Jessica Auer's artist talk at the opening for Auer's and Andreas Rutkauskas' exhibition Out of Office at the Yukon Arts Centre Public Gallery on December 8, 2016.

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 2014, Jessica Auer and Andreas Rutkauskas and camped along the Chilkoot trail for fourteen days, from Dyea, Alaska to Bennett, British Columbia, making portraits of other backpackers with a 4x5” view camera. Originally used as a Tlingit First Nation trade route, the Chilkoot Trail saw major traffic and development during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. Despite its relatively remote location and the technical challenges of 19th Century photo¬graphic technology, this significant world event was well documented.

YAC December 8 Gallery Openings

Jessica Auer Artist Talk for Out of Office- December 8, 2016

Penticton Art Gallery Director/Curator, Paul Crawford's curator talk for the exhibition Behind the Lines: Contemporary Syrian Art at the Yukon Arts Centre Public Art Gallery on December 8, 2016.

Behind the Lines: Contemporary Syrian Art features works by 19 emerging 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.

Paul Crawford Curator Talk for Behind the Lines Contemporary Syrian Art - December 8, 2016

Veronica Verkley's artist talk for the exhibition Second Nature: FERAL at the Yukon Arts Centre Public Art Gallery on December 8, 2016.

Presented by the Yukon Arts Centre and the Yukon Film Society, 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. An abandoned, post-apocalyptic house deteriorates in spectacular fashion as time, nature and the elements take over, nearly destroy, then ultimately transform the house. Even out of destruction there can emerge a transformative beauty: the house becomes uninhabitable to some, but in its decay becomes refuge and possibility for others.

Whlie it reads as a time-lapse shot over several years, in reality it’s an animation of a scale model shot over several months, with the deteriorations and decay all animated by hand: the house gradually collapsing into darkness then resurfacing into light as nature triumphs as a creative force.

Veronica Verkley Artist Talk For Second Nature FERAL - December 8, 2016

Jessica Auer - Introduction (1)

Jessica Auer - Edna, Bennett Lake (2)

Jessica Auer - Packers, Chilkoot Pass (3)

Jessica Auer - Unboxing Sheep Camp (4)

Penticton Art Gallery Curator/Director, Paul Crawford discusses how the exhibition Behind the Lines: Contemporary Syrian Art came to be.

This talk took place at the Yukon Arts Centre Public Art Gallery on December 9, 2016.

Behind the Lines: Contemporary Syrian Art - Curator Talk with Paul Crawford

Discussing Syria was held on February 16, 2017 as part of the Yukon Arts Centre Public Gallery's Conversation Series and in association with the exhibit Behind the Lines: Contemporary Syrian Art. 

Raquel De Queiroz from Yukon Cares (www.yukoncares.ca) speaks from a local perspective about working with Syrian refugees and the process of bringing a Syrian family to Whitehorse.

Image: Rami Bakhos and Humam Alsalim, Cultural Beheading 2 (detail), 2015.

Conversation Series: Discussing Syria - Part 2

Discussing Syria was held on February 16, 2017 as part of the Yukon Arts Centre Public Gallery's Conversation Series and in association with the exhibition Behind the Lines: Contemporary Syrian Art. 

Co-curators Paul Crawford and Humam Alsalim Skyped in from Wells, British Columbia and Damascus, Syria, respectively, to answer audience questions about the development of the exhibition as well as the scope of impact of the current conflict in Syria.

Image: Rami Bakhos and Humam Alsalim, Cultural Beheading 2 (detail), 2015.

Conversation Series: Discussing Syria - Part 1

The Yukon Arts Centre (YAC) is a not for profit charitable organization dedicated to the development of the arts as an important cultural, social and economic force in the Yukon. We intend to be a model for the development of the arts in the North and a stimulus for a vibrant and creative territory. YAC is the territory's premier venue for performing and visual arts.