Open Sky shows off Northern artists
While the festival portion of Open Sky has downsized
the president says it allows more focus on local talent
Joseph Tunney
Northern News Services
Thursday, July 14, 2016
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
The Open Sky Festival brought people from across the territory to Fort Simpson earlier this month but it also marked the opening of the Open Sky Gallery.
Chris Robson, the artist's whose display was presented at the opening of the Open Sky Gallery on July 1, said the gallery in Fort Simpson gives many Northern artists a chance they might not otherwise have. - Joseph Tunney/NNSL photo
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Chris Robson, the artist's whose display was presented at the opening of the gallery, said the showing is a retrospective look on his life.
His work is primarily woodblock-relief styled, a technique in printmaking where the artist must carve their work into wood and then press it against a surface to make a print.
His prints are primarily done in black and white which matches the early comic books that left a mark on Robson at an early age.
He even did his own comic called Strange Adventures of Mr. Normal.
"It goes back from the pencil drawing . which goes back to my last year in high school," he said, adding more work dating back to as recently as 2015 is also displayed.
"The thread that kind of goes through it would be the more Northern influence."
Originally from British Columbia, Robson has lived in the North since the early 1980s.
Lindsay Waugh, president of Open Sky and one of the original members, said Open Sky represents the artistic form whether musically or visually from local artists and offers a way for people to present their art.
"I myself encourage people to bring out their passions and to bring them forward," Waugh said. "So people can see what you can do if you put the time into it."
For Robson, the goal for artists to have their work seen which means the Open Sky gallery fills a niche for Northern artists.
It's difficult to get a gallery to display your own work, Robson said, and while Fort Simpson
is a small stage, it's still a way to get his art out there.
"In the North where you have all these small communities, these types of things just don't get distributed," he said.
Over the last 16 years, Waugh said the festival portion of Open Sky has downsized.
"The financial commitment has lessened. We're finding it a challenge to meet budget deadlines," he said.
While this limits the capabilities of the festival to bring in artists from farther away, it's not all bad.
"We can focus a little more on local," he said. "And still put on a two-day event.
"That's been my goal, to create opportunity."
