While you’re out craft-fair-sale-ing in search of one-of-a-kind, homemade-in-the-Yukon Christmas gifts, swing by Cadence Cycle in downtown Whitehorse.
Artist Nicole Bauberger is presenting her annual Christmas art show-and-sale in the bright, homey and gritty atmosphere of the shop on Wood Street.
This year, nine Whitehorse artists and one artist from Tagish have work in the sale.
The “100 Under $100” show features 100 gift ideas that range from functional art objects such as clocks, underwear and jewelry, to wall art objects such as photographic work and paintings of different sizes.. And prices are not always slightly under $100, many are way under.
Handmade jewelry by Jessica Vellenga and Claire Strauss, for example, is quite affordable. Vallenga’s earrings and rings range from $7 to $30, using beads that are recreations of vintage florals; and Strauss offers brightly-coloured feather earrings for $28.
Strauss has also made Muppet-ish looking dolls made from reclaimed woolly sweaters and other materials. They look like they could be admired from afar like an objet d’art, but they also look like you’d do well in frigid temperatures to tuck one under your jacket. Strauss’ dolls sell for $26 to $52.
If you’re looking for stocking stuffers, how about a pair of arty underpants? Shauna Jones has made iron-on transfers of her paintings and applied them to the front of some stylish cotton underwear for men and women, which sell for $15.
And speaking of next-to-nothings, Jozina Maria has been posing nude in the winter woods and taking self-portraits. These photos show her svelte, naked physique lying gracefully in the snow. She has printed the photos on gift cards for that special someone for $5 and she has larger prints for the wall, for between $30 and $50.
Mark Kelly and Monique Romeiko also have photographs in the sale.
Romeiko is selling business-card-sized, colourful abstract photos that look especially nice displayed in groupings, with each photograph selling for $15.
Kelly’s nature photographs printed on canvas break the $100 barrier, selling for up to $225.
A nice thing about the show is that everything has a completely different feel to it, so you could buy something for everyone on your list and they’d never know you did all your shopping in 45 minutes at a bike shop.
Erin Corbett’s watercolour paintings and photo transfer collage ($40 to $80), for example, have a very different feeling to them than the sheet metal ravens, by Phillippe LeBlond, which are a hard, black silhouette of that rascally bird.
Three artists in the show have been focusing on ravens. Phillippe LeBlond’s ravens sell for $45; Sandra Grace Storey, from Tagish, has created wall-mounted clay raven sculptures, selling for $100; and Bauberger has some of her raven paintings in the sale, priced at $75 to $100-plus.
“Ravens are interesting, they have a lot of character and you can never tell what they’re going to do,” says Bauberger. “There’s also an element of common experience in Whitehorse. You see them. All the time. You don’t see wolves. And because everyone sees them, I find that many Yukoners have a relationship with ravens and so when people see raven paintings, they speak to them.”
Phillippe LeBlond also has sparkplug bugs in the show, $22, and clocks made from bike parts, selling for $55.
“He’s got a little bit of mad-scientist-inventor to his art,” Bauberger says. “He brings practical knowledge to his work, which is a little unusual. There aren’t many artists who do that.”
The art show and sale “100 Under $100” runs until Dec. 22 at the Cadence Cycle Seasonal Gallery in Whitehorse, located at 508 Wood Street. The gallery is open Thursdays and Fridays from noon until 6 p.m. and Saturdays from noon until 5 p.m.
