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.
Joseph Tisiga
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
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 …
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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“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 …
Staging local talent
As the sunshine creeps into the evening and temperatures slowly rise toward double-digits, some art organizations’ seasons are winding down. One of the final accomplishments in focus for Nakai Theatre is a barrage of local performance artists. Also affectionately known as the Homegrown Festival. “It’s emerging artists, first-time artists and artists who are devoting their …
Artrepreneur: Cutouts and Curious George
Whimsy, angst and wit play in Joseph Tisiga’s drawings for the show Indigenous Incisions — or an Indigenous Ambivalence of the Abandoned Modern Man — opening Sept. 4 in the Yukon Arts Centre Community Gallery. Or should I call him J. Ciga? That’s how he signs his drawings. Ciga (pronounced cih-guh, with a short sharp …
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.
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. …
The Dark Side of Red Wagon
You have seen them on stage, heard them on the radio, listened to their music, looked at their art and viewed their photography. They are all talented young Yukon artists and together they form Red Wagon Union, a recently developed collective made up of Kyle Cashen, Joseph Tisiga, Tara McCarthy, Morgan Whibley and Tommy Aird. …
Taylor Mac wants to shake you up
Taylor Mac would like you to know that he doesn’t want to offend you. If his fantastical makeup and clothes surprise you, then that’s OK because if you are surprised, then you are being shaken up a little. And shaking things up is what this drag queen considers his job to be. If audiences are …
The many ‘faces’ of the Pivot Festival
When David Skelton discusses the upcoming Pivot Festival, he keeps coming back to the example of Joseph Tisiga. The young Yukon First Nations artist is ready to burst out and Skelton likes to think his Nakai Theatre helped him along the way. That is, after all, the purpose behind Nakai Theatre. “We develop local artists,” …
Cam & Legs are ready for their closeup
Cam, that breakdancing Brownie Hawkeye camera; and Legs, the glove that struts and dances like a DJ, have returned to Whitehorse. Cam & Legs creator and puppeteer, Brian Fidler, has scheduled the shows for Thursday to Sunday at The Old Fire Hall. Then he is on his way to Victoria’s Uno Festival for performances May …
The 3rd annual Pivot Festival: Floating, swimming, flying
The Pivot Festival is upon us — and with it comes a huge ton of theatre. You have six shows you can see at multiple times, all wildly different, appealing to both broad and specific audiences. It’s like a carnival of mad, wonderful theatre taking over the town for a week. Feeling a bit like …
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A Trip into Canadian Contemporary Art Scene
Canadian contemporary artists found a wider audience in Massachusetts last spring. The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) presents more than 60 Canadian artists, including three artists from the Yukon, until April 2013. Oh, Canada, billed as “the largest survey of contemporary Canadian Art ever produced outside Canada,” offers the viewer an adventure. If …
Stories you’ve never heard, brilliantly told
I went Saturday night to The River, a Nakai production, with Michael Greyeyes directing a play written by David Skelton, Judith Rudakoff and Joseph Tisiga. To be frank, I wasn’t sure if I was interested in what I thought would be a sermon on homelessness. I just didn’t want the guilt. But local playwright David …
Voice for the Voiceless
Nakai Theatre’s newest production, The River, promises to shine an unblinking light on Whitehorse by presenting voices that normally go unheard. The “sprawling, episodic” play, co-written by Nakai’s artistic director David Skelton, Yukon artist Joseph Tisiga and Toronto playwright Judith Rudakoff, tells the stories of 12 separate characters in 60 scenes with no conventional narrative …
Dreamers Awake
If I did not believe that reason could bring something of value to the imaginative process I would not bother writing about art. I offer my observations in order to beat down a path in the snow to the art shows, to encourage my readers to see them, and to offer language as a tool …
Artrepreneur: Pants on Fire: Sam McGee and the Illusive North North
North has never been true, exactly. We know that. It’s a relative kind of thing. Even if you look at a compass, you have to correct for the fact that Earth’s magnetic pole resides a bit over from the North Pole itself. This adjustment becomes more important the farther north you go. Santa Claus lives …
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