2016 – 2017
School Tours & Exhibition Guide
Golden Stairs Group Documentation © Jessica Auer and Andreas Rutkauskas on the Chilkoot Trail Artist Residency.
Education at YAC Public Gallery School Tours The Yukon Arts Centre Public Art Gallery is pleased to offer free tours to local schools. Bringing learning to life by deepening young peoples’ understanding of their environment, history and culture, thus impacting their own personal development. We aim to nurture the next generation of artists by introducing tools to foster visual literacy, encouraging students to find pleasure and meaning in art and to think critically about the array of visual images that surround them. Funding for buses is available on a first come, first served basis and funding provided by the City of Whitehorse.
ATCO Electric Yukon Youth Gallery
Calling all youth artists! The ATCO Electric Yukon Youth Gallery displays the works of young Yukon artists in a professional setting. Exhibitions are open to individuals, groups or classes. Please book in advance by contacting the gallery community engagement coordinator. The ATCO Electric Yukon Youth Gallery is presented by presented by ATCO Electric Yukon.
Free Family Art Classes – Kids Kreate
Make art, have fun and meet new friends at our monthly Kids Kreate art classes. Every Kids Kreate activity is specially tailored to respond to the materials and methods featured in our current exhibition. This family-friendly event runs one Sunday per month between September and April from 1 pm – 4 pm. Kids Kreate is presented by ATCO Electric Yukon. Kids Kreate schedule is available online at http://yukonartscentre.com/programs/kidskreate
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Table of Contents Exhibitions
September 8 – November 26, 2016……………………………….………. 3
December 8, 2016—February 25, 2017…………………………..…… 4, 5
March 9—May 27, 2017……………………………………………………………. 6
Theatre Shows…………………………………………………………………………………… 7 Volunteer Opportunities………………………………………………………………….. 8 Learning Resources…………………………………………………………………………… 9 Guided Tours & Curriculum Links………………………………………………. 10, 11 Booking a Tour & Guidelines for Teachers……………………………………... 12
School Tour with artist Don Weir for his exhibition An Ephemeral Light in 2013 Page 2
September 8 – November 26, 2016 Our Home is Our Gallery
Jim Logan, The Artist and the Musicians, Yukon Arts Centre Permanent Collection.
Curated by: New BC Indian Arts and Welfare Society Collective (Members of NBCIAWSC include Peter Morin, Tania Willard and Gabe Hill)
Featuring the artwork of over 25 Yukon indigenous artists, Our Home is Our Gallery focuses on Indigenous aesthetic acts and the art histories that these methods are connected to. This exhibition attempts to redefine the gallery space to be inclusive of community and family based experiences. The visual work of Our Home is our Gallery presents skills-based practices, including beading, weaving, and tooling by artists like: Fanny Charlie, Annie Henry and Keith Wolf Smarch, represented in the Yukon Government’s Permanent Art Collection, in conversation with artists like Doug Smarch, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Joseph Tisiga and Jim Logan. Please note that this exhibition features some difficult content in Jim Logan’s painting suite A Requiem for Our Children. This series of paintings speaks to the Residential School experience of Indigenous children in the Yukon. These paintings were completed in 1990. A Requiem is offered as a moment of healing in respect for all of the children who were forced to attend these places. Page 3
December 8, 2016—February 25, 2017 Veronica Verkley: FERAL
FERAL © Veronica Verkley
This new media installation by Dawson City-based artist Veronica Verkley includes a projected stop motion animation film and its intricate sets within an immersive soundscape filling the darkened room. Feral explores how nature repeatedly triumphs as a creative force and even in destruction there can emerge a transformative beauty.
Jessica Auer and Andreas Rutkauskas: Out of Office
George and Neve Bennet © Auer and Rutkauskas
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Created during the Chilkoot Trail Artist Residency, works from Out of Office deal with the social and cultural climate of a present-day wilderness experience. In June 2014, Jessica Auer and Andreas Rutkauskas camped along the Chilkoot trail for 14 days, from Dyea, Alaska to Bennett, BC, photographing other backpackers with a 4x5” view camera. Like the images of the Klondike Gold Rush Stampeders who travelled this same route, these portraits provide an anthropological perspective; yet also speak to the role of the participant-observer, in this case, the artists in residence. The artists’ experience in regards to communication technology and material culture are correspondingly expressed in a se lection of sound and video works. Page 4
December 8, 2016—February 25, 2017 Behind the Lines: Contemporary Syrian Art Presented by the Penticton Art Gallery
Lina Malki (b. 1991, Damascus, Syria), Displaced 1, 2016, mixed media on canvas. © Lina Malki
Fadi al-Hamwi (b. 1986, Damascus, Syria), Bathroom Mirror, 2014, oil on canvas. © Fadi al-Hamwi
Curated by Humam Alsalim and Penticton Art Gallery director/ curator, Paul Crawford, Behind the Lines: Contemporary Syrian Art features works by 19 emerging Syrian artists, 13 of which still currently live in Syria. The artworks in this multi-faceted exhibition respond to the shattering effects of war faced by Syrians today. From displacement, imprisonment and violent eradication, to the destruction of cultural identity and history, the issues explored in this exhibition shed light on both the personal suffering experienced by the individual artists as well as the universal relevance of the devastation of war. Page 5
March 9—May 27, 2017 Donald Stuart: Homage
Buffy Saint–Marie necklace, sterling silver, various inlays, wood, pearls, glass beads,
Homage features a series of necklaces inspired by outstanding Canadian women, both historic and contemporary. Spanning various fields, from music and the arts to science and sports, some of the individuals include Karen Kain, Anne Murray, Julie Payette, Sonja Bata, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Laura Secord and Mary Pickford. A contemporary jewellery artist, Donald Stuart has used the familiar form of the necklace to explore history from a fresh perspective and will include a Yukon woman to the exhibition.
