“Our favourite human EVER was Genghis Khan. That man knew how to put on a spread.” Raven Mythology #5 by Joe Ben Raven via Doug Sack Doug Sack: Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you Odin? Joe …
The Yukon bird since 1985, the ubiquitous raven arrives out of nowhere and disappears just as quickly. It all depends on the food supply. They are a very social bird, often seen in pairs, but also in great mobs especially in winter on a food source. Scientific testing has proven these are very intelligent creatures …
I remember my first conversation with Joe Ben Raven like it happened yesterday. It was the winter construction season of 1972-73 up on the Eagle Plains of the Yukon’s half-built Dempster Highway in a borrow pit south of the Oasis in the Wilderness—a hotel which is itself only 35 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle. …
A tale of two tattoos Raven Mythology #4.5 “It’s not known which came first, the penny or the flag.” Cam Brewster’s World Famous Tattoo Studio on Centennial Drive in Porter Creek, located between a daycare centre and a pawn shop/second-hand store, plays the game by the rules. This includes a $100 deposit, pre-inking interview, a …
Life if the Yukon with those box-store parking lot ravens. I think he wanted my attention. I took many more pictures of him, but this is my favourite. [box] We invite you to share your photos of Yukon life. Email your high-resolution images with a description of what’s going on and what camera equipment you …
[two_third] You may have noticed the above quotation comes to you without attribution. That’s for good reason. Nobody seems to know who muttered it or even if it was ever uttered at all. The Tower ravens of London are arguably the most famous birds in history. They’re also the most difficult to explain because of …
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, …
Back in Inuvik, when the powers that be were trying to figure out why they could not keep ravens from shorting out and blowing power transformers in the winter.
Very few writers throughout history have bonded with their subjects quite like Edgar Allan Poe and the Yukon’s territorial bird – the Raven
Most of the ravens that visit our deck are pretty shy and they definitely do not like it when I point my camera at them. The exception is Buddy. He likes to strike a pose. Camera: Nikon Coolpix B500 [box] We invite you to share your photos of Yukon life. Email your high-resolution images with …
One of my many favourite Bill Reid carvings, Raven and the First Men, is part of a Haida creation myth which is permanently displayed in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. It depicts the exact moment, on a remote Pacific beach, when Raven found a clamshell full of tiny human beings desperate …
There is more to Raven mythology than clamshells and Odin Read More »
Hoogan the raven, to the left, and Princess, his mate, on the right. Hoogan, has been with Lisa and Murray Martin for 11 years and feeds daily in their backyard, often right along side of Avalanche, their Siberian Husky dog. Ravens are said to mate for life. “What love birds!” [box] We invite you to …
A staple of Yukon winters, these ravens lined up on a Yukon-made truck-rack for things to scavenge in the Walmart parking lot. [box] We invite you to share your photos of Yukon life. Email your high-resolution images with a description of what’s going on and what camera equipment you used to [email protected][/box]
Hello Everybody, We invite you to share your photos of Yukon wildlife. Email your high-resolution images with a description of what’s going on and what camera equipment you used to [email protected] Living With Wildlife by Steve Wilson Driving into Whitehorse on the south access, just past the Robert Service Campground, I had to stop and …
Hello Everybody, We invite you to share your photos of Yukon wildlife. Email your high-resolution images with a description of what’s going on and what camera equipment you used to [email protected] Living With Wildlife by Steve Wilson Here is a photo of a raven trying to get as close as possible to the sun this …
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 …
For the past year or so, I have been collaborating with the makers of vessels to co-create unique raven-adorned cups and bowls.
“Christopher Skaife is both a raven master and a master storyteller. Compulsively readable, I devoured the book in a single sitting!”—Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering So did I! From 4 p.m. to midnight on the very day I found the last hard copy of The Ravenmaster for sale in Whitehorse. I bought it as …
The Ravenmaster: My life with the ravens at the Tower of London Read More »
It is easy to laugh at the antics of ravens. They are quirky, curious and yes, funny. A well-known title they carry among First Nations people is that of Trickster, known for their pranks and intelligence. They also carry darker histories, in literature and folklore: wise, feared, revered, portents of death. wreathed in mystery. I …
The Ptarmigan is the territorial bird of the Yukon. Ed. Note: The distinction of being known as the Yukon’s territorial bird goes to the raven, which, Canada Post recently announced, is to be featured on a stamp. Ravens are more widespread than ptarmigan. They are found throughout the territory and are totally black. The Ptarmigan …
Priska Wettstein’s love affair with photography began in 2008 when husband Paul presented her with a camera. “I don’t know why he did that,” she says, “but ever since then, I’m just hooked. So whenever I go for a walk, or drive out of town, or just need some time to myself, I grab my …
I don’t like crows. I never have, and probably never will. I can spend hours watching eagles soar and glide on the thermals. I love blue herons, in flight or standing in solitude along the shoreline. Ravens are mysterious and interesting. Loons, well you get the point. There are many birds I like. As a child …
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 …
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 …
Dawson is switching to LED (Light Emitting Diode) streetlights, swapping out the older HPS (high pressure sodium) for the newer, more eco-friendly, longer lasting lights. It’s a move that makes sense in a lot of ways. Yukon Energy and the City of Dawson figure that changing the 170 residential streetlights will save the town about …
The Yukon Wildlife Preserve has been helping injured, orphaned, and sick animals for over ten years. Located 25 minutes from downtown Whitehorse on the Hot Springs Road, It is a very important place in Whitehorse because if animals need a home they can take refuge there and be safe. Staff at the preserve’s rehabilitation centre …
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 …
Where will the ravens all gather now that the tree tops are gone? Where will they hatch their nefarious schemes and plot from midnight to dawn???Where will they watch for the dog food bowls that are left to feed pooches outside? How will they plan their strategic assaults, distracting the dogs as they’re tied???Where will …
