travels with a Sketchbook is currently showing at Yukon Artists @ Work ([email protected]), approaches landscapes with a background in geography.
Life as a Yukon artist, past and present
The Friends of the Yukon Archives Society has organized a wonderful exhibit at Arts Underground on how visual arts have evolved in the Yukon over the years. It documents the lively traditions of art-making among First Nations people and, more recently, among settlers. Seeing this exhibit made us wonder what it was like to be …
Fragments in the Dust
Whitehorse artist Scott Price is the ultimate scavenger. His favourite source for materials is the nearest dump. He’s been to dumps in Whitehorse, Dawson and, more recently, Wells, B.C. Whatever he discovers will partially determine what his art will be. Price’s practice involves bringing together the “junk” he collects to make assemblages, which are sculptures …
For our children tomorrow
Closeup of Velma Olson’s beadwork on Sidney Anderson’s 2015 graduation dress [one_half] To my mind, Honouring Our Future: Yukon First Nations Graduation Regalia is among the most important art exhibits to take place in the Yukon over the past 10 years. I invite you to consider the effects the art processes displayed have on the …
An indigenous fable for all ages
Teiakwanahstahsontéhrha’ (We Extend the Rafters) is the latest exhibition at Dawson City’s ODD Gallery. The machina animation style movie is projected on the east wall at the far end of a metal frame structure which mimics the look of an Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) style longhouse.
A house you can finally afford
Artists Jared Klok and Bennie Allain collaborated on their sculpture “A House You Can Finally Afford.” It was displayed as part of the Riverside Arts Festival.
What’s new in your art practice?
We’re starting a new column that will ask a different visual artist each month the question that I got on the sidewalk: what’s new in your art practice and what are you working on right now?
Honouring a whale
“I’ve been thinking about water for about five or six years,” said artist Joyce Majiski. While walking the beach in Spain she was struck by the large amount of garbage that was getting washed in with the tide. And then, one day, she was struck with a vision of building a whale out of garbage.
The fine art of drawing with fire
Drawing with fire is one of humankind’s most ancient arts. This is what I was told by Ricardo Espada Horsfall when I visited him at his recent show, Smoke, Feelings and Wood at the Free-Space gallery in Northern Front Studio.
The Christmas elves of [email protected]
Last-minute shoppers are sure to find something for a friend or family member at Yukon Artists @ Work. There are also lots of small treasures for topping up stocking, or add some sparkle to what has been a very strange and difficult year.
Culture meets couture
Robyn McLeod’s dresses from her fashion collection, Dene Futurisms, are featured in this story, which is part of a series about the three Chu Niikwän residency artists and their work.
What’s in a name?
Chishti’s Then and Now: Water and a Name is the second in a series of stories featuring the Chu Niikwän artists and their work.
How to be an artist
Last March, just before the pandemic became real in Canada, we went to hear Jerry Saltz speak before a large crowd in Toronto about How to Be an Artist. This entertaining talk provided an advance peek at some of the ideas in his new book of the same title.
The owl that beckons
If you have lived in Canada for any time, you will likely recognize her work, even if you weren’t sure how to say her name. Kenojuak Ashevak’s image, “Owl’s Bouquet,” is featured on Canada’s $10 bill.
Beast of the Boreal
“It’s not an art form you often see featured in traditional gallery” We wanted to create space for illustration artists to have work seen.
A conversation with Ron and Kip Veale
As people who love Yukon art, we have often wondered how a good artist becomes a well-known artist whose work sells for a fair price?
Seven
Dawn Robinson is primarily a dancer, but is also a visual artist. She incorporated both these disciplines into her Chu Niikwän Artist Residency piece, entitled Seven.
Take the tentacle
In this time, when we cannot easily travel, Shuvinai Ashoona’s exhibit at the Yukon Arts Centre offers to take you to imagined worlds you never knew existed.
Making a mark in the art world
Nicole Favron’s performance-based work is being recognized as the Yukon winner of the 2020 BMO 1st Art! Competition.
Beauty Through Decay
Beauty Through Decay is Jennfer Jay’s first exhibit, although she has been making art all her life. Yukoners may not know her name. As she notes in her bio, Jay has spent a lot of time being put into boxes that she never felt like she belonged in.
Of Beasts and Branches
Of Beasts and Branches: an interpretation of nature is Jenifer Davidson’s first solo show. Just as her materials are drawn from nature, so is her subject matter.
The Artist in the Window series concludes and continues
Yukon Artists @ Work([email protected]) continues to host the Artists in the Window series until the first week of September for paid demonstrations and artist talks. This way of working will continue, altering the way artists work their shifts. Two more artists are still to come – Jackie Dowell-Irvine and Jeanine Baker. [email protected] hosted two major art events this …
The Artist in the Window series concludes and continues Read More »
Nature fusing light and air to create art
Anne Hoerber’s new exhibition, Waking Dreams, shows at Arts Underground this month Different artists are often drawn to different media in part because of what they are able to express with their chosen supplies. For Anne Hoerber, this chosen media is encaustic (working with melted wax), which allows her to bring the feelings and impressions …
The Artist in the Window: Still more to come!
Yukon Artists @ Work ([email protected]) continues to host the Artists in the Window series through to the first week of September.
A Painting a Day
The Coronavirus lockdown and physical distancing has led us to trying to find activities to keep ourselves busy. The stress and uncertainty have played havoc with the mental health of most of us. A friend, who is a professional artist, attacked this problem and challenged herself to paint a small (4×6 or 5×7) watercolour each …
Bringing mentors and mentees together
COVID-19 is a challenging time for artists, which is why the Yukon Arts Centre is so excited about their Yukon Emerging Artist Program.
Arts Underground is back with Bailey’s Portals
Arts Underground is back, hosting its first new exhibition, Portals, by Dee Bailey, since the gallery closed down in March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
How much is that little artist in the window?
The official summer version of the Artist in the Window is now in full swing. You can interact with demonstrating artists behind the window at Yukon Artists at Work ([email protected]) Wednesday to Friday, 11-2, and see their work in the window almost anytime.
Busting the myth of the small town artist
When the National Gallery of Canada announced the recipients of the 2020 Sobey Art Award in April, Yukon artist Joseph Tisiga was on the list of 25 names. This is a big deal. The Sobey Art Award is the most prestigious contemporary art prize in the country. This year, rather than selecting one winner, the …
Arts Underground is back with Dee Bailey’s Portals
What to expect at Arts Underground right now Arts Underground is back, hosting its first new exhibition, Portals, by Dee Bailey, since the gallery closed down in March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dee Bailey is a Whitehorse-based artist who specializes in creating highly detailed landscape paintings out of oil-based modelling clay, says Katie Newman of …
Arts Underground is back with Dee Bailey’s Portals Read More »
Drawing flowers in complementary colours
I LOVE textures and colours in nature! So next time you’re on a walk, start looking at the different colours around you.
Art in the age of COVID-19: The Dalton Trail Gallery
I remember the first time Nicole Bauberger created a series of dresses. It was in 2004, and Bauberger was part of an artists’ collective called Studio 204. The collective had a small studio and artist-run gallery space of the same name, in the alley in the back of 204 Main Street. Bauberger’s first show at Studio 204 …
Art in the age of COVID-19: The Dalton Trail Gallery Read More »
Artist in the School Adapts
Impressed by the creativity the artists in the program have brought to re-imagining their workshops for online delivery.
How much is that artist in the window?
The Yukon Artists @ Work Society ([email protected]) are among those doing their best to adapt. They have come up with an innovative way to be present to their public within these new and shifting constraints.
Emerging North re-emerges online
On Monday, March 16, the Yukon’s Chief Medical officer set health and safety measures against COVID-19 in place that we’re still in the midst of; these measures have changed the context in which we’re making art, at least for now. I rushed out of my house, not to get toilet paper, but to see Emerging North at …
Art education wherever you are
Kids Kreate, the Yukon Arts Centre’s education program, needed to bring art into the lives of Yukon’s youngsters. The solution, go virtual.
Wild in the city
Linda Leon’s newest exhibition, Wild in the City, is an exploration of the relationship between animals and urban centres.
AWG 2020 Cultural Marketplace calls for artists
The marketplace will display and sell works from Yukon artisans from March 16 to 21 at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre The Whitehorse 2020 Arctic Winter Games, in partnership with the Yukon First Nations Culture and Tourism Association (YFNCT) and presented by Finning, is inviting Yukon visual artists and craftspeople to apply for the AWG …
Canadian inspiration
Amber Church’s solo exhibition True North Strong and Free features new work and is her first solo show in more than three-and-a-half years.
