News

Jenni House Studio

May 28, 2015

Yukon Film Society (YFS) is pleased to announce that it has taken on the lease of the Pioneer Hotel #1 building (the Jenni House) at Shipyards Park. Throughout the spring, summer and fall YFS will support an artist residency program. The residency initiative will allow YFS to better serve media artists across the Territory and further encourage the development of media arts and artists exhibition and cultural interpretation on the Whitehorse waterfront. Thanks to On Yukon Time funding, YFS will support five YFS members who will creatively use this unique space to create audio, media art and mixed media projects. YFS wishes to encourage the cultural intendment of the Jenni House Studio as a space for reinterpretations of Yukon heritage through artistic expression. The residency program will also be supported by other local arts organizations - the Atlin Arts and Music Festival and Yukon Arts Centre Public Art Gallery - who will each sponsor one artist residency. Each artist will inhabit the Jenni House as studio space for a period of one month. Participating artists confirmed to date include: Michel Gignac (multimedia visual artist) – Large-scale sculpting using discarded manufactured materials, animal fur and antlers, “The use of these materials is a continuing progression of my interest in materials that manifest a stigma of worthlessness. The overall impression will be a full-mount work of taxidermy. The concept is to emphasize how our wilds are morphing into twisted commodities. Lindsay Dobbin (media artist visiting from Nova Scotia) – “Somewhere Over the Radio” is an ongoing sound and radio project that explores the connection between radio, community and place. Leading up to the longest day of the year and Whitehorse Nuit Blanche event, Dobbin will collect field recordings and stories throughout the city around the theme of "Light." The end result is the creation of a new work commissioned by Whitehorse Nuit Blanche (WNB). The piece will be broadcast live over the 12 hours of WNB and audiences will add to the broadcast live, in real time from the Jenni House. Yukon Film Society is pleased to be a Whitehorse Nuit Blanche Studio Partner. Douglas Drake (Media Artist) - Thematic reflection on night and darkness - Constructing a film viewing geodesic dome (which viewers will go inside) Drake will be exploring topics such as technological obsolescence, repetition, environments, and social issues, through found objects, physical constructions and video installation. Douglas will present the work in the studio in the popular, un-juries OFF-SITE series during Whitehorse Nuit Blanche on June 20. Jordy Walker – The Atlin Arts and Music Festival will sponsor Walker, a Whitehorse-based media artist and musician for the month of July. Heather Callaghan – Yukon Arts Centre Public Gallery will sponsor Tlingit sculptor and jeweller, Heather Callaghan for the month of August to complete the works she conceives during her residency on the Chilkoot Trail. In addition to supporting members by providing studio space, YFS and ‘artist sponsor’ partner organizations will also co-host media arts, visual arts exhibitions and other public events and present publicly engaged heritage interpretation activities throughout the term of the lease. Participating artists will host an open studio during their residency to showcase their work. Other activities will include a public exhibition of a curated photo collection titled Whitehorse Shipyards: Images of a Frontier Community in the studio (for at least one month) and OFF-SITE exhibitions during Whitehorse Nuit Blanche by Douglas Drake (OFF-SITE installation), Lindsey Dobbin (sound art broadcast for Whitehorse Nuit Blanche ) and YFS midnight screenings projected onto the back of the Jenni House Studio. Confirmed events and Open House times are: Thu June 4 - Michel Gignac open studio 4 to 7pm Sat June 20 - Douglas Drake exhibition 7pm - 1am, part of OFF-SITE - Whitehorse Nuit Blanche artist Lindsay Dobbin sound and radio broadcast 7pm to 7am - 12 Midnight: outside screening and bonfire in Shipyards Park, part of OFF-SITE Experimental films from the YFS 16mm NFB collection Sept 25 – 27 Culture Days activities For more information contact Andrew Gilbutowicz, 393-3456, tech@yukonfilmsociety.com