Viewing the Underwater Pinhole Photography Project

by Dan Davidson

Visitors to the most recent exhibit at the ODD Gallery might be forgiven for being a little confused at first glance. The most obvious part of Donald Lawrence’s Underwater Pinhole Photography Project is the heavily laden kayak which dominates the floor space in the center of the room.

The fibreglass and aluminium craft is

An angled view of the kayak with some of the gallery guests looking at photos in the background. Photo by Dan Davidson

festooned with the barnacles of its owners inventive mind: a specially constructed camera, a collapsible printer/darkroom, clamped thermoses full of developing solutions and coffee. It seems such a craft could hardly float and, indeed, the slides displayed during the July 1 opening and artist’s talk indicate that it nearly didn’t.

So, the show isn’t about boating. Nor is it actually about the several clunky but serviceable cameras which are scattered through the room. They are variations on the basic pinhole camera, the simplest and least technical of all photographic devices; just a whole in the shutter and photographic paper to record the inverted image. Though it must be noted that the entire process gets a good deal more complex when you want to lower the device from a kayak, pull a lanyard topside to make the exposure, develop the plate inside the camera itself, and make the contact print without leaving your kayak.

The walls of the gallery are decorated with the finished products of some of these numerous expeditions, strange images of sea anemones starfish and other aquatic denizens captured in slightly hazy larger than life prints, but they are not really the main point of the exhibit either.

It’s the whole thing really. Lawrence’s talk took us through his development as an artist, showing us sketches from his journals, constructs made to showcase him interest in various subjects, his obsession with kayaks, and actual expeditions to take some of the photos.

It’s clear that his fascination with kayaks runs deep, as does his obsession with making functional Rube Goldberg like devices that work even though they look like they shouldn’t at first glance.

Put that together with his interest in images, as shown in the mock journal displayed with the project, and you have the meaning of the exhibit, which Lawrence, writing in his artist’s statement, describes as a “simple drive: to photograph the intertidal life seen from my kayak.”

Why not simply take a camera underwater and shoot it that way? Why develop a pinhole Polaroid as well as a regular pinhole? Why burden his craft so?

Lawrence likes the idea of exploring and evolving historical forms of the camera into non-technological technologies. He likes the accidental quality of the images he captures. He likes making odd constructions that work in spite of themselves.

You can view the total package, from idea to means to product, in the ODD Gallery in Dawson until August 8

Klondike Kate’s Turns A Hundred

By Faye Mollberg

Klondike Kate’s building is celebrating it’s one hundredth anniversary this year. Concerts with be held at St. Mary’s Church all summer to commemorate the centennial. As well, there will be a barbeque and volleyball tournament on August eleventh that will take place at the lot across from Diamond Tooth Gerties.

Owners José and Wade Savard are planning a historic three or five course dinner for a yet to be determined day in September. “Staff will be dressed in historic costumes to make the evening as historic as possible”, claims José. To conclude the evening Father Tim will bless the building for hundreds of years to come.

Built in1904 the building was originally

Klondike Kate’s restaurant. Photo by Faye Mollberg

used as a grocery store and in the 1930’s became the “Lucky Inn Café”. The building had a number of different uses until the 1980’s when it became Klondike Kate’s.

Proprietors José and Wade are proud of the way the structure looks today. They have worked hard to restore the building to it’s original beauty. Extra windows were added to the front of the restaurant to make it historically correct. In addition, extensive renovations to the foundation and kitchen were completed. Renovations have been financially and time consuming; never the less, José and Wade feel fortunate to be celebrating their fifteenth season and the building’s one hundredth birthday.

Alcan Promoters Enjoy a Dawson Homecoming

by Dan Davidson

The purpose of the Alaska Highway 2004 Legacy Tour may have been to promote connections among communities along the Alcan route and stir up a declining interest in tourism, but for two members of the tour, the side trip through Dawson on the way home after the tour left Fairbanks was a bit of a homecoming.

Bud Powell, now a city councillor in Dawson Creek, grew up in Dawson City,

Dawson Creek Mayor and councillor Bub Powell flank the KVA’s Val Anderson and Wendy Burns in an exchange of goodwill gifts. Photo by Justine McKellar

and it was here that he began a career with Mobil Oil that took him all over the world before he came back to Canada and settled in Dawson Creek. His mail still ends up in both places from time to time.

April Moi, the Executive Director of the Northern Rockies Alaska Highway Tourism Association (NRAHTA) got her start in tourism as a dancing girl at Diamond Tooth Gerties, back in the days when her mother, Sourdough Sue Ward, lived here.

Both were pleased as punch to be back in their onetime hometown, and showed it at both the KVA barbecue at Guggieville and the working breakfast the next morning at the Downtown Hotel.

Their visit on July 13 coincided with some of the densest smoke days that Dawson has had during this last fortnight, but this did not dampen the group's enthusiasm for the idea of forging links between the two towns, both named after the former head of the Canadian Geological Survey.

While the major thrust of the NRAHTA tour was to promote a September 2004 conference to be held in Dawson Creek for the purpose of discussing initiatives to revitalize the Alcan's tourism industry, Dawson Creek's Mayor Wayne Dahlen was also interested in lobbying the state of Alaska to make improvements to the Taylor Highway and strengthen the potential of a travel loop in and out of the North.

While there is not presently any political body in Dawson City that could commit to supporting this project in spirit (the council that was elected in October 2003 having been removed by the territorial government in April 2004 after it was deemed to be over its head financially) the Klondike Visitors Association has undertaken to support the project, and executive director Val Anderson said that the KVA would have representatives at the fall conference.

The Legacy Tour had travelled from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks between July 1 and 12, stopping at each town, village and hamlet along the route to build a list of contacts for this project. Details of the entire proposal can be found on the website www.hellonorth.com.