Kaylyn Baker has been named the recipient of the 2023 Yukon Prize for Visual Arts
Yukon Prize for the Visual Arts co-founders Julie Jai and David Trick announced, during a gala show at the Yukon Arts Centre (YAC), on September 16, that the recipient of this year’s $20,000 prize is Kaylyn Baker.
“It means so so much to me,” Baker said. “I just took the chance, and I’m aware that there are lots of really talented artists who live in the Yukon. I’ve been nominated for things in the past but I’ve never won anything, so I didn’t have the highest expectations.”
Baker said she was honoured to make the long list and then the short list and would have been happy just to have made it that far and to be in the audience to see another artist take home the award, but it felt great to have her family with her to see her big moment.
Baker is a Northern Tutchone and Tlingit artist and a citizen of the Selkirk First Nation, based out of Whitehorse. Baker’s main artistic focus is on beading, and she uses a variety of traditional and contemporary materials and textiles. Besides making jewelry, Baker also uses beadwork to create garments and accessories such as mukluks, moccasins, purses and regalia. Her work has been seen on the Red Carpet at the Emmy Awards, and she was also a featured designer at Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week 2022, as well as the 2022 Adäka Art Festival Fashion Show in Whitehorse.
For Baker, beading is a way to connect with her ancestors through her spontaneous art style that she calls “beaded storytelling.”
“My great-great-grandma was a famous storyteller, and I enjoy hearing and telling stories, as well,” she explained. “It didn’t occur to me to blend that with beading—until my cousin passed away and I needed something to do with my hands while we were meeting as a family.”
Inspired by thinking about the progression of a storm, Baker realized she could tell stories through visual media, based on her own memories and experiences, and create beading patterns to match narrative journeys.
Baker was one of six finalists chosen this year, along with Jeffrey Langille (Dawson City); Rebekah Miller (Dawson City); Cole Pauls (Haines Junction); Omar Reyna (Whitehorse); and Alainnah Whachell (Whitehorse), each of whom received $3,000.
Baker was selected as the recipient of the Yukon Prize by a jury consisting of Dr. Heather Igloliorte (Inuk-Newfoundlander, Nunatsiavut), a professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Victoria; Michelle Jacques, head of Exhibitions and Collections/chief curator at Remai Modern gallery in Saskatoon; and Sarah Milroy, chief curator and executive director-designate of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario.
“The jurors had the difficult task of choosing the finalists from 64 applications and then choosing one artist to be the recipient of the 2023 Yukon Prize,” said Jai. “This task was made all the more challenging by Mary Bradshaw’s excellent curation of the exhibition, which showcased how talented each of these artists is. They each work in such different mediums, and each is so talented. I was glad that I did not have to be involved in the selection!”
The Yukon Prize for the Visual Arts has grown, year after year, since being founded in 2020. This year, 64 Yukon artists applied for the prize, with 12 artists making the long list. The main goals of the Yukon Prize are to recognize excellence by Yukon visual artists, to provide funds to help artists focus full-time on creating art, and to promote Yukon art and artists nationally and internationally.
The Yukon Prize and its surrounding events, such as art talks, workshops, art tours and an art crawl with live music by Jazz Yukon and, of course, the gala event, were made possible by a team of volunteers and partners, including the YAC and the Yukon Arts Foundation. Major sponsors for the Yukon Prize include Lotteries Yukon, the Government of Yukon, Air North, Casino Mining, and Yukon University.
With a major award now under her belt, Baker is looking to the future of her artistic practices.
“After I won the award, I checked my email and found out I was selected for Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week—to be one of their headlining designers,” she said. “I’m going to that in November.”
Speaking about Baker’s art, Jai praised the artist and the complexities of her work, saying that Baker deserved to be recognized by the esteemed jury.
“Good art invites a conversation, and Kaylyn’s work certainly does this,” said Jai. “As she says, her work is a form of storytelling. She makes this explicit with the beautiful poems that go with each of her artworks. I’m particularly pleased to see beadwork and textiles [being] recognized as fine art by this year’s jury.
“This is work traditionally done by women that, in the past, might have been considered craft, but which is definitely fine art. I hope that as many people as possible will go to the Yukon Arts Centre to see Kaylyn’s work and the exceptional work of the other finalists.”
The Yukon Prize is offered every two years, meaning that the next edition will take place in 2025. A show of the art of this year’s Yukon Prize finalists will be on display until November 18 at the YAC.
