I had a great chat recently with Heidi Loos.  She is organizing the first Yukon Chalk Art Festival for Unlikely Events Yukon.  The Festival will run June 11 and 12, 2016, 10 am. to 5 pm. at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre parking lot.  Two workshops will take place at the parking lot of Dana Naye Ventures on the corner of 5th Avenue and Black Street.

Emma Barr will be at Dana Naye Ventures on Saturday, June 11 between 1 pm and 4 pm.  This workshop is geared towards children.  Nicole Bauberger will be at Dana Naye Ventures on Sunday, June 12 between 1 pm and 4 pm.  This workshop is geared towards youth and adults.  The workshops are free – just drop by!

Heidi has purchased beautiful Koss Artists’ Soft Pastels for the Chalk Art Festival.  Scrubbies and fingers are used to blend colours.  Crisp lines to soft blending of colour, the possibilities for chart art are enormous.  

Chalk is not just for kids.  Heidi organized Chalk Art Central for Nuit Blanche 2014.  She participated in the Victoria International Chalk Art Festival.  Inspired, she wants to bring this new element and style to Whitehorse.

Emma and Nicole are well known Yukon artists.  They are excited to explore a new medium and share their creativity with the public.  Other artists include Taylor Karpyshyn Levitt, Lyndsie Simmons,  Heather Von Steinhagen, Ali Khoda, Lia Fabre-Dimsdale, Kuetina “Qaqtis”, Donald Watt and Tyson Isted.   

Taylor loves bright, vibrant colour.  Art helps her feel alive and happy, she says. This is her first Chalk Art Festival.  Lyndsie, originally from Vancouver, has lived in Yukon for the past 2 1/2 years.  Lyndsie escapes to a new world with her art and time blurs.  Heather, born and raised in Yukon, is now studying art education in Montreal.  Laughter, mountains and nature all inspire Heather.  She will have an Arts Underground show, The Things You Know, in June.

Chalktivism – Heidi’s coined word – is  a combination of art and community dialogue.  She worked in Vancouver with an online forum to make social justice more accessible.  Over time the project became more interactive as it evolved into street art and photography.

Lotteries Yukon, Yukon Arts Fund and the Department of Tourism and Culture are major sponsors of this event.  Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre and Dana Naye Ventures are sponsors too as they are providing the large parking lot canvas for the artists and public.

Whether you want to participate or just watch and visit with the artists, come out to the first Yukon Chalk Art Festival!  You won’t be disappointed.

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