Yukon Artists @ Work will be presenting Small Treasures, a collection of tiny items designed to be given as gifts
This holiday season at the Yukon Artists @ Work Gallery, it’s true that good things come in small packages. The artists in the collective have created a collection of small pieces, perfect to be given as gifts, that are being carefully selected by curator Pat Bragg for an exhibit titled Small Treasures.
Each December, Yukon Artists @ Work presents a Christmas-themed show featuring art from the co-op group’s members, and this year, the board wanted to try something different amidst the flurry of Christmas craft fairs taking place throughout the season.
“We called it Small Treasures because we wanted to encourage our artists to go small rather than some of the bigger pieces that some of us love to do,” says Bragg. “Because it is a time of gift-giving and because it is a time when people are travelling and packing things in their suitcases, we wanted to focus on small things but still have them be treasures.”
Every member of Yukon Artists @ Work will be contributing some pieces to the exhibit. Typically, shoppers must wait until the end of an exhibition to take home the pieces they have purchased, but in this particular show, people will be able to take home their treasures right away. This will free up space for other pieces, as stock will rotate throughout the exhibit’s month-long run, meaning that people can come in several times to see the different pieces in the ever-changing collection. Most pieces in the exhibit will be priced under $200.
“It’s kind of like a pirate’s treasure cove, so we’re going to decorate it along that theme and it will be a fun place to come to just to enjoy the small pieces of art of many kinds,” Bragg says. “We’ll have glasswork, we’ll have jewelry, we’ll have small paintings, we’ll have small photographs, we’ll have small pieces of fibre art and wearable art. There will really be something for everybody.” Bragg later notes that she forgot to mention pottery, which will also be available.
Bragg is thankful to have had the support of some other experienced curators on the board, as this is her first time curating an exhibit. Her main prerogative was making sure the pieces that artists submitted fit into the treasure theme, both in terms of size and aesthetic.
“It could be modern art,” she says, “but it will fit the theme if it is on the small side, if it is glittery—we love that—and if it is something that might appear in a treasure chest.”
Small Treasures opens Dec. 5 and runs through the month.
On its first night, art lovers can take part in the opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m., which coincides with First Friday, a monthly self-directed art crawl. The Yukon Artists @ Work Gallery is one of three downtown Whitehorse art galleries that take part in the crawl, along with Arts Underground and Northern Cultural Expressions Society.
“In this show, we are looking at things that are more-modestly priced, so people who are not in a place in their life to afford a two-thousand-dollar piece of art but [who] might want a small print or something that is twenty dollars, still have an original piece of art to add to the quality of their life,” Bragg says.
“Most of us started out collecting art that way. Every piece in our gallery is original art, and aside from the number of prints, they are one of a kind. It’s different from shopping on Amazon where you’re going to see the same thing everywhere.”
Visit yaaw.com to learn more about Yukon Artists @ Work and Small Treasures.