Pulling as a team in Toronto
The Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre Sewing Group would like to encourage you to see their work in Indigenous Purpose, an exhibition featuring their nine dog blankets and two podium banners. It’s on display at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto until Jan. 5, 2020. It’s part of the Festival of Cool: The Arctic, which opens with a Dec. 10 …
Creating bridges between the audience and the land
Boreal hip hop, still from “Remote Sensibility: the ecology of perception” Grace Simpson-Fowler, Talia Woodland and Karyin Qiu were early participants in Remote Sensibility, performing in Marten’s favorite stage: outside [one_half] [/one_half] [one_half_last] What happens when you bring Elders, astronauts, visual artists and choirs together? If you’re Marten Berkman, you end up with a multi-screen …
Creating bridges between the audience and the land Read More »
A mask of grief
Grief was the surprise visitor Claire Strauss welcomed into her world when she first started making masks. Her first mask emerged out of a month-long art education intensive as she was finishing her undergrad in psychology. It was inspired by her father’s fatal cancer diagnosis. “There were elements which I was instructed on how the …
An artistic and emotional outlet
Erin Holm will never forget the phone call she got while living in Australia in 2015. It was her father, calling to tell her he had been diagnosed with cancer and had only months to live. Holm moved home to Canada to be with him. In that time, he told her something important. “I will …
Challenged by technology
The Yukon Arts Centre opened two new exhibitions on Sept. 5. One showcases the work of Advanced Artist Award recipient Lillian Loponen, who visited Finland to create an experiential interpretation of that country’s national epic folklore tale, Kalevala. The story is the Finnish cornerstone of its people. The other show is Leslie Leong’s Ubiquitous, which seeks to …
Jagged little rocks
“Pieces of the Jagged Rocks” by artist Dee Bailey opens Sept. 6 with a reception from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Yukon Artists at Work Gallery in Whitehorse. Bailey’s engaging sculptural paintings look to celebrate wildlife and the landscape. She works with oil-based modelling clay to create paintings with depth. Coloured pieces of clay …
Lullabies to a northern landscape
As the new school year rolls around and fall begins, Yukoners find seasonal ways to appreciate their surroundings in this place called home. For Sabrina Parks and her family, this appreciation began three years ago, after relocating to the Whitehorse area. As Parks states in her poem “Way Up North,” this is a …
Carving Gold Rush history into woodblock prints
Sara Tabbert has undertaken three artist residencies in national parks. This August and September, she will undertake her fourth, as part of the Chilkoot Trail Artist Residency Program. “I’ve had my eye on it for a while,” said Tabbert of the residency program. “I know a few other artists who have had the opportunity to …
Created at the canyon
Diverse work comes out of a varied landscape Though always a popular spot with locals and tourists alike, the basalt columns of Miles Canyon received more than 450 visitors over the weekend of July 5 and 6 for the Created at the Canyon art exhibit. Hosted by the Yukon Conservation Society, Created at the Canyon …
The Chilkoot Trail allows for exploration of more than the wilderness
Hannah Perrine Mode’s pieces “Scattered Light, Low Clouds” and “Now We Can Hold Time,” are tied closely to the landscapes where they were created: the northern California coast, Joshua Tree, Lake Tahoe, Desolation Wilderness, Walden Pond, Oakland, Antarctica and the Mendenhall Glacier, respectively Hannah Perrine Mode’s art practice exists at the confluence of visual art, …
The Chilkoot Trail allows for exploration of more than the wilderness Read More »
Through the thought process
What journey do we take to arrive at an idea? Artists Michel Gignac and Gorellaume chose to explore that pathway in their new in-situ work, Through the Thought Process, installed at Northlight Innovation Centre. “We were really inspired by the space and all of the idea generation that goes on in the building,” said Gignac. “We …
Perforating the walls to let nature in
NorthLight Innovation wanted art to amplify space. Berkman brought in a group of artists to collaborate & create the finished in-situ work.
Annual artistry
On this year’s cover of Northwestel’s 2019/20 phone directory is Chantel Goodman’s striking painting, Walking out of the Library at Night. This piece captures the atmosphere and character of downtown Whitehorse at night in the middle of the long winter months. Goodman shares how special and important it is to appreciate the simple moments, as there …
Fresh Art for the Territory’s Newest Gallery
Gallery 22 takes wing with its first solo show. Dan Bushnell’s ravens fly through areas of layered colour or urban environments across the gallery’s white walls above Triple J’s Music shop. Straight black paint, sometimes with blended-in white highlights, carry the shapes and forms of Bushnell’s ravens. These ravens inhabit an abstract or urban environment, …
Fractured and beloved northern landscapes
A cool, open feeling struck me as I walked into the current show in the main gallery at the Yukon Arts Centre. An aqua-blue wall, a glimpse of glaciers painted on spacious canvas and metal sculptures evoked this feeling. The gallery features the work of two circumpolar artists, mostly responding to time spent in Svalbard. …
Emma’s Quick Guide to a safe and sound studio
The main things I consider, as a painter, are ventilation, natural light and cleanup. Ventilation is challenging in the Yukon because in the winter you lose so much heat by opening windows.
Evoking kintsugi
Whitehorse artist Leslie Leong applied for a residency at the Ted Harrison Artists Retreat to work towards a large show at the Yukon Arts Centre Gallery in the fall of 2019. But she had lots of other ideas to work through first, both larger and smaller. At the artists’ retreat, on Crag Lake, she was …
The Yukon’s exclusive arts and crafts
Only two weeks to go until the 2018 Cranberry Fair, when, again, over 40 artists will gather to present the Yukon’s exceptional artistic craftsmanship.
New twists on old myths
On October 9, Whitehorse fantasy artist Kimberley Crawford launched her new project, Unspoken Gods. The project reflects her own creations and will focus on large visual-art pieces that tell stories. The new project is a big step for Crawford towards what she loves doing. The launch comes from a review of her priorities. Crawford realized …
Myth Buster: Oils are too messy, toxic and expensive
Many people of all walks of life enjoy painting. Most of the time, acrylics trump oils in popularity. Children, starting out in school, are offered tempera, watercolour and acrylics. The general belief is that oil paints are too messy, toxic, stinky and expensive. While oils can get messy without guidance, they are superior in colour, …
Myth Buster: Oils are too messy, toxic and expensive Read More »
Scavenging for Raven
Upper Tanana artist Teresa Vander Meer-Chassé has teamed up with Whitehorse-based artist Nicole Bauberger to create a scavenger hunt of installations and events this fall. The artists began collaborating a year ago around the idea that the shattered tire fragments you find by the side of the road resemble ravens. They began exploring the material’s …
SOVA grad wins regional prize in national competition
Chris Dufour’s decision to enrol in the Yukon School of Visual Arts (SOVA) in 2017 turned out to be a good one. Based on an art piece he created in one of the classes offered by SOVA, he was chosen as regional winner representing the Yukon in the 16th BMO 1st Art! competition, an annual …
SOVA grad wins regional prize in national competition Read More »
North meets South
Evolution and expansion are the words to describe the next steps in Halin de Repentigny’s 40-plus-years journey as a northern artist. His upcoming gallery showcase, “Homestay” – Keep the Fire Burning, in September, will continue his depictions of northern lifestyles. It’s a collection of all new work that he painted last winter in Dawson City. …
The Wild Things are coming!
It’s no secret that Alberta artist Kari Lehr loves bears. You only need to look at her bright and expressive bear “portraits” to see she has an affinity with animals.
What’s with all the brushes?
Painters need brushes to create the best marks and strokes to convey their visual messages.
Art meets nature and history
Miles Canyon holds a special place in the story of Whitehorse. Each summer, the Yukon Conservation Society invites Yukon artists to participate in a two-day workshop to create pieces inspired by this special place.
Not all canvases are created equal
I’d like to share what I know about canvases that are available locally. It is the most important part of your painting. It’s also known as the “support.”
Magic on the Trail
Visual artist Hilary Lorenz will take hand-crafted cards along her art adventure on the Chilkoot Trail in July.
Celebrating 30 years of northern art and artists
First Nations artists and performers, from across the North, will gather with artists from around the world for the Great Northern Arts Festival on July 13–22.
Inspired by Place
Kristin Link is a visual artist based in McCarthy, Alaska, who works in natural history and science art. She creates interpretive signs and educational material about nature.
‘Make me a vessel and I will paint a raven on it’
For the past year or so, I have been collaborating with the makers of vessels to co-create unique raven-adorned cups and bowls.
From the California gold rush to the history of the Yukon
Josh Winkler combines traditional media with print media and sculpture. Reaching for the Sun is the title of his recent project. It references natural growth, but also the growth of humanity, the accumulation of products, and the fragility of the planet.
Wanna see my art on the cover
On this year’s cover of NorthwesTel’s 2018/19 phone directory is Gabrielle Watts’ sensational painting, Mount Lorne From Above.
A lifeline for Yukon artists
James Kirby dedicated his life to his craft and when news of his terminal illness came to light, the Yukon Artist Relief Fund Society was there to help.
