News Release

Eight National Artists Open New Works for the Three Rivers: Wild Waters Sacred Places Exhibition in Whitehorse, Yukon — October 14, 2004

September 20, 2004 – Whitehorse, Yukon – The gala launch of one of Canada’s major new group exhibitions will open four days of artists’ events exploring the Canadian North, the place considered by many to hold the magic and identity of our nation.

Michael Belmore, Ron Bolt, Marlene Creates, Gwen Curry, Haruko Okano, Jane Isakson, Joyce Majiski and Jose Mansilla Miranda – selected by jury from across Canada – joined over 20 writers, photographers, First Nations participants and conservationists on the Three Rivers Journey down wild rivers in the Yukon north, in June 2003. The purpose was to explore some of the most intact and beautiful wilderness of Canada and refract it through the lens of Canadian art.

Jane Isakson's vivid painting of the Bonnet Plume landscape is a sample of the engaging and diverse art works created by the eight artists on the Three Rivers Journey Click for larger image

The BIG gala launch of this national exhibit from the North, on the evening of Thursday, October 14, 7 pm, at the Yukon Arts Centre, features a short film by Marten Berkman, the first viewing of the art with stories and commentary by the artists, and a BIG party with Gwich'in fiddling, music by Joe Bishop and Kim Barlow, an auction of lamps inspired by the art of the journeys, and northern delicacies. Tickets are $20, include a complimentary drink, and are on sale now at Hougen’s and the Arts Centre box office.

A follow-up evening of intellectual entertainment, poetry and literary readings with a diverse panel of leading writers, artists, and First Nation participants will explore the relationship of Art, Nature and Conservation. The public forum will encourage participation by the audience. Tickets are $6.

The North is part of the defining character of Canada, to many people distant and shrouded in mystique. The art works – large scale paintings, metal sculpture, installations including silk-screened raw silk, viewer interactive multimedia with natural materials, mixed media photos works and wall works – examine what captures us in our expectations and assumptions about the North, expressing what the North is for the majority of the Canadian population who have never been there. What is revealed: the intensity of the vastness, an elasticity of scale, and an almost instantaneous challenge to the idea that this vastness is expendable. The art of the Three Rivers makes us look up, look down, and directly engages our unasked questions of the role of art in culture, the importance of nature to Canadian art, art’s expression of our cultural values and identity, and its articulation of our diverse notions of place in Canada.

Seven of the artists will lead, and participate in, four days of celebration, public forums and workshops with leading writers, thinkers, conservationists, and First Nations representatives, October 14th-17th. The exhibition runs October 14th to December 5th and will tour major galleries across Canada and elsewhere.

Three Rivers: Wild Waters, Sacred Places is a partnership between the Yukon Arts Centre Public Art Gallery, CPAWS-Yukon and Yukon Conservation Society, with the participation of the Tetl'it Gwich'in and the Wilderness Tourism Association of Yukon – brought together by a common interest in an exploration through art of how Canadians envision, mythologize, commercialize, and ultimately, value, wilderness. The Wind, Snake and Bonnet Plume rivers of the Peel watershed are striking examples of the very best of Canada’s remaining mountain boreal wilderness, now vulnerable to large scale industrial development.

Complete event schedules, artist interviews, previews of the art and project background are available from:

Christine Spinder
Yukon Arts Centre
Telephone: 867-393-7108
E-mail: christine@yac.ca