Yellowknife artists look to add warmth to city's downtown
The Yellowknife Artist Run Community Centre is holding public workshops to design a winter art installation in the city's downtown.
The aim of the installation is to create a space that provides warmth, light, and protection from the wind throughout the winter.
The artist centre held a public brainstorming session Tuesday evening in Yellowknife.
"Last night we chatted about something that provides a barrier to the winter elements: wind and snow," said Mary Kelly, arts coordinator at the artist centre.
"Something that is lit up so it provides light in the darkness... and a seating area so we can stop in the midst of the big winter elements and just enjoy the space around us."
The artist centre is holding another public workshop Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. at their centre on 52nd Street to mock up small scale models of the installation.
Kelly said the inspiration for the project came from the warming hut competition in Winnipeg. Each year, artists from around the world build structures along a skating trail on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers.
"It expanded our vision of what was possible in terms of providing an inviting place and warm place," she said.
Peter Hargraves is an architect in Winnipeg and helped come up with the idea of marrying art with warming huts.
"There were a couple of huts that were along the trail, but they were very utilitarian. They were just little sheds," Hargraves said.
"I had a reaction to that. I was like: 'that's not what this could be. This could be so much different and better if we designed unique huts.'"
Hargraves said the huts have helped increase the use of the skating trail to the point where winter visitors to the area are now outnumbering summer visits.
"I think the best rules is to keep it simple," he said.
"Make sure that the idea is something that everyone from a 95-year-old to a three-year-old can get something out of."
The Yellowknife Artist Run Community Centre brought in Brad Pickard, an artist and architect out of Regina, to help with the installation. Pickard is a co-founder of OPEN, a design collaborative that has completed similar projects.
"I think our focus is always on local materials," Pickard said.
"So, small dimensional lumber that is locally harvested, small dimensional logs that could potentially become seating elements or some idea of a windbreak.
"We have two weeks to design and build something and activate part of the city."
Pickard said members of the public are also invited to take part in the building process. Construction of the installation begins on Friday and will be completed on October 6th.
The installation is funded by the City of Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories Department of Industry, Tourism, and Investment.