Didee & Didoo: Let’s Learn Gwich’in, Colours – Vah Ch’itr’idi’ee – Chih Ahaa
CARTOON: Allan Benjamin Colours – Vah Ch’itr’idi’ee – Chih Ahaa Jidii Zraii – Black Jidii Dagaii – White Jidii Ditsik – Red Jidii Vee – Grey Jidii Ch’ahtl’òo – Green Jidii Datl’òo – Blue Jidii Tthoo – Brown Jidii Tsoo – Yellow Jidii Dich’ik – Pink Ch’ihtak – One Neekaii – Two Tik – Three …
Didee & Didoo: Let’s Learn Gwich’in, Colours – Vah Ch’itr’idi’ee – Chih Ahaa Read More »
On being scared (and doing it anyway)
by Misha Donohoe Fearless in Nature opens at Yukon Artists at Work Gallery on April 6 with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Georgia O’Keefe once said, “I have been absolutely terrified my whole life and I have never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.” On a …
Alternate universe
There is a new exhibition showing at The ODD Gallery in Dawson City, a gallery that showcases contemporary art year round. Pathie is a new, video-based installation by Montreal artist Andrée-Anne Roussel. The exhibit opened Wednesday, January 17th, with an artist’s talk at the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (KIAC) ballroom, followed by …
What do we do to the natural world?
Two art shows at the Yukon Arts Centre Gallery explore the tension between the human and the natural world.
Freezing for the sake of art…
Ask most people what they do during the cold month of January, and they would say, “Stay inside and keep warm.” The (s)hiver Arts Society, however, wants to change that.
Art is in the eyes of the beholder
Some 30 years ago, as a way of managing his writer’s block, Murray decided to go out to the garage, turn his scroll saw on and put the scroll blade to work to carve away.
The power of art
Looking at recorded history, humans have been using dances and music as well as storytelling and visual arts as healing rituals. Art and health are a well known pair; a healthy mind in a healthy body.
From the North to the South
We deserve a pat on the back. That’s part of the point of From the North says Kim Winnicky, executive producer of the arts performance and show, a Canada 150 project being produced by Music Yukon. “We (in the territories) don’t often get a chance to celebrate ourselves.” Beginning this month, the show’s all-northern team …
The whole fish tale
Many people wouldn’t be surprised to hear that long-time Yukoner Josée Carbonneau is a passionate fisher. Like many northerners, Carbonneau has an affinity for fishing. It’s what she does with the fish that leaves people awestruck. Long after her fly fishing flies have been tied, and after her hip waders have dried, Carbonneau takes the …
A Family Tradition
Of all the portraits Daphne Lovett-Barber’s has drawn so far, her favourite is one she did of her grandmother. The 5-year-old Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in artist may have just started kindergarten this year, but she has been creating art since she was a toddler. “My mommy is an artist and my daddy is an artist,” Lovett-Barber tells …
Poetry and Visual Art Create a Dialogue
Just like poetry inspires music, it also can inspire visual art. That is what artist Heidi Hehn says about the Circumpolar Duet project, which is a collaboration between visual artists and poets that will launch on Sept. 29 as part of the Culture Days Yukon event. Hehn is organizing and participating in the project, which …
Stream of Consciousness
Visit the Academic and Skills Development office in the A-wing of Yukon College, and you’ll be greeted with words of empowerment on the backs of a stream of 16 cedar salmon in a work of art created by local artist Cheryl Teya. On each salmon plaque is a core value, such as kindness, respect, goals. …
Capturing the Beauty of Miles Canyon
If you’re a Yukon resident, you’ve no doubt walked, biked or skied the trodden path of the Miles Canyon trail. Perhaps you’ve observed the gradient of the canyon’s rocky columns, watched canoeists paddling from atop the suspension bridge, or glanced down at the emerald waters pulsing below. But have you ever had the firsthand experience …
A Year of Firsts at the Yukon Arts Centre
There’s a lot to look forward to at the Yukon Arts Centre (YAC) this coming season. “We want all Yukoners to enjoy the arts and not have to go down to Toronto,” says YAC Marketing and Development Director Sarah Frey. This season the centre is celebrating its 25th anniversary year. “It’s a big year for …
Celebrating the Power of Art
A mural festival in the Yukon will draw artists, youth, and the general public together to decorate some buildings in Whitehorse with a colourful palette. The 2-month long Yukon Heritage Mural Art Festival is kicking off on Saturday, and organizers are inviting anyone and everyone to pop by, check out what’s going on, pick up …
Arts in the Park: Grab your Lunch and Get Ready to Boogie!
Arts in the Park is about to head into another spectacular season of performing arts over lunch hour at Whitehorse’s LePage Park.
A Stitch in Time
Anna Taylor spent this winter stitching the stories of Dawson City women. In March, the Halifax-based textile artist completed a month-long residency at the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture. There, her embroidery practice focused on Dawson’s relationship with prostitution during the gold rush, and on the lives of the individual women who traveled north …
Artistic Announcements in Beads and Bells
Moses found nine other women to take on creating a dog blanket. The sewing group started up again in September, and they cut the materials out in October. She was happy she had such a good team of committed artists working with her. Each blanket takes many hours to design, bead and complete. They worked …
New Colours
An exhibit featuring paintings by 22 year old Yukoner Anna Thompson is currently on display at the Atco Electric Yukon Youth Centre Art Gallery. Thompson has a cognitive disability as a result of a brain injury as a baby which left her with cerebral palsy – and is a prolific and enthusiastic artist, says her …
Colour The Yukon
Erin Dixon is an artist with a passion for Yukon landscapes. “I was into colouring before it was hot,” she says with a laugh. A self described avid colourer, Dixon noticed a vacancy, “I know that colouring is really popular right now and I wanted to fill the void for Yukoners and visitors wishing for …
What Masks Reveal
At the Northern Front Studio this January, you can visit a variety of inner worlds in Whitehorse resident Claire Strauss’ exhibition of face-based wall sculptures, called The Mask Within. While this art show is part memorial for Strauss’ father, each piece creates its own whimsical world, incorporating a joy beyond the bounds of grief. Many …
Peace, Clarity and Open-Mindedness
Looking out my window at pristine snow, there are no human footprints on the forest floor. White, frosty, elemental, shadow. I can only imagine that similar images influence the spectacular work of Mark Preston. Mark Preston’s newest body of work entitled White Space will be on display at the Hilltop Bistro, in the Yukon College …
Aisy Doodles, December 21, 2016
Aislinn Cornett is an art therapist, writer, artist and adventurer born in Whitehorse, Yukon. She currently lives, writes and doodles on the beach in Mexico.
Aisy Doodles, December 14, 2016
Aislinn Cornett is an art therapist, writer, artist and adventurer born in Whitehorse, Yukon. She currently lives, writes and doodles on the beach in Mexico.
Aisy Doodles, December 7, 2016
Aislinn Cornett is an art therapist, writer, artist and adventurer born in Whitehorse, Yukon. She currently lives, writes and doodles on the beach in Mexico.
Aisy Doodles, November 30, 2016
Aislinn Cornett is an art therapist, writer, artist and adventurer born in Whitehorse, Yukon. She currently lives, writes and doodles on the beach in Mexico.
Aisy Doodles, November 23, 2016
Aislinn Cornett is an art therapist, writer, artist and adventurer born in Whitehorse, Yukon. She currently lives, writes and doodles on the beach in Mexico.
Aisy Doodles, November 16, 2016
Aislinn Cornett is an art therapist, writer, artist and adventurer born in Whitehorse, Yukon. She currently lives, writes and doodles on the beach in Mexico.
Aisy Doodles, November 9, 2016
Aislinn Cornett is an art therapist, writer, artist and adventurer born in Whitehorse, Yukon. She currently lives, writes and doodles on the beach in Mexico.
Yukon See It Here: Klondike Visitors Association
Employees at Klondike Visitors Association were surprised to find that a Jim Robb original hung on the wall for the centre. Early in summer, a call from Doug Thomas (also known as Gold Nougie Dougie), revealed to them that a painting of the Palace Grand Theatre (the only one Jim Robb has done), which staff …
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Aisy Doodles, November 2, 2016
Aislinn Cornett is an art therapist, writer, artist and adventurer born in Whitehorse, Yukon. She currently lives, writes and doodles on the beach in Mexico.