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Theatre MatinĂŠes
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Volunteer Opportunities
Students, are you interested in the following careers?
Careers in the arts (theatre technician, curator, educator etc.) Meeting other members of the community with similar interests? Learning from experienced arts professionals in a hands on, challenging and fun environment?
There are several different ways volunteers can get involved at the Yukon Arts Centre. Volunteers are needed to help usher theatre shows, assist with gallery exhibition set up and take down, help out with our monthly family art classes and so much more. Volunteering is a great opportunity to make new friends, see the shows, learn something along the way and have a good time. Volunteers will be given complementary tickets to use at the theatre productions of their choice. Sign up to volunteer! Contact Matt Poushinsky, Volunteer Coordinator, for more information. (867) 667-8699 or matt.poushinsky@yac.ca
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Learning Resources There are many different ways to access educational activities at the Yukon Arts Centre in addition to guided tours. Art Library The Yukon Arts Centre Gallery Library contains catalogues, reference books and videos on local, national and international contemporary art. The Yukon Arts Centre and Arts Underground/Yukon Art Society have partnered to bring this collection to the public, with YAC donating its art library to the resource room at Arts Underground. The art library can be accessed at Arts Underground, 305 Wood Street Whitehorse, YT Y1A 2E7. The catalogue is available online at: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/YAC . Blog The Yukon Arts Centre brings you behind the scenes with artist interviews, public talks and all the latest news related to upcoming shows. Please check out our blog for current events at: http://yukonartscentre.com/blog/category/art_gallery/
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Yukon Arts Centre Public Art Gallery Tour Summary Curriculum Links for Gallery Tours Visual Arts Language Career Development Society and Culture Comprehensive Tours These tours are designed to examine a broad range of concepts, regardless of what is currently on exhibit, while developing students’ critical thinking and discussion skills. The Art of Discovery (45 minutes – 1 hour) View all of our art work in one tour! Students will visit not only the current exhibition in the main Gallery, but will also visit the Community Gallery, Youth Gallery and Sculpture Garden (weather permitting). This tour can also be combined with a visit to the Art Vault and Theatre. The Elements of Art (30 – 45 minutes) Discover how artists use the basic elements of line, shape, colour, light and texture to create works of art. This tour is a great introduction to the Gallery and to visual art. Yukon Artists (30 – 45 minutes) Every exhibition features at least one Yukon artist. Students can find out how our local landscape, climate and traditions have influenced Yukon artists’ work as compared to the work of southern artists.
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Yukon Arts Centre Public Art Gallery Tour Summary Social Statement 30 minutes – 45 minutes The visual arts define our culture and many artists choose to create work that comment on their surrounding world. This tour is geared towards social studies and language art classes and uses the exhibition as a stepping-off point for discussing contemporary issues. The White Glove Tour 45 minutes – 1 hour The Yukon Arts Centre houses not only its own growing permanent art collection, but the Yukon Government collection too. Students are invited into the Art Vault to see and discuss selected pieces in our collection and to discover what makes them so important in our community. Discussions may reflect on the conceptual, historical and technical elements and how they comment on contemporary culture. This tour is specifically for older students or specialized art classes. Art Careers/Behind the Scenes Gallery & Theater 45 minutes – 1 hour Gain knowledge about the variety of art careers that are available. We will take a behind the scenes look at how an art exhibition comes together, including the types of careers that are available to artists and those working in the visual arts/culture sector. This tour can also be combined with a tour of the theatre. The theatre tour is given by the Technical Director and it allows the students to experience the theatre’s back stage environment – all the unseen but necessary elements which make a performance work. Students visit the sound and light booths and see the fly system, workshop, dressing rooms and green room, as well as having general theatre terminology explained to them. Please be advised that all tours are dependent on the season schedule and may not always be available. It is recommended to book in advance .
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Book a Tour at the Yukon Arts Centre Public Art Gallery To book a tour or for more information about Gallery activities please contact: Rebecca Manias, Community Engagement—Visual Arts (867) 393-7109 or gallery@yac.ca Free Buses to and from Gallery Tours Funding for buses is available on a first come, first served basis and funding provided by the City of Whitehorse. Transportation scheduling is the responsibility of the school.
Visit: yukonartscentre.com/programs/tours Guidelines for Teachers: Please review with students Gallery etiquette. We ask that you please: - Do not bring food or drinks in the Gallery - Leave school bags outside the Gallery - Do not run inside the Arts Centre - Do not touch any parts of the exhibitions - Turn off your cell phones - Respect the space and people within it - Respect each others’ opinions – discussion and constructive criticism of the art work is one of the most fundamental elements in their Gallery experience, but
Gallery Funders & Sponsors
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