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 is so much beauty right at the core of Whitehorse and its community.
It was one of these remarkable moments that sparked her inspiration for this year’s winning piece.
“I was walking out of the library at night with an arm full of books when I stopped to admire the lights shining on the snow,” she said. The sparkling lights, strung up in the trees are at the center of Goodman’s painting.
“I did not actually paint this piece for the contest,” she said, explaining that she knew about the Yukon phone directory cover art, but wasn’t familiar with the annual contest until a friend of hers sent her a link to the competition. Winning the contest came as a pleasant surprise. Goodman said she was excited and honoured to have won.
“I have really just started dipping my toes into the water of the art world,” she said. “I am still very interested in continuing to learn more about it.”
Goodman grew up in rural Manitoba, in a town of just over 1,000 people, and has had the opportunity to live in many different places throughout her life. Upon visiting the Yukon for a month during the summer six years ago, she fell in love with the North. After completing teacher’s college, she decided that she wanted to return to the Yukon and has been living here for three years.
Goodman is a self-taught artist who has always had an interest in art. At a young age, her grandma encouraged her to make art and she dabbled in it a bit throughout high school. However, it was not until she came to the Yukon that she really began to fully devote herself to artistic expression.
“Art was always something that I was thinking about,” Goodman said. “And the Yukon’s landscape was especially inspiring as it made me want to capture everything on canvas.”
She uses acrylics on canvas. Many of her pieces are landscape or surrealist paintings.
Goodman feels that everyone is an artist and that art is something everyone can do.
“I love seeing how everyone captures things in a different way.”
She said she appreciates the rich arts community within the Yukon and remarked on how it has contributed to her path in pursuing and creating art.
Goodman is a young artistic talent who adds a unique flavor to the Yukon’s art community. Next month, starting June 1, Goodman will be a featured artist at Baked Café. She also has select art pieces on display at Arts Underground.
Find out more one her Facebook page, Chantel Goodman Art.