The Yukon Arts Scene Gets Fantastic
The Yukon prides itself on the talented resident artists who portray our vistas, wild creatures and northern life. This October, the Heavy Metal North Art Exhibition will bring Yukoners something darker, heavier, and a lot more fantastical than the usual fare. Seven Yukon fantasy artists — some showing their work publicly for the first time …
Creativity Runs Strong
Artistic genius runs in the de Repentigny family. Halin de Repentigny agrees. Over the phone, he said his dad loved to draw – he was always drawing something. De Repentigny’s mom loved music. Today the genius continues with Halin de Repentigny, his brother, Serge, and Halin’s two daughters, Mado and Rosa. This Friday, the family …
Calling All Arty Teens
From November 2 to 5, youth from all over the Yukon will be converging on Dawson City to hone their art skills in the 16th annual Youth Art Enrichment Program. Hosted by the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (KIAC), the four-day program is for Yukon students in Grades 9 to 12 who are …
“It Will Give Them Good Dreams”
The big fat airbus hit the tarmac in Whitehorse on Tuesday evening and departed Wednesday afternoon — William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, were in the Yukon for less than 24 hours. The government of Canada booked the entire Coast High Country Inn for Will, Kate and their 80-or-so person entourage, Governor …
Perpetual Curiosities: A 30-Year Retrospective Art Exhibit
On Thursday, Sept. 29, at 7:30 p.m., the ODD Gallery in Dawson City will be holding a reception for the opening of Perpetual Curiosities: A 30-Year Retrospective. The exhibition is by long-time Dawsonite Shelley Hakonson, whose last show at the gallery was a shared exhibition. This time she’s going solo. “It’s nerve wracking, but also …
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Recognizing Amazing Art
Our community will soon welcome an expected 100+ Indigenous curators, artists, and academics participating in the first northern gathering of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective. The collective is a national service organization of Indigenous curators and artists from across this land now known as Canada. The collective was created in response to the dominating non-native curatorial …
Healing Through Art
Dennis Shorty created his first sculpture when he was eight years old. It was a moose carved out of poplar with a burbot fish skull for antlers and a bit of “fish glue” to hold them in place. He was proud of the sculpture and showed his father, Alec Shorty. Alec told the young carver …
A Strong Indigenous Female Presence at Arts Underground
Two new exhibitions curated by Jennifer Bowen Allen, of the Dene Nation, opened Sept. 2 at Arts Underground. In the Focus Gallery, a group show called Hands of Time: Bush Women on the Land honours the way that women who live on the land have supported cultural continuity by maintaining their traditional practices. In the …
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Artists Going Flat-Out
Question: What does a steam roller have in common with wood block printing? Answer: Joyce Majiski and Linda Leon. The two Yukon artists are hosting a spectacular event from August 5 to 7. Each day between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the skating oval in Shipyards Park a road packer will be rolling over …
The Human North
Three photo-based shows currently on exhibit at the Yukon Arts Centre all aspire to convey something of the experience of living in the North. Of course there is no “the” when it comes to north; there are many norths. In my opinion, the exhibits were most successful where they conveyed a particular place, inhabited by …
For the Love of Northern Art
Every year for 10 days, northern artists and art lovers gather in Inuvik, a small town of 3,400 in the NWT, to celebrate culture and creativity. Entering its 28th year, the Great Northern Arts Festival features almost 60 artists from the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Running from July 15 to 24, the activities …
Bright Colours, Divergent Stories
Two brightly coloured shows of paintings adorn the walls of Arts Underground. While they share intense palettes, their worldviews contrast profoundly. The Things You Know by Whitehorse artist Heather Von Steinhagen offers a surreal, disturbing outlook, while Leaps and Bounds by Marsh Lake artist Ferryn Nowatzki depicts a more light-hearted vision. Dystopia reigns Von Steinhagen’s …
Many Worlds of Words
In Whitehorse we rarely see a group show that’s international in scope. In Words – International Exhibition of Haiku and Handmade Paper, the concept tying the works together is simple: many objects in our lives amount to words on paper. This exhibition offers an astonishing variety of variations on this theme, from a wide variety …
Art Show: Transcending the Doodle
Two new exhibitions at Arts Underground take doodle-like lines to new levels. In Wearable Art, Qaqtis (pronounced like cactus) uses these kinds of lines in acrylic paint to make hoodies and sneakers unique. Her show is in the Focus Gallery, in the front room. In the Edge Gallery, located in the back room, Whitehorse artist …
Art show at the YAC until May 28 explores colonization
All three exhibitions currently on display at the Yukon Arts Centre’s public art gallery have to do with colonization. Joseph Tisiga: IBC 1st Hole: Death Prophecy Denied Joseph Tisiga’s paintings in watercolour and acrylic surround an interactive mini putt course in IBC 1st Hole: Death Prophecy Denied to create a critique of the Canadian government’s …
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Projectify It!
Step into the world of projection design and you’ll see anything is possible. Images can be displayed on screens behind the actors and these images can be constantly moving and changing. Even just the way lights move across the stage can create a set in itself. Different backdrops can be projected on a screen – …
Telling Stories
Sandra Grace Storey’s Words Like Birds exhibit digs deep into all that we struggle to express. It finds a great tenderness there. Storey has created an exhibition of small, focussed sculptures for the solo show room at the Yukon Artists @ Work Co-operative art gallery. Storey works in stoneware ceramics coloured with earth-toned oxides. White …
Separate Realities come together at Northern Front Studio
Scott Price has come home to Whitehorse from a year away in Guelph, Ontario. His new sculpture show, called Separate Realities, emerged from the process of inhabiting these two places. Separate Realities is on exhibit until the end of April at the Northern Front Studio, in Waterfront Station. It includes wall pieces and sculptures. The …
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Heidi Hehn is Raven Mad
Heidi Hehn is crazy for ravens. It’s a taste she shares with many northerners. These big, black, intelligent birds bring wilderness into the city. Sometimes they bring that wildness closer than you’d like it, for example, when they tear apart the garbage in the back of a pickup truck. However, many people really appreciate their …
Space Art
When the detection of gravitational waves was announced earlier this month, the space community rejoiced. They cried out, “Einstein was right!” and “This changes everything we know about space.” For me, this announcement had the resonance of a hockey score between two teams I didn’t know existed. Space isn’t my thing. It doesn’t excite me. …
Happy Anniversary, Arts Underground
Arts Underground celebrated 10 years with the launch of a show called ten. ten features art by the Yukon Arts Society Members.
Holding Images in Our Mind
In his most recent show, Jesse Devost investigates how we gather and hold images in our mind. Optic Nerve, showing at Arts Underground until Nov. 28, explores how the optic nerve continuously captures images and transmits them to the brain, regardless of whether the brain can handle them. His art employs a variety of mediums, …
A Budding Artist
When my nephew was six he ran a grocery store. He sorted cans of fruit, vegetables and soup. He priced each can and stocked shelves. Then he sold the products to his sister and brother. He was able to add the prices and make change in his head. At a very young age his mathematical …
Get Your Greens
Whet your appetite for lunch on Lillian Loponen’s new canvases at the Yukon College Hilltop Bistro this fall. The show, called Touch of Green: Enchanted Places, explores the colour green in washes and gestural brushstrokes. The show will be on display at the College’s fine dining lunch restaurant until mid December. Jacqueline Bedard, the Director …
Ideas, Laughter, and Making Art
Armed with everything they need to make art 12 Yukon artists tucked themselves into the woods to make art together.
Submit to Me
Themed-art shows are popping up in galleries these days. Gallery 1988, in Los Angeles, just wrapped a show dedicated to the 1985 movie classic, Clue, and Vancouver’s Hot Art Wet City gallery recently held We’re All Pretty Bizarre, dedicated to the work of John Hughes, complete with paintings of a young Macaulay Culkin and an …
Something to hold
We have a young, emerging artist in our midst who still has a fondness for that old-fashioned medium … of paper. Yeah, Heather Von Steinhagen has a website, too. This just makes her Many Late Nights Summertime ‘Zine easier to see and contribute to for her friends and peers across the country. But, paper, “is …
Squawking with a Swan
One day in 2011, Todd Pilgrim was returning from a hike when he saw something grey and silverish by the road. As he went closer, he discovered that it was a young tundra swan. It had a drooping wing and couldn’t fly away. That’s how real-life tale behind Pilgrim’s children’s book, Angie, the Tundra Swan, …
Touch and Tell
A series of demonstrations and hands-on activities is helping animate the current exhibition at the Yukon Arts Centre’s Public Gallery, Found, Forged & Fused, a survey of handmade works from the Yukon Permanent Art Collection. The idea for this interactive component stems directly from the thinking behind the exhibit’s curation, explains Garnet Muething, art curator …
Creative Getaway
Perhaps your partner is sick of navigating around that massive quilting frame to get to the living room couch. Perhaps you’re tired of moving that big felting project off the kitchen table day after day, so the family can have supper. If so, a month of free studio space in a delightful location, with very …
Laurel Parry – Loud and Proud
On her first day as a government arts consultant in 1987, Laurel Parry was ushered to a desk that held a typewriter, a large black ceramic ashtray, and an in-box loaded with letters and materials from Yukon artists. “The job had been vacant for quite awhile and the sport consultant had been pinch-hitting, so I …
Media Arts on the Waterfront
A few years ago the Yukon Film Society (YFS) unsuccessfully bid on a lease for the Hatch House in Shipyards Park, in hopes of hosting an artist residency. Although that didn’t work out, it planted a seed that has borne fruit this summer. Throughout the spring, summer, and fall YFS will support an artist residency …
Folk art in the forest
The forest is my palette. The flora, the fauna — they inspire me. I am so lucky to have an acreage at my disposal. I’ve created walking paths and gardens. Over the last few years I’ve enjoyed yarn bombing the forest paths I’ve created. It is a great way to create pattern swatches and use …
Five Spectacles To Be Seen At Whitehorse Nuit Blanche
From dance to live painting to a spider web takeover of a local park, the second annual Whitehorse Nuit Blanche (WNB) has an exhibit and activity for everybody. With a focus on participatory performances, the all-night art crawl transforms the audience into creators as it takes over downtown Whitehorse. Here are five more WNB art …
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Where the Wild Women Are
The paths of Maureen Morris and Sandra Grace Storey have crossed more than once during their careers, but today is the first time they meet.
