INUVIK
It seems unlikely that Blair Thorson will lose his way when it comes to his art.

Yukon artist Blair Thorson is using outdated topographical maps as the canvas for his unique wildlife art. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

The Yukon artist is attending the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik for the second year. His speciality is using old topographic maps as the canvases for his nature and wildlife-based art. You could think of it as artistic recycling, in a way.

"Eight years ago, some friends took me halibut fishing, and at the end of the trip, they wouldn't take any money. It was an expensive trip, and I wanted to give them something, and I wanted to paint a water colour of his boat," he said. "I've always collected maps, and I put the painting of his boat together with a map of the area on a light table and it's taken off from there."

While at the festival, Thorson is working on a series of paintings using discarded topographic maps of the Mackenzie Delta region.

He pointed to a painting of a great grey owl on a map featuring an area of the Delta near Tsiigehtchic as an example of what he does.

The surplus maps, he said, were provided by local government officials

The scene on every painting, he explained, is relevant to the fauna indigenous to the area.

"You won't find a polar bear on a Vancouver map, for instance," he said.

He laughed, and agreed that it was a "sneaky form of education" hidden in his art.

He uses watercolour paint for his work, enhancing the haunting see-through effect he favours.

"I was a surveyor for the Water Survey of Canada, which I retired from two years ago after 35 years," he said. "That's my connection with maps. It's kind of become my brand.

"Everything I paint is indigenous to the land it's on," Thorson continued. "Hunters and trappers and campers really like to have images from where they've travelled to. I've done cabins, animals, boats and planes and trains."

Thorson said he's "learned a lot" from organizations such as the Water Survey of Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Service, which have also been the source of many of his maps.

The maps of the Delta he's currently using were donated by the Inuvik office of the Water Survey of Canada, Thorson said.

"I know by using them as my canvas I'm preventing them from going to the landfill," he said. "A lot of the paper is quite old. This one is 50 years old," he said, gesturing to one he's preparing to work on.

"It's fun to bring two loves of mine together," Thorson added.