Whitehorse Star - Yukon Seasons Ready for Display
December 10, 2011 Filed in: Yukon Seasons Heist | Shows and Unveilings
Whitehorse Star photo by Vince Fedoroff
READY FOR DISPLAY - Valery Monahan, left, a conservator, and Garnet Muething, an art curator, touch up Yukon Seasons at the Canada Games Centre Tuesday. The artwork, which at one point was a theft target, was removed for restoration after the June 24 fire at the Centre, and was reinstalled Tuesday. All the community artworks have now been reinstalled.
Yukon Seasons Installed at Canada Games Centre Once Again
December 08, 2011 Filed in: Yukon Seasons Heist | Shows and Unveilings
photo credit - Paul Gowdie, Yukon Government
Yukon Seasons is shown following its second restoration, this time after a fire at the Canada Games Centre. From left to right, with Yukon Seasons are: Catherine Grashom, Department of Tourism and Culture, Arts Section, Yukon Territorial Government (YTG), Valery Monahan, Conservator, YTG, Garnet Muething, Art Curator, Department of Tourism and Culture, Arts Section, YTG, and Mike Nixon, Minister of Tourism and Culture, YTG.
photo credit - Paul Gowdie, Yukon Government
Valery Monahan, Conservator, recently completed cleaning Yukon Seasons of smoke from the Games Centre fire and also took advantage of the opportunity to redo the repair of the broken tine, which occurred during the 2007 theft. (See the image above.)
photo credit - Paul Gowdie, Yukon Government
Garnet Muething, Art Curator, is overseeing repairs and renovations to the display case which houses Yukon Seasons - adding low heat lighting and making certain structural changes.
Yukon Seasons to be Reinstalled at Canada Games Centre
November 08, 2011 Filed in: Yukon Seasons Heist
Yukon Seasons Re-installed at Canada Games Centre
WHITEHORSE – The last piece of community artwork is set to be installed as part of the art restoration project that took place as a result of the June 24th fire at the Canada Games Centre.
Today at 1 p.m. staff from the Government of Yukon’s Culture Services Branch will install ‘Yukon Seasons’ (the Moose antler carving). The beautifully carved antlers have survived both theft and fire and will be placed back in its display case on the second floor concourse of the Canada Games Centre.
Artist Shane Wilson donated Yukon Seasons to the Friends of the Gallery for the Yukon Permanent Art Collection in 2006. The collection belongs to the people of Yukon, with the Government of Yukon acting as custodian of the collection. After the fire, Government of Yukon’s museums conservator Valery Monahan treated the piece for minor soot removal and reworked a previous repair.
“We’re very pleased that Yukon Seasons is back home at the Canada Games Centre,” Tourism and Culture Minister Mike Nixon said. “As a treasured piece of the Yukon Permanent Art Collection, Yukon Seasons belongs on public display where residents and visitors can see and enjoy the sculpture as a unique and irreplaceable rendition of Yukon wildlife.”
COMMUNITY ARTWORK RESTORED AT THE CGC
WHITEHORSE – Following months of thorough restoration all artwork damaged as a result of the June 24th fire at the Canada Games Centre (CGC), has been restored and currently being installed, said Mayor Bev Buckway.
“It is with great pleasure that I announce that the over 20 major pieces of community artwork have been returned from being restored and are currently being installed,” announced Buckway. “The collection valued at over $200,000; includes sculptures, stained glass, fabric- based art, paintings, photos, carvings and murals by a variety of local Yukon artists,” added Buckway.
“This is one of the last stages in fully restoring the CGC after the fire and is anticipated to take the rest of the week to complete,” said Indoor Facilities Manager Art Manhire. “This is a valuable part of the cultural and social makeup of the centre and is something that the community is proud of,” added Manhire.
“I am pleased to say that we are almost at the end of a long and emotional restoration process of the Canada Games Centre that began immediately after the June 24th fire,” said Manhire. “Our hope is that in the next week we will be in a position to announce the complete return to full service at the CGC with the reopening o the ATCO Ice,” added Manhire.
