Diverse Yukon art styles on exhibit

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Brilliant flowers, blue, purple and green, are scattered on black velvet. This magical, beaded, framed ornament speaks about Yukon culture and is named Star Burst by its creator, Shirlee Frost.

The piece is one of 14 works representing Soul of the Yukon as showcased at the Yukon Arts Centre Gallery from mid-October through Dec. 21.

Works from two Aboriginal artists were chosen out of 64 local entries: shirlee Frost and Eugene Alfred.

Frost is Gwitchin and lives in Old Crow. She works for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, and does beading in her spare time.

"Basically, in the Gwitchin culture, girls are taught the art of beadwork from a very early age, about five or six. We are taught by our mothers and our grandmothers and the community. So we always have a piece in the making.

"What we do in the culture is clothing, baby belts, but I started doing this particular type (of artwork) about 10 years ago because I was bored with the traditional work, and so I just took it one step further and I started playing around," Frost said.

Frost starts every piece without a definite idea of what it will look like in the end. The work just evolves and builds up in the process, yet she is not afraid to get lost because she enjoys it so much.

"All my work is all flowers because that was what we were taught. We do flowers because in our culture . . . they did a lot of flowers with bright colors because our winters are so long, so in holidays or special occasions, everybody would dress up in their beautiful work, and so it made you happy because it just kind of brings you back to summer."

The images have a lot of depth. "It reminds me of moose hair tufting, as she has built up the beads in the flowers, the same way moose hair tufting is built up," said the art centre's internship curator Ukjese VanKampen.

"I do like black velvet because of the 3-D effect. When it's framed and it gets raised in the frame, it looks like it's alive," said Frost.

In the last 10 years, Frost has made more than 20 framed pieces. Some look more traditional than do others.

"I try to do traditional, but it's like I'm not happy with it, so I have to just do it my way,"

Another piece exhibited is Eugene Alfred's work on loan from Pat Mitander. His acrylic on pine is titled Wolf Panel.

"It is 30 by 14 inches and is an upright wolf on its hind legs looking up [howling]. It is a classical Tlingit design using the traditional motif and colors, black and red," VanKampen said.

Alfred, 32, is a carver from the Selkirk First Nation in Pelly Crossing, Yukon. He studied for four years at the Kitanmax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art near Hazelton.

In his art collection are many masks, wall panels, and a totem pole.

For Soul of the Yukon, the gallery's curator Scott Marsden, along with Linda Polyck from the Society of Yukon Artists of Native Ancestry and local artist Philomena Carroll, were the three-person jury selecting the art.

"They tried to cover as many different art forms as possible and yet maintain a very high standard," said VanKampen. "There's sculptures, relief works, tapestries. What's interesting is that they picked two main styles of the Yukon, where the Athapaskans really do more beadwork, and the Tlingits nowadays are doing way more carving."