Veronica Verkley’s horse sculpture in its original setting by the river. Photo by Valerie Salez.

Chance Encounters Produce Junk Art Animals

By Valerie Salez

The old OLD dump, (below Moosehide slide near the river bank), became a popular visitor attraction this summer. Bottles, horseshoes, broken dishes and other forgotten scraps of the past intrigued out-of-towners. Somehow it became the place to go and pick up free, authentic, Klondike souvenirs. Scads of broken glass, bones and all that dirt didn't seem to deter anyone looking to discover what might be “really old”.

There was some casual concern in regards to the use of shovels contributing to a now precarious gaping hole while others were not sure if the objects being taken on a daily bases should be protected. But recent KIAC artist in residence Veronica Verkley had other intentions at the old dump.

She spent most of her residency days at the dump; not taking but making. Using a variety of rusted metal parts such as car parts, twisted bed frames, decorative furniture pieces, and bent wire, she slowly and meticulously built a horse. The skeletal, yet anything but weak, animal stands at just over 5 feet high. It is a determined figure with a strong prominent driftwood jaw that looks contemplatively down river - at least it used to.

Veronica is an artist who often creates work at a specific site. The materials that determine what she will build with are those found on site. Mostly she works with old scraps of wire, but will incorporate metal, wood, cloth, paper, leather, plastic or whatever else might be lying around. She always creates skeletal like animal sculptures. Sometimes the results are eerie and can lean towards morbid. Other sculptures have a more mystical quality with an prominence that surpasses reality. Veronica is less interested in making art to be seen in galleries as she is in exploring her environment, creating in places such as abandoned warehouses, forests, and river banks.

Permanence of her sculptures is mostly a non-issue to Veronica, as is how many people might see her work. She likes to question the permanence of things, ideals, and art work. She likes imagining how someone might, by chance, encounter one of her creations.

If you take a left into the woods at the end of King St. (beginning of the Old Dome Road) there is a foot path that gradually slopes towards the slide. About ten minutes into the walk an unmistakable and ominous presence can be felt among the trees. You cannot help but stop in your tracks to assess the situation. Large dark caribou shapes will catch your attention as they appear to be flying through the air. Veronica collected brush and sticks from the ground and carefully stuffed and stacked the wood into existing clumps of trees and willow bushes. Caribou forms at various stages leap through the forest. The effect is haunting yet poetic - something straight out of a storybook.

In Toronto Veronica makes her bread and butter by building mechanical animals for movies. She creates moving skeletons of animals such as deer, moose and dogs. The movie may require that the animal turn its head, twitch their tail, or lift its leg. These robotic animals are used in scenes when an animal is going to be hurt or die.

She came to KIAC with the intention of creating small motors to make some of her own sculptures move. This resulted in three large hares, made entirely of tangled recycled wire, that lay on their sides breathing. The rib cages of the hares believably inflated and deflated at different rates. Sometimes the chest cavities expanded and deflated rapidly then moments later laboriously and then, without warning, they would stop breathing altogether.

Veronica has since completed her residency and left town. But her sculptures are left behind. Some live in trees, or on paths. While she expects most of her sculptures to transform, deteriorate or break over time some local fans (with her permission) could not let the old dump horse be crushed by the forming or breaking ice on the banks of the Yukon River. It has been moved to greener pastures.

The dislocation and reinstallation of the horse sculpture poses a variety of interesting contradictions and questions. Does the sculpture’s original spirit and potency lose something when it is removed from its “natural” environment? Did it deserve to stay with the rest of the “junk” and be inevitably taken out by natural forces? Is the preservation and accessibility of it as an art sculpture important and of value to the community or the original intentions of the artist?

Veronica Verkley’s horse sculpture is standing in the yard at the Macaulay House on 7th & Princess. Experience it for yourself.

Bridge in Wrong Place Could Jeopardize Heritage Status Application

by Dan Davidson

The Dawson City Planning Board, which oversees the town’s historic theme look, is concerned that territorial government plans to place a bridge across the Yukon River in a location near the current ferry landing could have a negative impact on proposals to have the town proclaimed part of a World Heritage Site.

Part of the busy downtown district of Lunenburg in the July of 2003. Photo by Dan Davidson

While not opposed to the construction of a bridge, the board would wish it to be built at the upstream crossing labeled location six on the government’s list of options.

A proposal for World Heritage status has been in the air for several years now. Such sites, of which there are 788 world wide, are judged by the United Nations as being of “outstanding value to humanity”.

International sites include Stonehenge, the Acropolis, the Pyramids, Pueblo de Taos and the Statue of Liberty. In Canada we have the Historic District of Quebec City and the old Town of Lunenburg.

It is the Lunenburg case, as researched by local Parks Canada Superintendent Rob Watts, that has inspired concerns on the board.

In the 1980s Lunenburg, an historic fishing town in Nova Scotia, was in decline. The community of 2600 people had been hit badly by the death of the cod fishery and the collapse of the boat building industry. It had a small tourism industry, “3 or 4 restaurants, about 6 tourist homes and one inn.”

World Heritage Status was granted in 1995. Town council expected a 3% growth in tourism; they got 10% annually. Now there 48 businesses offering lodgings, over 20 restaurants, art galleries, craft shops and businesses giving walking tours and boat tours of the harbour.

“Becoming a World Heritage Site has put Lunenburg on the world map,” says the board’s submission to the Trustee’s Advisory Committee.

“It has become a ‘must see’ location in Nova Scotia. In has extended the tourist season from July - August to late April through the end of October. It is not uncommon to see German visitors coming ... in November or March; they want to be able to see architecture without the leaves on the trees. For some, they come to N.S. just to see Lunenburg.”

The impact on the town has been tremendous. Older homes, some several centuries old, have been renovated as B&Bs. People are taking pride in their homes.

Not mentioned in the report is the fact that the eastern coast near Lunenburg has become a haven for wealthy folk and celebrities seeking summer homes.

In addition, World Heritage Status helped the town to leverage a lot of federal reconstruction money when St. Paul’s Anglican Church, a major landmark, was destroyed by fire a few years ago.

Dawson is now on a short list of ten top Canadian sites being pushed for this type of status. There is a move afoot to celebrate what journalist (and former Berton House writer in residence) Douglas Fetherling has called “The Gold Crusades” of the 19th century. This puts us in competition with the California Gold Rush, and similar events in South Africa and Australia.

Rob Watt explained that our nomination “includes the whole gold rush story: starting in Seattle, up to Skagway, the Chilkoot Trail, Dawson City, Tr’ochek and the gold fields.”

This is an appealing application with many strong points, in that it includes two countries, two states, one province and a territory, plus a first nations group, the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in.

Then too, many of the buildings here are original and have been maintained by Parks Canada, which plays a leading role in the World Heritage movement through UNESCO (United Nations Economic Social Cultural Organization).

The board’s concern is that a bridge at one of the Front Street locations that the government’s engineers seem to prefer would significantly alter the historic streetscape and viewscape of Dawson City.

This will, Watt feels, have a negative impact on the WHS nomination, which is about four years away from a decision at this point.

In discussion before the committee, Watt and board member Kathy Webster stressed that the economic impact of World Heritage Status would be equal to or greater than any boost which might be obtained from the construction of a Yukon River Bridge here. But the board’s submission also stressed that it did not oppose a bridge. It simply wanted to make clear that location 6, upstream from the town, was its idea of the best site.