Past Activities

Previous Yukon Activities

Talks and Discussions:

* CONVERGENCE: A Roundtable Discussion on Environmental Art (Aug. 19, 2009)

The Convergence Roundtable on Environmental Art, hosted by the LLAMA Project and the Yukon Conservation Society, explored the subject from a few different angles.

The 16 participants first grappled with the breadth of what could be considered “environmental art”. The category was seen to capture art which ranged from photos or realistic paintings of our natural and urban environments, art made with natural materials from the environment, art which was sensitive to its impacts on the environment, art that had an advocacy message about the environment… essentially it was decided that there was little that didn’t fall under this broad heading. Read more….

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* IMPERMANENCE: The process of working with nature – An Artist Talk by Haruko Okano (Aug. 27, 2009)

Thirty people showed up for Haruko’s talk on her work in the context of the genre of ephemeral art. Check out her page on this site to see her work.

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* DRAWING FROM NATURE – An Artist Talk by Maria Luisa de Villa (Aug. 28, 2009)

Drawing from the great source of nature, de Villa approaches drawing as a feeling and thinking form. In this sense, drawing becomes a journey through form connecting with design. At the talk, Maria Luisa presented her own work in the context of the contemporary art scene in Oaxaca and Mexico to 30 engaged participants.

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* OPEN STUDIO: Tuktu Studio (Sept. 12, 2009)

About 15 or so people dropped by to talk to three of the LLAMA artists and watch Joyce make some prints. Two of the guests, Amy Loewan and Lou Lynn, were also artists who were visiting the Yukon. They had just opened their exhibitions at the Yukon Arts Centre a few nights before. Visit the blog entry on the Open Studio to view photos of the event.

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* (IM)MIGRATIONS: An Artist’s Exploration of Human Migrations by Cesar Damian (Sept. 15, 2009)

Cesar Damian chose to experience the ordeal of crossing the border illegally from Mexico to the US. He also spent considerable time with the families who have been left behind and other travelling from South and Central America, through Mexico, to find work in the US. His poignant stories and images provided a moving testimony to both the desperation and hope that people carry with them.

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* PUSHING THE IMAGE: Exploring the boundaries of photography (Sept. 23, 2009)

Over 65 people came to see presentations from six artists from Canada and Mexico on how they are using the photographic image in their art.

  • Philomena Carroll (Whitehorse)
  • Cesar Damian (Hilago, Mexico)
  • Patricia Deadman (Ontario)
  • Joyce Majiski (Whitehorse)
  • John Steins (Dawson City)

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* CLAY WORKS by Lorena Silva (Oct. 16, 2009)

Multi-media artist Lorena Silva talked about her art work and life in Mexico at this Friday evening Artist Talk.

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* FROM EARTH TO ART: Five clay artists, five directions (Oct. 21, 2009)

Five diverse clay artists showed images and shared their approaches to turning clay into art work. The artists were:

  • Rich Claxton
  • Larry DuGuay
  • Lorena Silva
  • Lynne Sofiak
  • Harreson Tanner

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* JAGUARS AND CORN: Two Mexican Stories of Myth and Culture (Oct. 27, 2009)
Lorena Silva and Cristina Luna showed a film and spoke about the capture of a wild jaguar in Mexico and its eventual release by the Zapotec community. They also spoke of MAMAZ, a women’s artist collective that is raising awareness through their art of the impacts of genetically modified corn on local cultures and agriculture.
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* ART STORIES by Cristina Luna (Oct. 30, 2009)
Cristina showed images and shared stories about her paintings, her interest in animal extinctions and her life as an artist in Mexico.

Workshops

* DRAWING FROM NATURE by Maria Luisa de Villa (Aug. 29-30, 2009)

This is a 2.5 day master drawing workshop was with renowned Mexican-Canadian artist Maria Luisa de Villa. Working in mixed media, the intention of the workshop was to conceptually expand our approach to the world of visual imagery by unfolding our visual experience and physical sensations.


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Clay Mural Making with Lorena Silva (Oct. 17, 2009)

Workshop participants worked together to create a collaborative mural at his one-day workshop with Mexican artist Lorena Silva. Check out the blog entry about this workshop by Joyce, Cristina and Lorena. Below are images from the workshop.

Previous Mexico Activities

Classes with elementary students in Oaxaca, Mexico (Feb. 2009)

On Thursday, and Friday Feb 19 and 20th, 2009, Adan Paredes and Joyce Majiski taught art and ecology classes to elementary school students in Mexico. Haruko Okano documented the sessions with sound and photos. Below are some of Haruko’s photos and a description of their activities written by Joyce.

Teaching Colour and Ecology

The school “Jose Maria Morelos” is housed in 3 concrete buildings, the classrooms are lined one one side with windows, complete with wooden or plastic desks chairs and a large blackboard. The entire school knew we were coming and were very excited. Most of them had as many questions for us as we did for them.

The teaching format was roughly as follows. We started by introducing ourselves and pointing out on a map where we were and where Haruko and I lived in Canada (Vancouver and Whitehorse respectively). We began by asking the class what they could tell us about Canada. Adan created a list of the animals, birds, plants and fruit that could be found in each country on the board. We were treated to a multitude of stories about various animal, bird and reptile encounters by the children, some of which were quite entertaining. We discussed concepts such as endangered animals in both countries and how some animals, birds and insects migrated back and forth from Canada to Mexico. We challenged the older children with more concepts and more information and were encouraged by their knowledge….read more