The Brush Stroke
Hi, I’m Joslyn, and I’m afraid of…painting. More specifically, I’m afraid of looking silly because I’m bad at painting in front of those who are good at it. And so, though I have long longed to walk up to an easel and express myself all over it, I have shyly avoided every opportunity to do …
Kin and Creation
Before he met his wife, Simon Gilpin’s paintings were dreary — depicting cloudfilled skies. After, he created wide-open, blue-skied paintings. “I only just realized I did that.” Gilpin used to destroy work he didn’t like. Now, “it’s not fair for me to judge.” Paintings he doesn’t like move others to tears. He lets his paintings …
Overcoming Emotional Collapse Through Creation
Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic broke up in 2003 in Zagreb, Croatia. Like most post- relationship humans, they had ordinary objects kicking around their houses that sparked emotions, relating to the relationship, or the demise of it. The two artists joked about starting a museum. They asked their friends for their relationship remnants. They got …
“Splintered Craft” Art Space now open
The Skookum Jim Friendship Centre is providing well-known Yukon artist Joseph Tisiga with a chance to undertake an exciting project that’s close to his heart. Splintered Craft, a drop-in art studio for youth, now open in Yukon Plaza across from Tags, at 4230 4 Avenue. But get in there soon; its current funding only lasts till …
The Road Frequently Traveled
Yukon artist Nicole Bauberger has decided to take on quite the challenge. She is working on a project called Get Here From There, which will depict Canadian roads from one coast to the other. Bauberger will be driving across the country, stopping along the way to paint scenes. While some artists prefer to photograph and then paint, Bauberger plans …
Some Love Science. For Others, There’s Art
It’s always easier to preach to the converted. If I call myself a scientist, others who like that label might seek me out for a conversation or my opinion on something specific. From an early age we gravitate towards a science persona, or a literary one, or perhaps one that is sporty, or musical. Whatever …
An Artist of All Trades
She sculpts, paints, sketches and makes jewelry. This talented Yukoner goes by the name of Heidi Hehn. Some of you may recognize the name from her various raven paintings. When I first arrived in the Yukon two years ago, the first thing I noticed at the gift shop was the famous painting of a pick up truck …
(S)hiver Festival
A brand new event will be taking place in Dawson City on Saturday, January 24. The (s)hiver festival promises a night of art, light, and creativity in response to the dark cold of a northern winter. Originally from Vancouver, festival organizers Blair Douglas and Carly Woolner arrived in Dawson last summer. Both are artists; Douglas …
The Artists Are Working, But Not How You Think
The place is busy and noisy. Paul and Jeannine Baker look more like construction workers than artists. Jeannine is sweeping drywall debris in the kitchen/workshop space , and Paul is cutting trim at the chop saw. In an adjoining room, five or six people are gathered in a circle, note pads in hand in what …
Her Gigantic Heart Just Keeps Shining
Walking into Meshell Melvin’s house I am instantly at home. There are pet greeters, delicious smells, and my jacket falls naturally on the couch. With the lovely addition of artful fish hanging from the ceiling, I have the sense of entering a menagerie and I love it. The woodstove is going strong and it’s very …
Passion for Detail
Masamichi Nakatsuka has a painting, a watercolour on paper called “Passion”, that he completed in one sitting. The painting is of a skull with paint dripping down its side. Nakatsuka, who goes by Michi, says he couldn’t stop working until it was finished. It took five to six hours. Michi ended up in Whitehorse because …
Face Us
There are currently two mammoths at the Yukon Arts Centre. But they don’t interact; they are on different schedules. The one hanging out in the Public Art Gallery belongs to the Ice Age Mammals exhibit. The other mammoth — the one of current interest — is symbolic. He lives in the Community Gallery as part …
Michele Emslie Loves Art
Michele Emslie doesn’t even try to disguise her enthusiasm for her job as an arts administrator. “ I love art. I love artists. I love what they give to the world,” she declares. The Yukon Arts Centre’s community programming director is proud to live in a “fairly isolated and remote” place that “can boast a …
The writing is on the plant
The Yukon is known for its vibrant fireweed; it’s used to make jelly, soap, and artwork. For Yukon-based artist Helen O’Connor, fireweed provides material for artistic paper. But the Yukon’s official flower is not the only plant she grinds to a pulp. The art adventurer has also used grass, clover, and even flax to make …
The Wasteland
Andrea Kastner has been fascinated by garbage for years. The Montreal native, who now makes her home in Hamilton, Ontario became interested in waste while thinking about how we, as a society, relate to our possessions. “ We take things with us, ignore that we own them, then throw them out,” she says. “ It’s …
Paint Dances With Ideas
Because of the cerebral nature of her work, Lawrie Crawford describes herself as an “outlier” in the Yukon, where landscape painters predominate. Measuring Space, Lawrie Crawford’s solo art show at the Northern Front Studio in Waterfront Station, opened at the beginning of October. However, Crawford will offer an artist talk at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday …
The Beauty of Nature Sliced 19 Ways
Rows of evergreens, crystal blue lakes, majestic mountains, and an abundance of wildlife are all found along the Stewart-Cassiar Highway. The road is an alternative to the Alaska Highway for those travelling south through B.C. from the Yukon/B.C. border, just west of Watson Lake. For Jackie Ziehe, the Stewart-Cassiar served as inspiration for her latest …
Wonky Little Show
“You shouldn’t write this,” Monique Romeiko cautions with a chuckle, “but we’re 40. All three of us.” Besides herself, Romeiko is referring to Aimée Dawn Robinson and Erin Flynn, her fellow performer/dancers in a creative collaboration called begin you again, which will be unveiled October 4 and 5 at the Old Fire Hall. The Whitehorse …
Whitehorse and Santa Fe Art Scenes
Like Whitehorse, Santa Fe takes pride in its arts scene. The capital of New Mexico, in the American Southwest, has roughly three times the population of the Yukon; it has 250 art galleries. Err… Whitehorse doesn’t have 80. This led me to wonder what makes the arts scene in Sante Fe flourish verdantly in the …
We Are Golden
As I walk into the Yukon Arts Centre early on a Tuesday morning I pass a woman holding some wild flowers in her hands. Our eyes meet in the way eyes seem to meet in the Yukon — a second longer than normal, accompanied by a smile. I feel a trickle of warmth down my …
Yukon Arts Centre CEO Al Cushing jokes that a fortune cookie clinched the decision to come North
Al Cushing sits on a bench in historic King’s Square in Saint John, New Brunswick, reminiscing about his high school grad party on this very spot. It was a blistering day, and the hotel where the event was scheduled had no air conditioning. “We were going to die of heat prostration,” he recounts. “One of my classmates was a son …
Reflections on Miles Canyon in Art
The 20th Century artist Marc Chagall once stated, “Great art picks up where nature ends.” After organizing this year’s Miles Canyon In Art event, hosted by the Yukon Conservation Society (YCS), I certainly agree. On Friday July 25, and Saturday July 26, Deanna Bailey, Amber Church, Marie-Helene Comeau, Heidi Hehn, and Blair Thorson stationed themselves …
Squirrely Taxidermy
Sure, you’ve seen a moose head mounted on a wall before. It probably had really big antlers, too. But was it re-enacting a scene from Dirty Dancing? Or perhaps guarding a chest full of pirate treasure? This month, Cindy Klippenstein’s new exhibit Fur and Loathing is open at Northern Front Studio in Waterfront Station. The …
12 Hours of Art
The first Whitehorse Nuit Blanche arts festival takes starts on July 5, and runs into the wee hours of July 6. The event is modeled after the famous Nuit Blanche festivals that take place around the world. Whitehorse’s version will showcase five Yukon artists. There will be sculptures, video installations, origami, dance, music, and workshops. …
Artists Emerging
It’s an art show so big it needs two galleries to display it. With nearly 200 works by 70 young Weekday Warriors, it may be the biggest exhibit by emerging artists ever to hit the Yukon. Throughout the month of June, the Boys & Girls Club of Yukon (BGC) takes over both the Rah Rah …
Ten Words Turned Into Twenty Boxes
“I am obsessed by creating community connections through art, it’s kind of a disease,” confesses Yukon visual artist Marie-Hélène Comeau. So when she heard of the international art project called La Caravane des Dix Mots (Ten Word Caravan), she decided to take the lead on the first Yukon edition. La Caravane des Dix Mots involves …
An Arty Party: Whitehorse’s first Etsy Craft Party will be hosted on the waterfront
Yukoners who are feeling crafty and don’t mind working in front of an audience may want to head down to the wharf on the Whitehorse waterfront after work this Friday. That’s where the territory’s first Etsy Craft Party will take place, in conjunction with similar events around the world the same day. Etsy is an …
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Yukon Arts Center Prepares for Kick-Off
The Yukon Arts Centre (YAC) has released the roster for the 2014-15 season, with a line-up they hope has a promising selection of new and exciting events for everyone. Exhibitions for the YAC begin on September 4. The season officially starts on September 12 with a performance called The Damage is Done, staring Dr. Gabor …
Mary Bradshaw sees her curator’s role as a bridge between artists and the public
Tourism officials in Barbados market their island as “Distinctively Charming”. But when Mary Bradshaw was weighing the option of a Barbadian internship against one in Whitehorse, she opted for the distinctive charm of the Yukon. “I figured, ‘Oh, I can live anywhere for six months, and it’s the same time zone as where my family …
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The Sport of Art
Visual art is typically a lonesome pursuit. The public often has to wait months, if not years, to see new works emerge from studios. Art Battle turns these concepts upside down. In its five-year existence, the live-painting competition has seen over 300 artists facing off to produce “instant art” in cities across southern Canada. Amber Church, …
The Insidious Computer
There’s no such thing as getting away from it all. Not when it comes to computer technology. Leslie Leong’s latest exhibit, Insidious, reiterates this in beautiful, if at times unsettling, ways. Known for her use of computer circuit boards in jewellery, Leong offers a broader, more provocative look at the pervasive nature of technology in her …
A Tribute to a Colourful Artist
“I’ve had a good demand for my work, so I didn’t have to hang anything.” Jim Robb says. “It was never my thing to put stuff on exhibition.”