Wildlife Art Journal - Blog
November 08, 2011 Filed in: Books and Journals
(Wildlife Art Journal, screenshot)
REVISITING SHANE WILSON'S JOURNEY WITH FOUND ORGANIC OBJECTS: Canadian Artist is Winning Cosmopolitan Collectors Drawn To His Contemporary Designs
Written by Todd Wilkinson
Posted: November 7th 2011
"I live through my hands and tools: transforming thick, heavy bone and bronze, meant for massive collisions, into ethereal, otherworldly creations; precious oases in the midst of life." —Shane Wilson
A while back, Wildlife Art Journal magazine profiled Canadian sculptor and carver Shane Wilson. In the months that have passed since, his base of avid collectors has continued to grow. Some readers have asked us to highlight the story again in the wake of his work being featured in other magazines and following a successful showing of his work in Canada's famous Algonquin Park. You can access the WAJ story by clicking here .
Like the work above, a portrayal of tundra swans intricately carved from the 50,000-year-old tusk of a woolly mammoth, Wilson has amassed a body of work, based on found organic materials, that sets him apart among contemporary wildlife artists. In many ways, he borrows from the aboriginal traditions of artisans in the Far North and yet he bestows his tactile pieces with a modern edge.
Said Wilson earlier this year to an interview with the Algonquin Arts Centre where his works were on public exhibition: "Meaning is important to me. Original art expresses a coherent language, a language of the right-brain, whose syntax is colour, texture, form and symbol, grasped intuitively. I delight in taking found skulls, horns, antlers and bones and transforming them into fine art, expressions of the highest order, objects of rare beauty."
What Wilson does with the antlers and horns of big game animals he finds in the wild is nothing short of remarkable. He transcends the limitations of what some would consider folk or sporting art and creates pieces that are worthy of display in museums. He also takes grizzly and black bear skulls, as well as those of wolves and wolverine, casts them in bronze, then bestows them with alluring ornamentation and patinas. They have a tribal and primitive look. The people who collect and commission them aren't confined to just hunters. His collectors includes urban connoisseurs who have cosmopolitan fine art tastes and see in Wilson's work something that is both novel and likely to spark a conversation.
Buckhorn Fine Art Festival: Sculpted Dimensions Exhibition - August 11-14, 2011
August 11, 2011 Filed in: Shows and Unveilings
The following images were taken during the Sculpted Dimensions Exhibition during the recent Buckhorn Fine Art Festival, in Buckhorn, Ontario, Canada on August 11-14, 2011. One of the featured sculptures on exhibition were the 'Seahorses, 2007" by Shane Wilson.
Buckhorn Fine Art Festival - Sculpted Dimensions Exhibition, photo by David Foyn
Buckhorn Fine Art Festival - Sculpted Dimensions Exhibition, photo by David Foyn
Buckhorn Fine Art Festival - Sculpted Dimensions Exhibition, 'Seahorses, 2007 by Shane Wilson photo by David Foyn
Buckhorn Fine Art Festival - Sculpted Dimensions Exhibition, 'Male Seahorse, 2007' by Shane Wilson, photo by John McFeeters
Buckhorn Fine Art Festival - Sculpted Dimensions Exhibition, 'Female Seahorse, 2007' by Shane Wilson, photo by John McFeeters
Buckhorn Fine Art Festival - Sculpted Dimensions Exhibition, photo by David Foyn
Buckhorn Fine Art Festival - Sculpted Dimensions Exhibition, photo by David Foyn
Buckhorn Fine Art Festival - Sculpted Dimensions Exhibition, 'Seahorses, 2007 by Shane Wilson photo by David Foyn
Buckhorn Fine Art Festival - Sculpted Dimensions Exhibition, 'Male Seahorse, 2007' by Shane Wilson, photo by John McFeeters
Buckhorn Fine Art Festival - Sculpted Dimensions Exhibition, 'Female Seahorse, 2007' by Shane Wilson, photo by John McFeeters