Klondike Institute of Arts and Culture

Artist in Residence Program

Last week, I managed to finally finish my application for the Klondike Institute of Arts and Culture artist residency program.

Founded in 2001, the KIAC Artist-in-Residence Program has welcomed the work of over 170 artists, musicians and filmmakers to Dawson City, Yukon.

Through the Artist-in-Residence program, KIAC aims to present an inspirational environment and culturally relevant context for artists while working on the creation, research and development of new or ongoing bodies of work.
Residency facilities are located in the famous Macaulay Residence, which like many of the buildings in Dawson City, is rumored to be haunted. Originally constructed in 1901, this 2-story home is now owned by Parks Canada as a part of the Dawson Historical Complex, National Historic Site of Canada.

The building is meant to accommodate up to two individuals concurrently. While in residence, artists also have the opportunity to facilitate outreach programs such as talks, workshops and exhibitions, intended to promote interaction and professional development, and provide access to a diverse range of contemporary arts practices and theories within the community.
I am really excited at the prospect of taking part in this incredible program. Here is a look at some artists working in paper and fibre who have recently taken part in the KIAC artist residency...

ED PIEN uses drawing, papercuts, performance and video to create large scale installations. While in Dawson, Pien will be working with students in Veronica Verkley's 2D class at the YSOVA.

Ed Pien is a Canadian artist based in Toronto. He has been drawing for nearly 30 years. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, he immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of eleven. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from York University in Toronto and Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario. Ed Pien has exhibited nationally and internationally

CAITLIN ERSKINE SMITH

Focusing in textiles, her work incorporates traditional techniques to consider modern conflicts of identity, language and change. In her work, Caitlin hand weaves large-scale pieces that explore the challenges inherent in communication and understanding. Through labor and time intensive process, layers of text are woven together, and their legibility and meaning are obscured in the process.

During her time in Dawson, Erskine-Smith will work on a series of weavings based on letters written to family and friends, reflecting on her time spent in Dawson City.

 

AMANDA MCCAVOUR uses a sewing machine to create thread drawings and installations by sewing onto a fabric that dissolves in water. 

This fabric makes it possible for her to build up the thread as she sews repeatedly into drawn images so that when the fabric is dissolved, the image can hold together without a base.

For her KIAC residency, McCavour replicated a turn of the century steam pump that was left at the side of Princess Street betweenn 2nd and 3rd Avenue in Dawson City. 

Part monument, part waste, this object references a time prior to her arrival, as a relic of the machinery used during the gold mining era that made Dawson Cityfamous. Translating the heavy iron object into thread, McCavour looks at phantom views of the object, while contrasting the heavy machinery with delicate thread-work to render the machine as delicate and ghostly.