A new space in town is sharing the work of young Yukon artists
The team at Arts Underground put out a call, asking Yukon youth aged 13 to 18, from across the territory, to submit one piece each that they are proud of, in any medium.
There is a new space in town at Arts Underground, until Nov. 1, and it contains a show of work by young Yukon artists.
The team at Arts Underground figured that the room that had been used for the executive director’s office was being underused, so they moved the printers and ordered track lighting.
The space’s future is still being figured out. It may extend their art supply store, where artists can pick up materials. It may be used, primarily, to extend the members’ showing space, where staff maintain a year-round group show of Yukon-artist members, in addition to programming in their two feature galleries.
In the meantime, the organization put out a call, asking Yukon youth aged 13 to 18, from across the territory, to submit one piece each that they are proud of, in any medium.
From such an open request, it’s a coherent show. I encountered a strong presence of surrealism and anime, as well as other aesthetics. The show includes works on paper, canvas and board, as well as ceramic and one garment. The young artists have used collage, digital drawing, ink, pencil, acrylic, watercolour and markers.
Adolescence is awhile ago for me, but I remember its discomforts and the struggle of evolving identities. Many of the works include faces or heads modified for expressive purposes, which seem to speak to this theme.
Natalie Slykhuis’ Donut Worry faces drip like the glazed icing evoked by the title. Élise L’Hereux’ Dans ma tête draws a transparent red bandeau across eyes, as part of a composition that includes storm clouds and scribbles.
Danee Marsh’s pencil portrait of Leon spends over half the face’s height on an enormous mouth. The ceramic face by Josie Kuzel, from Dawson City, also features a wide-open mouth.
Jean-Christophe A. Ménard’s à la récherche du colouleur uses multiple faces, but just from the nose down. Mikhaela Aljano’s Face also reveals only nose and lips, with a well-rendered hand among swirling white paint strokes. Lily Masserey’s anime-influenced Time Traveller’s wide blue eyes seem dazzled by what they can see. Intriguing.
Digital illustrations by Riley Cyr and Isis Van Bibber also alter the face; the former with design elements that seem painted on, and the latter with bangs falling down from the horns on the crown of the head.
Watercolours on paper by Fin Doll, Sebastien O’Mara and Alyssia Lauzon all make unsettling and original changes to a head or face. The head in Rebecca Fico’s watercolour is full of blue birds. Monica Velasquez’ Les Étoiles reminds me of an Art Nouveau book plate. In Emily Toth’s A fairy tale in the Yukon, the whole head is replaced by a book with animal tracks on the pages and with sheep, moose, salmon and a raven leaping from it.
Along the theme of animals, two grey whales or porpoises touch snouts in Carl Turcotte’s oval acrylic painting. Lillia Larson paints a butterfly, perhaps emerging from a chrysalis on a heart-shaped wooden panel. Saralyn Hissink paints an emerald-eyed wolf into a snowy stroke of paint on a background of aurora borealis. Léah Crammond balances pop-art evoking abstract zigzags with a realistic painting of a moth. Molly Charbonneau’s abstract Ink blot, hanging nearby, also evokes the feeling of an insect.
Another abstract composition, A flame’s heart by Jana Lojang, uses expressive mark-making that evokes, for me, feelings I remember well from adolescence and still encounter today. Izzy Massery’s Earth and Sky abstracts the landscape in a low relief paper collage with cheerful shooting stars.
Chloé Cashaback St-Laurent takes us to a stream on a hiking trip in Europe with Randonée à Madeira. Cora renders the forest for us in blue calligraphy ink. Loreto Mateo Sotil paints us a warm-coloured wall with a door, window and vines.
Two landscapes with figures identify themselves as Ted Harrison studies. A winter morning, by Sadie Warren, includes brightly-coloured buildings with wavy edges, and a running child with a dog. The large brown rectangle of a building dominates Stephanie Nemeth’s Caribou Hotel, against a pink sky, with a more complex mood that reminds me of Jim Logan’s work.
It is Naki Ama Nartey’s African Royal Attire that makes the first impression of the show. This sleeveless dress, with a long back skirt in African cotton, welcomes viewers and draws us in to the rest of the pieces, almost as a host would.
I am grateful to Arts Underground for bringing to us these young voices and the humanities they share. Spend some time with them.
The galleries at Arts Underground are open from 10 a.m to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and from 11 a.m to 5 p.m. Saturday. For the month of October, you can also see Mammoth Dreaming, by Joyce Majiski, in the two focus galleries; and the Yukon Prize Longlist artists show in the Hougen Heritage Gallery, until Nov. 30.
