A Klondike Korner: Sometimes life imitates art
Sometimes art imitates life. Sometimes life imitates art. There are two really clear illustrations of this idea in Dawson City at the moment.
Ted Harrison
Main Street or bust
Rolf Hougen stands with Harreson Tanner beside the bust of Sam Steele that he commissioned Chuck Buchanan to sculpt as part of the centennial RCMP celebration in 1992 What do Jack London, Martha Black, Pierre Berton and Ted Harrison have in common? They’ve all been commissioned by Rolf Hougen to be sculpted by Harreson Tanner …
Celebrating with Land and Light
The Land and Light Gallery, part of MacBride’s new expansion, will open July 5 and will feature 11 of Ted Harrison’s paintings.
Chasing Stories in Skagway
My shakedown cruise for our trailer has come to be my annual pilgrimage to the town of Skagway to attend the North Words Writers’ Symposium, held this year from May 25-28 in the windy town. This was the seventh annual event, of which I have attended all but one since the first in 2010. The …
Dawson and the Harrison Effect
I’ve been enjoying a couple of relatively new books about the work of the latecTed Harrison. They are Ted Harrison Collected (Douglas & McIntyre) and A Brush full of Colour (Pajama Press). The first one is a trade paperback collection of the 91 serigraph posters he created and sold. The second is a hardcover children’s …
Winter Folklore
The dances are coming. On January 31, Skookum Jim’s annual Folklore Show will take place at the Yukon Arts Centre. The vibrant show will feature many First Nation dances and songs. Doris McLean, of Carcross/Tagish First Nation, is now the vice president of the friendship centre, but she was the program coordinator for 30 years. She enjoys …
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 …
More than a devotional (book is insight into community)
Northern Reflections, Desmond Carroll, paintings by Ted Harrison, The cover of Northern Reflections shows an inukshuk and a blazing sun over ice. One of Ted Harrison’s favourite paintings, it was also selected by Marion Carroll, the wife of the late author, Desmond Carroll. She had reason to choose that cover. “It’s about guidance. Inukshuks were …
More than a devotional (book is insight into community) Read More »
World of Words: Painting a northern paradise
Forty years ago, an undiscovered English painter, new to the Yukon, had his first Canadian art show at the Whitehorse Public Library. Now, that painter, Ted Harrison, is the subject of the biography Painting Paradise by Katherine Gibson. On August 26, at 5 p.m., Yukoners can join both artist and author at the Yukon Arts …
A Wall of Colour Tells a Tale of Faro
Young laughter rings out in the Faro Kettle coffee shop in the Recreation Centre, as the community celebrates the unveiling of a new mural that brightens the wall above the tables. The mural uses cartoon-like solid areas of colour with black outlines and a rainbow of colours spans the sky, reminiscent of a Ted Harrison …
Dawson and the Ted Harrison Effect
While doing what I call my Berton House exit interview with Sara Tilley, the latest writer-in-residence, she remarked that one of the things that made her feel comfortable and at home here was the colourful palette of our buildings. It reminded her of buildings in Newfoundland. That’s quite true. I noticed the colours, particularly in …
The Hougens present Ted Harrison
It is an impressive display of Ted Harrison’s Yukon. Wide swaths of bold colours of everyday life in a territory that is anything but “everyday”. “Except the ones with the whales,” says Rolf Hougen dryly. “There are no whales in the Yukon.” These are all posters that belong to he and his wife, Marg. Until …