Your invitation to the Senator’s Office
We are welcome to visit the Yukon Senator’s office in Ottawa, which has a homey feeling, adorned with art from the territory. The Honourable Daniel Lang or his assistant will happily show you artworks from the Yukon Permanent Art Collection on display in his office. Just give them a heads up a day or so …
Finding the Essence of Experience in Nature
Yukon artist Helen O’Connor’s textural, organic, large-scale sculpture, assemblages, and installations beg the viewer to reach out and touch them. The works seem as though they are part of the natural world, not made by human hands. Indeed, O’Connor’s works are made with reverence to nature. However, instead of literal depictions, she tries to find …
Main Street Confidential
So… have you gone to the Yukon Government Main Administrative Building to see your art yet? I understand, life gets busy. But I bet you’re on Main Street once in awhile. There, you’ll find three Yukon Government offices that serve as public exhibition spaces from the Yukon Permanent Collection — art that belongs to the …
Northern Pride
Art has the power to heal — and the artwork that comes out of the healing process can be amazing. Not always, sure, there are some art-therapy drawings only a mother could love. But check out the woodcarvings, prints, and copper art on exhibit at Arts Underground March 7 to 29. They’re impressive. The new …
The Natural, Bizarre, and Heart-Wrenching
Three luscious, solo visual art exhibitions are coming to the Yukon Arts Centre (YAC). Rosemary Scanlon’s The Rose Parade, Helen O’Connor’s Salutation, and Michèle Karch-Ackerman’s Foundling each open at YAC’s Public Art Gallery on March 6, and run until May 10. Scanlon and O’Connor are Whitehorse-based artists and Karch-Ackerman is visiting from Ontario. All three …
An All Night Art Affair
Nuit Blanche is coming to Whitehorse for the first time. The concept behind the all night art project is to showcase live art installations throughout downtown Whitehorse, turning the city into a single art exhibition. The first Nuit Blanche took place in Nantes, France in 1984. Helsinki became the second city to host one, in …
Making a Living by Making Art
There’s a classic struggle among artists to find a part-time job that will afford them enough money to pay the bills and enough time to make their art, but won’t suck the soul out of them. Another classic struggle is justifying the pursuit of money, when, as an artist, passion, creativity, communication, love, light, colour, …
The Power of Limitation
It was pretty impressive what MacGyver could come up with when faced with a problem, some string, a piece of gum, the gum wrapper, and a battery. That Canadian television show from the 1980s was predicated on the idea that when one finds oneself in a pickle, one can dip into a deep well of …
Bike Art Finds its Cadence
Bikes, art, and recycling are regarded by some as the holy trinity of resilient communities. What more could one hope for? Snow sculptures? Heaven. Giant owls hanging from trees? Rapture. To bear witness, head to the gallery-in-a-store at Cadence Cycle to see Grind, an assemblage of bike-inspired and bike-recycled art. Ken Anderson, local artist, master …
Simple Beauty
You know a painting is really good when you can lose yourself in it. Just like looking at a fire; you get hypnotized. Faro artist Jay Hambleton’s paintings of mountains are like that. They will be on exhibit at the North End Gallery in Whitehorse until Feb. 1. They’re impressionistic, rather than realistic, but the …
Capturing Something Intangible
If you need a break from winter’s dominating shades of grey, a collection of paintings at the Yukon Arts Centre will remind you how colourful the Northern landscape is during the rest of the year. The centre is hosting two solo shows featuring the work of icksYellowknife artist Jennifer Walden and Yukon artist Jane Isakson. …
Two New Galleries and Many Small Fishies: Back streets and Main Street
Another one caught: Ceramic artist Sam Dickie went to Dawson City as Artist in Residence with KIAC and created a show called Stand in the Odd Gallery last fall. And then — like so many others — she fell prey to the spell of the Yukon. She and her partner and one-year-old daughter MacKenzie were …
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Mixing Business With Pleasure
The Yukon Government Administrative building is chock full of art. Located on 2nd Avenue at Hanson Street, the site boasts 22 works from the Yukon Permanent Art Collection – the most of any of the locations featuring the public collection. I felt like an intrepid explorer, going there with my list of works to track …
Inspiration From the Northern Seas
Glaciers calve into the ocean. A polar bear lounges and stretches. The rigging creaks as the canvas sails fill with wind. One walrus surfaces. And every night lasts 15 minutes longer, while dawn and dusk stretch on for hours. Whitehorse artist Jane Isakson digests these experiences, which she will develop into large-scale acrylic canvases over …
Looking back to see the future
For a young man, Chris Foster is an old soul. The interdisciplinary artist, who obtained his Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 2008, finds his aesthetic cues in old books and obsolete technology. He feels that his generation is the last of the analog era, and …
Painting pets
Having your portrait painted is a way of immortalizing yourself – popes, kings and queens have all done it. But what about pets? Ange Bonnici, programs coordinator at the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (KIAC) in Dawson City, has decided it’s high time to include pets in the everlasting world of portraits. In 2011, …
Yukon Permanent Art Collection (YPAC): Art Gallery
Yukoners, you are the proud (or perhaps unaware) owners of the Yukon Permanent Art Collection (YPAC). The collection holds over 350 artworks in trust for you. The collection includes paintings, beadwork, weaving, textiles, sculpture and carving. Some of them are in storage, but about half the collection is always on display in public offices, for …
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Finding beauty in all the right places: Artist teaches how to appreciate art
Emma Barr is helping people find more beauty in their lives. As a professional artist of mixed media, that has always been her goal. But there is so much more art out there and much of it go unappreciated because many people just do not know enough about it. Or, perhaps, they know they …
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It’s All About the Visuals
Yukon designers, models and photographers work in tandem to showcase the “haute-est” trends from the coolest people in the North and, according to photographer Christian Kuntz, it’s all about the pictures. From blue jeans and bush boots to stilettos and silk, Kuntz re-interprets fashion through a lens. Born in France and schooled as a furniture …
Smoke and Zola and emerging artists
Arts shows, installations and openings around Whitehorse. Including Emma Barr, Joyce Majiski, Jeanine & Paul Baker and more
An Unusual Point Where Art and Guns Collide
Ben Beese’s perfectly-to-scale firearms made of regular printing paper include a revolver, rifles, semi automatics, and Halo fantasy gun.
