Chu Niikwän Artist Residency: Artists Announced

Photo: root cellar studios / hyla nemy

Photo: Robby Dick

Photo submitted

Yukon artists Aimée Dawn Robinson, Robyn McLeod, and Asad Chishti have been selected as the artists of the Chu Niikwän Artist Residency (CNAR) program for 2020.

The program will be co-curated this year by Nicole Bauberger (of settler descent), who is based in Whitehorse, along with Lori Beavis (Miichi Sagiig Anishinaabe, Hiawatha First Nation and Irish-Welsh descent), who will participate remotely from Montréal.

Centred around the shared goals of artistic innovation, collaboration and professional development, this three-week paid residency will invite the artists and curators to develop an exhibition of new work. The exhibition will be presented at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in November 2020.

Named by the Kwanlin Dün First Nation Elders’ Council to recognize the Yukon River, the Chu Niikwän Artist Residency is jointly presented by the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre, the Yukon Arts Centre, and the Yukon Art Society with the support of the Government of Yukon. Each of the partner organizations are providing a studio space located close to the Yukon River in downtown Whitehorse, with the goal of facilitating collaboration between the artists, and gaining possible inspiration from the river itself.

This year, the curators have also invited the artists to consider new COVID-related realities that have caused us to think deeply and practically about how to connect within the constraints of physical distancing. Together, the participants will explore how new ways of making and maintaining relationships may be applied to artmaking, and the relationships we make by means of artmaking.

Due to COVID-19, all public engagements will happen virtually with artists and curators gathering while adhering to current public health restrictions. The artists will also have the option to either work remotely or in the awarded studios.

From August 24th until September 12th, Aimée Dawn Robinson will be working as the Old Fire Hall artist, with Robyn McLeod creating as the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre artist, and Asad Chishti of chairs and tables participating as the Arts Underground artist.

The public are invited to join the artists for a series of free online and physically-distant events throughout the 3-week residency. Visit the Arts Underground website for up-to-date times and dates.

For more information about the program, artist and curator biographies, visit www.artsunderground.ca/residency

For more information, contact:
Katie Newman
katie[at]artsunderground.ca | (867) 667-4080 ex. 22