Together, the Yukon Arts Centre, Parks Canada and the US National Park Service have announced the visual artists chosen for the 2014 Chilkoot Trail Artist Residency Program.
With a record 170 applications received (a 40% increase from 2013), interest in this unique program is growing rapidly on both sides of the border. In its fourth consecutive year, the program invites selected artists to hike the famous Chilkoot Trail, passing through Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park (Alaska) and Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site (northern British Columbia). Three artists are chosen – one from Canada, one from the United States and one regional (Yukon or Alaska) - to participate in this cross-border creative journey.
For the first time in four years, one of the spots has been awarded to a collaborative duo. Representing Canada are Jessica Auer and Andreas Rutkauskas, who will be hiking the trail June 18 to July 1. Nebraska-based artist Steve Snell was selected as the USA representative, and will be hiking July 3 to 16. Yukoner Daphne Mennell will be on the trail July 28 to August 12 as the regional artist.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Jessica Auer and Andreas Rutkauskas are visual artists from Montreal, Quebec. They received their MFA degrees in Studio Arts from Concordia University, where they now teach photography. Jessica Auer’s work is largely concerned with the study of cultural sites. From the beaten track to the frontier, she explores places where history and mythology are woven into the landscape, and where contemporary landscape issues emerge. Through the use of photography, video, and mapping, Andreas Rutkauskas’ projects have addressed the impact of Internet-based research on wilderness recreation, the borderlands surrounding the Canada/US international boundary, and cycles of industrialization and deindustrialization. They are both members of the Field Workers, an artist collective that will be exhibiting at oslo8 in Basel, Switzerland in June 2015. www.jessicaauer.com www.andreasrutkauskas.com
Steve Snell (b. 1983) grew up in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. After graduating from Miami University in 2006, Steve moved to Alaska and eventually became the art teacher in Yakutat. In 2011, he received his M.F.A. in Studio Art from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has been an Artist-in-Residence at the HUB-BUB in Spartanburg, South Carolina and at the Wassaic Project in Wassaic, NY. Steve is currently on the faculty at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska, where he teaches painting, art history, and adventure-art. His work has been shown in galleries and film festivals throughout the United States. www.steve-snell.com
Daphne Mennell is one of the Yukon's better-known artists. She has a number of pieces in major public collections in the Yukon and in private collections throughout the world. Her paintings are known for their lively colour and movement, depicting the Yukon and Alaska landscapes she loves. Perhaps Daphne’s most beloved work is the “Whitehorse Horse”, a large metal sculpture that rears above the main roadway into Whitehorse, Yukon. She created this sculpture, along with the caribou atop the Carcross village entrance sign, with the assistance of welder Roger Poole. www.daphnemennellyukonart.com.
More information about the Chilkoot Trail Artist Residency Program is available at:
www.yukonartscentre.com/programs/chilkoot_trail_artist_residency_program.