January 10 to March 9, 2008

Drawn to Memory
Catherine Deer

Yukoner Catherine Deer’s detailed works in charcoal and pigment reflect on her early years spent in Baker Lake, Nunavut (then NWT). With the eyes of a preschooler, her distant home is filled with magic and imagination. Giant walruses loom underfoot, while caribou clothe children and keep them warm and safe. The child’s perspective is also evident in the individual events that have been etched in the artist’s mind. The images of a clothesline or of a giant red ball have stayed with her. The beautifully constructed drawings are pared down to black and white with hints and splashes of colour, like antique photographs. Drawn to Memory is thoughtful work blurred by time, reflecting not so much the North as it was, but as it is remembered.

In the Shadow of the Midnight Sun
Inuit and Sámi Art 200-2005
Organized by the Art Gallery of Hamilton

Fittingly paired with Deer’s remembrances of an Inuit community, a distinct show depicts the North as it is now. In the Shadow of the Midnight Sun brings together the Sámi (formally misnamed as Laplanders) and Canadian Inuit. Though held together by a shared commentary on the North, the use of materials and mediums presents an interesting divide.

The Sámi artists freely mix and utilize art forms common in modern western European art: photography, mixed media, and unconventional materials such as PVC and steel. The Inuit artists, in comparison, mainly stay within traditional media: stone carving, printmaking and textiles.

The themes and subject matters, however, widely range from traditional to thoroughly modern and abstract constructions. Both the Sámi and Inuit works are the expression of Northern lands and lives.