This copper sculpture serves as a memorial to Mark Porter, a talented Tlingit artist who passed away in 1999. Brian Walker and Mark Porter had previously collaborated with Keith Wolfe Smarch on the significant public artwork Where Legends Meet at the Beringia Centre. Years later, with the blessing of Porter’s family, Walker revisited one of Mark’s original designs and brought it to life in copper, adding a radiant corona of light. He gifted the completed piece to the Yukon Arts Centre Collection.
Brian Walker arrived in the Yukon in 1969 and studied under renowned artists including Bill Reid, Dempsey Bob, and Philip Janze. He continued to learn from and collaborate with Yukon artists such as Keith Wolfe Smarch and Mark Porter. In 1992, Walker began working with copper, drawn to its deep historical ties to the Yukon. He has contributed to the Northern Cultural Expressions Society’s youth carving program in Whitehorse and participated in the Adäka Cultural Festival’s Journey project—a gathering of senior carvers from British Columbia, Alaska, Yukon, and New Zealand.
In 2015, one of Walker’s copper sculptures was selected as a prize for the Arctic Inspiration Award. That same year, he and his wife, Ann Smith—a respected artist and Elder of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation—were honored with the Cultural Steward Award by the Yukon First Nations Culture and Tourism Association.