This Year’s Yukon Prize for Visual Arts
Following the success of the inaugural Yukon Prize for Visual Arts, in 2021, the Yukon Prize committee has launched a 2023 edition…
Visual Art
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…
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.
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.
Arctic Highways Breaks Down Borders
Tomas Colbengston, who takes a lot of inspiration from the Nordic Scandinavian landscape prefers to show his work outdoors.
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, …
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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 …
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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.
The ODD Gallery showcases Tamika Knutson’s Skin
Tamika Knutson is a Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in citizen who began her art training at the Yukon School of Visual Arts, in Dawson City.
A Whitehorse hub for visual and performing arts
For 22 years and going strong, LePage Park has become a hub for arts and culture during the summer months. The new season of Arts in the Park launches on May 22 with a free barbecue.
It’s over: Dawson Winter
It’s September, and as the leaves start to turn and the streets become empty of tourists, transient workers who have lived in Dawson City for the summer are hitting the road out of town. Being a seasonal community, Dawson has seen its fair share of young people coming up for summer work. Some are old …
SOVA at 10
When talking about the location of the Yukon School of Visual Arts (Yukon SOVA) in Dawson City, two issues are often raised: What does the location do for students? What does it do for the town? Kyla McArthur, who works at SOVA as the administrative officer and is also a town councillor, spoke of the …
Congratulations SOVA!
Any discussion of the Yukon School of Visual Arts begins with a couple of questions: What is it? Why is it in Dawson? The first question is easily answered: the Yukon SOVA is a post-secondary art school with excellent facilities and dedicated staff, offering a foundation year (first year) of a Bachelor of Fine Arts …
Calling Aboriginal Artists!
The Yukon First Nation Culture and Tourism Association is looking for artists, artisans, musicians and performers from the Yukon and abroad to be part of the seventh annual Adäka Cultural Festival, which takes place at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre from June 30th to July 6th. “We generally reach out to the well-established group …
Underground at the Core
By the time Danny Fernandez was 10, he had visited over two dozen countries during six years spent aboard a floating hospital that provided free surgeries and medical care to some of the world’s poorest people. “I don’t think I realized how cool it was at the time. Looking back, I definitely feel being immersed …
Myth and Medium Focuses on Stories and Performance
This week shaped up to be a culturally ambitious one in Dawson City. The centerpiece of the week has been the Myth and Medium conference organized by the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in’s Heritage Department and focusing on the performing arts. It’s not too late to take in some of the culture. The week’s performance workshops continue on …
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Bringing Variety to the Rural School Experience
Students in rural schools can miss out on a number of things in terms of course offerings and opportunities. There are specialty programs in the city that attract a number of rural students to spend time in Whitehorse. Our daughter, for instance, spent half of her Grade 11 year attending the Music Arts and Drama …
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 …
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 …
Myth and Medium are Coming Again
The bi-annual Myth and Medium symposium runs from February 24 to 28 this year, the week after the territorial Heritage Day holiday. Heritage Day originally inspired the idea of Myth and Medium about a decade ago. The first symposium tied in nicely with both a display of the Cameron Collection, brought here by Ken Lister …
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 …
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 …
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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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 …
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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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 …
Artrepreneur: Art Investigates Illustration
Cathleen Collins has taken some of the strategies used in illustration and has pushed them through acrylic paint to create a show that’s well worth seeing. Exploring Illustration at the Chocolate Claim is Collins’ first show. The young artist has been working for the summer at Arts Underground. She’ll go back to school in the …
Capturing a Northern Legend in Bronze
When Harreson Tanner was a youngster in Ottawa reading Jack London tales of the unforgiving North, he never dreamed the San Francisco-born author would one day be a passenger in his motorhome. But that’s what happened recently when Tanner drove to Kelowna with London strapped safely into the seat beside him. Not the real Jack …
Alleyway perspectives
Fresh, pristine walls hold images of beauty in utilitarian surroundings. A gritty, plain alley is transformed into an artist’s studio, with ever-shifting shadows to complement the portraits. Morgan “Mo” Whibley is the photographer that makes the mundane magic and the ordinary into something fleeting and original. “I started shooting the pieces for my own interest. …
Artrepreneur: Birds in Wrenches, Birds in Landscape
Paul Baker and Rosemary Piper share the solo show room at the Yukon Artists @ Work ([email protected]) co-operative gallery this month. Piper’s framed watercolours line the walls. To left and right, many smaller paintings make a more intimate installation. On the back wall, where you get a longer sight line, midsize works cluster. The invitation …
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Fireweed Forever
The Prince of Wales had his supper served on it. It’s on dining tables and in display cabinets around the world. It’s uniquely Yukon, but pays homage to traditional Japanese design. Now, the fireweed pottery that is Patrick Royle’s signature is celebrating its 25th birthday. “It’s not that common for potters in North America to …
Old Colours Shepherded Into A New World
Born in a time of transition, Jack Fred Jackson was strongly influenced by time spent with his grandfather, both on the land and in the home.
