Heather Hyatt and Janet Patterson | Once Upon a Time

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Heather Hyatt, “The Book Elf,” no date

mixed media (courtesy of the artist)

Opening Reception: Friday, March 7th from 5 – 7 pm.

Whitehorse artists Heather Hyatt and Janet Patterson are teaming up for a new exhibition that explores the world of fairy tales. The show, called Once Upon a Time, will include a variety of 3-D and 2-D works that feature fairies, witches, princesses, evil queens, pigs, wolves, and several other characters. Many of the pieces focus on some of the darker tales.

“Delving into some of the of the original fairy tales was an eye opener; not the feel-good stories I remember,” Hyatt said. ‘Happily Ever After’ wasn’t always a thing. However the images that these stories conjured in my head were compelling and begged to be recreated for this show.”

As for Patterson, she says she has always been drawn to darker tales. “As a kid, it wasn’t the sanitized Disney versions of the classic fairy tales that interested me. Instead, my favourite story was called Little Orphant (sic) Annie by James Whitcomb Riley with the repeating line: An’ the Gobble-uns ’ll git you Ef you Don’t Watch Out! “It wasn’t until I was an adult and read some of the original Grimms fairytales that I realized just how dark they were. Cannibalism, incest, murder…the early versions of these fantasy stories have plot twists that would be right at home in a modern slasher film,” Patterson added.

The opening reception corresponds with the First Friday art crawl that takes place in downtown Whitehorse between YAAW, Arts Underground, and Northern Cultural Expressions Society. On Sunday, March 9th from 1-4 pm, Patterson will offer a needle felting class to people aged 12 and up. In keeping with the theme of the exhibit, participants will learn how to needle felt a frog prince. The cost is $60 per person. Pre-register by emailing Patterson at janet@northwestel.net. The class is limited to eight people. Then on Sunday, March 16th from 1-2 pm, Hyatt and Patterson will give an artist talk where they will provide a short history of fairy tales and will talk about their process creating the pieces for the show.