Workers load a trencher in Fort St. John, last February
that will be transformed into a sculpture with help from Brian Jungen and the Canada 150 Fund. Photo by Bronwyn Scott, Alaska Highway News
Brian Jungen has transformed Nike runners into eye-popping Haida-themed masks and white plastic lawn chairs into a giant whale skeleton. So what kind of artwork will he help fashion from a massive Caterpillar trencher used in the construction of the Alaska Highway?
Well, to begin, the trencher’s engine will be covered in enamel-and-steel beads. Two fuel tanks will become pioneer-themed dioramas and the radiator will evolve into an animal-like figure.
The results will be unveiled next year in Dawson Creek, B.C. (Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway) courtesy of the Peace Liard Regional Arts Council and a $40,800 grant from the Canada 150 Fund, which is distributing $210 million to communities and organizations across the country to mark the 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017. In the West, street parties, music concerts, sporting events and a few visual art projects have been awarded grants.
Jungen is originally from Montney, near Dawson Creek in east-central B.C. He is advising three other artists – Adrienne Greyeyes, Emilie Mattson and Karl Mattson.
Another monumental artwork is being planned for the sprawling, park-like grounds of the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina “to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of aboriginal people in this country” within “a Canada 150 context.” Eight aboriginal artists are being invited to compete for the commission, which is receiving $228,250 from the Canada 150 Fund.
Winnipeg art teacher, Nereo II, painted this cargo container for the Winnipeg’s Art Gallery’s Canada 150 project.
One of three such mobile art studios travel across the country next summer. Photo: Ruth Bonneville, Winnipeg Free Press
Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Art Gallery is transforming three 20-foot metal shipping containers into mobile studios that will visit every province and territory next year. The project is called ART EXPRESS’D/ART EXPRIMÉ and is receiving a $300,000 grant from the Canada 150 Fund. An artist will travel with each container to 15 communities to lead collaborative art-making projects “designed to inspire the public to explore their visions of Canada.”
Also in Winnipeg, the film production company Les Productions Rivard is involved in a co-production with a Quebec company, Zone 3, to create a television series called The Great Crossing. Ten people will be chosen to recreate the voyages of their ancestors across the Atlantic. Rivard’s grant is worth $420,000.
In downtown Edmonton, the Works International Visual Arts Society is commissioning five landmark sculptures for 108th Street. They will “speak to the interpretation and storytelling of Canada’s past, present and future.” The $300,000 federal grant will be supplemented with provincial, municipal and private funds.
Other outfits in the West are not yet ready to publicize their projects. Among them, a promising sounding endeavour by Calgary’s Beakerhead, which bills itself as “a smash up of art, science and engineering.” With a $416,350 grant, Beakerhead is planning arty fun and games throughout the downtown. Stay tuned for details.