A French Feast for the Senses
Onde de choc is a new event that will bring together over 25 Francophone artists from a variety of disciplines. Through culinary art, video, interactive installation, music, dance, storytelling, visual art, theatre and poetry, everyone is invited to discover an eclectic glimpse of the Francophone community’s talent at the Yukon Arts Centre on Friday, Nov. …
A Visit with Canada’s Art Darling
She’s taller than I remember. I have an impish image of Shary Boyle stuck in my mind – a gawky figure hunched over with devious playfulness sparkling in her eyes. Maybe I’ve gazed at her immense body of work so often I have come to think of her drawings as literal representations of her. The …
Yukon Artists: At Work for 10 Years
There will be music on the walls and in the air when the Yukon Artists @ Work (YAAW) Gallery celebrates its 10th anniversary on November 1. The gallery, the Yukon‘s only not-for-profit artists’ co-operative, is celebrating a decade of artist support with a show by one of its original members, Lillian Loponen. The co-op’s accomplished …
Where Do You Go After The Yukon? A pillar of Yukon’s art community finds green grass in the Arctic
Twelve months ago, Harreson Tanner thought he was leaving the Yukon for good. Like many seniors, Tanner wanted to be closer to his children and grandchildren. So he and his wife sold their Riverdale home and moved to Ontario. “We quickly learned that we saw more of our family when we lived in Yukon,” says …
Naked neighbours
After fifteen years of modelling, I finally decided to ask a couple of artist friends how they handle drawing the naked body of someone they know.
Exploring multiple selves: Montreal artist explores her psyche
Marigold Santos likes the idea of a multiple self. The Montreal-based artist has a new exhibition at the ODD Gallery in Dawson City, which runs from October 3 to November 1. The four large-scale mixed media drawings on canvas feature imagery of body fragmentation arising from foundations of movement, migration, and change within a physical …
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How to Face Fear and Become Part of a Community Art Project
I can’t paint. If there was a dictionary listing for “can’t paint” there would be a picture of me. Or perhaps it would be “Don’t paint!” Yet today I spent an hour contributing to the Diversity Art Project at Yukon College, called I Dreamed I was Home. The Diversity Art Project is being coordinated by …
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Hot and Bothered
A new art exhibit in Vancouver is reaching for the hot, funny, and healthy part of native sexuality, and Tlingit artists from the Yukon and Alaska are getting in on the action. The show, called RezErect: Native Erotica, opened on Sept. 25 in Vancouver with the gallery filled to capacity, and there is still plenty …
Artrepreneur: Bonfire Of The Arts
The image of an artist at work often sets an artist alone in a room with paint or perhaps a musical instrument, creating or composing in solitude. While this focus may be necessary for some parts of the work, most art comes alive in the presence of other people. Artists, arts organizations and arts administrators …
Our Thriving Art Community
Did you know that the funky little metal house in Shipyards Park, the black one with the raven that your kids are always playing in, is part of the Yukon Permanent Art Collection? The collection, which now boasts over 350 pieces, has art in public places all over the Yukon, and like “Raven’s House” by …
Seeing the Yukon Through Artists’ Eyes
When painters look at rocks, they see colours like purple, yellow, pink, and red. Colours that seem like not-rock-colours to the rest of us. And when we check out their paintings on the wall, we still might only see “rocks” — we may not notice that the rocks are painted with purple, yellow, pink, and …
Connecting to Art: Lawrie Crawford exhibits new abstracts at Gallery 22
There’s a new artist in town. She’s opened her second exhibit in Whitehorse, Connecting Space, to showcase her newest display of large and colourful works of art. She paints in the abstract, drawing largely upon intuition to guide her strokes. Her name is Lawrie Crawford, and she doesn’t use a paintbrush. “I’ve never used a …
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Telegrams from the Chilkoot Trail: Nicole Bauberger’s new show at the Transportation Museum
This past July, if you were hiking the Chilkoot, you may have caught a glimpse of a woman in a white dress, grubby from travel, walking the iconic trail. Strains of her voice could be heard drifting around camp in the evenings, as she alternated between story and song, and her sharp eyes captured images …
The Natural & the Manufactured
Running from August 15 to September 20, The Natural & The Manufactured explores the relationship between nature and culture, society and the natural world. Started in 2005, The Natural & The Manufactured is a unique thematic art project jointly organized by the ODD Gallery and the artist-in-residence program at the Klondike Institute of Art and …
Eye on Dawson
A live news program with a twist has hit the cable airwaves in Dawson City. Since June 25, Curtis Collins and Alyssa Friesen have gone live on air every Tuesday at midnight to offer a satirical look at local, national and international events. Along with musical guests, interviews, stories and a faux commercial, the 30-minute …
Looking for the Spiritual: Rosemary Scanlon
Art, nature, and religion come together in Rosemary Scanlon’s exhibit, Animal Icons. The show opens July 11 at the Rah Rah Gallery and features several new watercolours as well as pieces exhibited at Northern Scene in Ottawa this spring and the 2012 show, Sleep of Reason, at the Yukon Arts Centre. Scanlon’s work is characterized …
Artrepreneur: Sundog Carvers Sink Teeth into Snow
Young artists from the Sundog carving program have turned from wood to snow. Until Feb. 23, you can see them carving six eight-foot square blocks of snow at Shipyards Park. They will not be carving alone. Eight professional snow carving teams from across Canada and the United States started carving at midnight on Feb. 20 …
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Artrepreneur: Rogue Raven Art Show Perches on Downtown Kiosks
Vince Federoff kneels in the January snow. He presses brass thumbtacks into the downtown poster kiosk. He’s taken care to cover only an out-of-date poster from New Year’s Eve. He steps back and we admire the graceful composition of his photograph, simple among the shouting posters. It shows two ravens perched on a Ken Anderson …
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The Art of Bird Watching
A sprawling landscape of trees and snow-covered mountains pours in through the large living room windows. As the sun shines on the scenic view, Heidi Hehn tells stories of animals that have crept out of the forest setting and into her backyard. Having this setting at her doorstep couldn’t be more fitting for Hehn. Wildlife …
Colour and Clay, Space and Story
From strong swipes of colour to a fairy tale in clay, Arts Underground offered a lot to look at this June. You only have until June 29 to see Shaping Space by Crag Lake artist Lawrie Crawford and Finding Balance by Tagish artist Sandra Grace Storey. In Shaping Space Crawford fills the front room with …
Rabbit and Raven
The Storey of Raven and Rabbit was originally planned for New Zealand. Sandra Grace Storey, born and raised in Whitehorse, spent her childhood summers in a cabin on Tagish Lake. At 18 she moved to Calgary for art school. Then she sailed to New Zealand. New Zealand has no ravens, no predatory mammals and little …
Artrepreneur: Corsets and a Hunger for Colour
It’s spring. For Cori Giacomazzi, that means busy. I had the chance to visit this Canadian garment artist in March at her home in Skagway. I had seen her work at the Yukon Riverside Arts Festival in Dawson City. I had admired the conceptual corset made of old paint-and-glue-stained Carhartts and the one she was …
The Adäka Cultural Festival Aims to Include Everyone
2013 Adäka Cultural Festival: 28 performance groups, 44 visual artists and 50 workshops over 6 days at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre.
Figure Study
BY TARA McCARTHY From the sprawling mountains to the vibrant blue lakes and autumn hues, the Yukon’s natural side has been well documented by a multitude of artists. Now the time has come for characters to occupy the spotlight in the Yukon Portraits exhibit at the Old Fire Hall in Whitehorse. “A lot of times …
An Artist of the Yukon
A specific mood is always evident in Kirsty Wells’ paintings. Wells, 18, usually paints upbeat, happy images with lots of bright, vibrant colours and drastic contrasts. “There is less contrast and lighter colours and textures if I am sad or in a bad mood,” Wells explains. Wells found her passion for art at a very …
No folly to come up to the Yukon
Five guys are sitting, standing or dressing in this small makeshift room. I’m on the floor, my legs on steps leading back down to my corner, where I store every costume I’ll need for the Frantic Follies, the Yukon vaudeville show. Lyall Murdoch sits on a chair next to the mirror and make-up table wearing …
Drawings and Torched Copper: Colin Alexander has two art shows in Whitehorse
At Colin Alexander’s Northern Icons exhibit in the Rah Rah Gallery, you would be forgiven if at first you thought you were looking at old, blown-up photographs. But the eyes boring into yours are charcoal and watercolour. They were human, once. Then they were photographs. Under Alexander’s hand, they are something else again. “These are …
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Artrepreneur: Art to Share Spirit
SYANA’s first annual Yukon First Nations Arts Festival will have a strong visual arts and crafts focus. That’s what the society’s members asked for. Executive Director Sonny Voyageur had SYANA members fill out a questionnaire. Most said they would like to see the society’s activities focus on visual arts and crafts. Voyageur finds that arts …
Yukon Artists @ Work Painter Neil Graham Unveils a Project Six Years in the Making
Tarot cards are tools for divination and reflection; giving the person receiving the reading insight into past, present and future. The exact origin of the Tarot remains disputed and suitably mysterious. “The Tarot cards in more or less their present form appeared in 15th century Italy, but many believe their origins trace back to ancient …
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Walks into her life, tips hat, sweeps her off to the Yukon
Vanessa takes me to the Millennium Trail on a sunny afternoon. We smell the heavy aroma of flowers, somewhere, and find the top of a tree covered in buzzing insects and butterflies. A small yellow bird darts through the branches. It’s her favourite place to walk now. “I try to come here daily, and when …
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This is What They’ve Been Up To: Part 2
It must be a wild ride to work at the Yukon School of Visual Art (SOVA) in Dawson City. This year they had a student bring a horse into the gallery as part of an art project; another student made a set of musical instruments from a bunch of stuff; and many others dug deep …
Artrepreneur: Photographer Helps Protect Canada’s Artists
BY NICOLE BAUBERGER It’s a common Yukon experience. You’re at the board meeting, looking around the table. There’s a vacancy in a leadership position. “I don’t know enough,” you think. But as you look around, well, you can’t ask the new board members to do it … This happened to Whitehorse photographer Mario Villeneuve this …
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Artrepreneur: A Rich Ore Body Opens Underground
On Aug. 22, three shows will be opening at Arts Underground: the Arts in the Park Season Exhibition, a historical show of Yukon erotica and a solo show in the main gallery. The soloist is Teslin painter Jean Taylor who will present The Many Faces of the Aces, a show of acrylic paintings studying Teslin’s …
New Canadians desire a better country
Canada Day means you can see Canadian citzenship happening in front of you. Outside the Shipyards Park pavilion, bordered by black speakers and rows of concert lights, 24 immigrants, representing eight countries, sit in three rows facing the stage. The sun tries to come through the heavy clouds above us. Hundreds of Yukoners fill the …
Nancy Smythe Leaves the Yukon … But Not The Theatre
BY JANELLE HARDY “When I heard your voicemail, I cried!” With that, community theatre enthusiast Nancy Smythe openly and vigorously agreed to be interviewed. A staple in the local Whitehorse theatre scene for the past eight years, Smythe, after 19 years in the Yukon, is moving all the way across the country. “In ’89, I’d …
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Don’t Throw that Tea Bag Out
Small things can have a big impact on our lives. Like a used tea bag. Before Nicole Bauberger’s dad passed away, they were just the end product of a nice cup of tea. But then they became a symbol of a life gone too soon; of the dreams we hold on to as time slips …
A ‘different’ type of artist
Marilyn Wolovick brings two coffees to her husband’s studio. The cups are comfortable to hold, lovely to look at and each slightly different. Her husband, Rich Claxton, is a potter and he made those cups and, he confirms, “Dinnerware in our cupboards are all different.” Wolovick returns with a plate of the most delicious treats …
Artrepreneur: Cowboys and Immigrants
Three Art Shows at the Yukon Arts Centre. They range from video installation to painting process to an installation of cowboy kitsch.
George McConkey’s First Solo CD
Harmonica George McConkey is a nomad. Even after having lived in Dawson City for four years straight, he just can’t stay put. Living on the other side of the river from the city means he has to move to town twice a year. “Every six months or so, the river has to freeze and thaw …
Believing in the dog
First Prize PSAC Whitehorse Regional Pride Committee Short Story Contest It’s night. A man walks his black lab in the forest — and when the dog runs in between the pines, he’s almost invisible. The only sound is the man’s footsteps on the snow, the rustle of his jacket, his dog’s breathing. Normally, he enjoys …
They chose Whitehorse first
I’m sitting on a rock where Lil’s Place will be in about 14,000 years. I’m thinking about a chocolate shake, but chocolate hasn’t really been invented yet. I’m travelling with some people who have finally made it to the Whitehorse area — where they will stay for a few years. “Oh, maybe 10 years,” Om …
Roman Danylo knows how to make you laugh
Buy your tickets early for Thursday night’s comedy show at the Yukon Arts Centre so that you can get a good seat in the back. You see, Roman Danylo is one of those comics who gets the audience involved. If you sit too close to the front, you may end up in a slow-motion shoot …
The Outer Edge of the Art World
It’s an object within the art world that’s often overlooked. To a degree it’s meant to be that way, to avoid steering attention away from what it surrounds, while keeping it safe and sound. But without it, the ultimate visage of the artwork is altered. It’s the frame. For custom framer Steve Brewis, framing is …
My Mom, The Felter
BY JANELLE HARDY “Felting is a long and arduous process that compromises your back and the flooding of your house is a real hazard,” describes Louise Hardy, the latest artist to open a solo show at Arts Underground. She’s also my mother … so we will dispense with the journalistic preference for surnames here. Picture …
Dolly Varden Goes Out To Play
Deep-pink ruched stilettos, sparkle-dusted denim dress, red lips, long hair and slim red bandanna tied around the neck, Dolly Varden shifted from foot to foot, setting her skirt swinging, strummed the guitar strung around her and started to sing in a voice clearly present yet suggestive of depths still unexpressed. To Dolly Varden’s right stands …
Meticulously Crafting Culture
As we creep toward the end of another year, it’s only natural to reflect on how far we’ve come. And for the Sundog Retreat Carving Program, it’s been a momentous stretch. From select artists travelling to Ottawa’s annual Winterlude festivities, to Calvin Morberg’s trip to Russia, Sundog students’ artwork has reached a wider, international audience. …
DJ Jetpac Spins for Wonderland
Jared Tuck (aka DJ Jetpac) may be young, but he already knows he wants to be around music. Not born, but raised in Whitehorse, Tuck is in his second year of a two-year diploma in Music Industry Arts at Fanshaw College. “The program I’m taking is nationally renowned,” he says of the program in London, …
Provocative Fringe Theatre
When it comes to theatre, David Skelton says he believes Whitehorse audiences are “brave and sophisticated”. As Nakai Theatre’s artistic director, Skelton admits that last year’s Pivot Festival came with a small dose of controversy. However, he’s ready for another go this January when the avant-garde performance event hits the stage for its second run. …
Freedom Opens for Stace Pshyk
It’s seldom that the Yukon Gallery clears its walls to feature one artist. Solo shows haven’t been the focus of the commercial gallery and frame shop. But gallery owner Brenda Stehelin has made space for Stace Pshyk’s work to take centre stage. Pshyk’s show, Freedom, marks his first solo show in the territory, though his …
Artrepreneur: Bike Shop Makes Room for ‘The Gritty Gallery’
There’s a new gallery in town … but only for a little while. Five artists will display their artwork in Philippe’s Bicycle Repair during the three weeks leading up to Christmas. Photographer Mario Villeneuve, painter Nicole Bauberger (ahem, me), assemblage artist Scott Price and metal sculptors Katherine Alexander and Philippe LeBlond met in LeBlond’s bike …
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It’s gonna be a ‘blue’ folklore
Skookum Jim Friendship Centre is doing something different this year with its 2009 Folklore Show on Saturday, Jan. 31: it will be A Night of Blues. Well, it is always a little different from year to year. This 36th edition’s theme emerged after Chris Nash, the producer, and the Folklore Committee saw which acts were …
Yukon Fashion to Swarm Ottawa Runway
When you live in a place where it is winter for half the year you would expect fashion to be restricted to parkas and boots, but that’s not the case. Tomorrow night in Ottawa three Yukon designers will show their work at Northern Scene’s contemporary themed evening, SWARM, which features music, art, fashion and a …
Building a Show Together
Boats, fish and human figures cavort through the Yukon Art Society Gallery in Paul and Jeanine Baker’s Fired and Formed exhibition of collaborative works in metal and glass. In Autumn Wind, twisty spot-welded twigs cling to a burl to suggest a wind-blown tree. Torch-worked leaves scatter across the plinth as if blown off by that …
Illuminating the Art of 3D
If you’ve been in Umbellula Café, at the Spook Creek Station, recently, you’ve probably noticed some strikingly unique light fixtures illuminating the landscape. These are the brainchild of Steve Gartner. Gartner is an electrician employed by the City of Whitehorse … he’s also an artist. “I’ve been into art since the age of five or …
He followed the Quest to Whitehorse
Alex Olesen has been around dogs his whole life. Growing up in Fairbanks, his family owned a team of sled dogs. “I remember sitting in the basket getting peppered by the snow and ice off their feet and hoping they didn’t crap on the fly.” His father, Lee Olesen, was one of the first judges …
Artrepreneur: Gesturing the ‘S’
Centred in one of the Yukon Arts Centre galleries, as if on a page, stand 10 plinths and a “desk.” Imagine the other 10 plinths stuck together without the spaces between them – that is the desk. A clear-handled, wide-edged brush; a small oriental slate ink stone and a block of ink to grind on …
The art of guilt
Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood in the House of Commons on June 11, 2008 and apologized. His address was in regards to Indian Residential Schools in Canada. “Truly, with the Stephen Harper apology, he was just the deliverer,” artist Cathy Busby says. “Stephen Harper is apologizing as the Head of State. So it’s kind of …
A growing passion
“People ask me, ‘how long have you been an artist?’, and it’s been since I was really young. It’s always been a big thing of mine,” Norm Matechuk says with a laugh. “Eventually it came back to wood turning, but I always did art of some sort, like metal sculpting.” With his cap and jacket …