BEHCHOKO/RAE-EDZO - Behchoko artist Robbie Craig and Yellowknife photographer Dave Brosha are holding a joint show, The Views of Two, in Yellowknife Saturday.

The show will feature Craig's Northern landscape paintings as well as photographs from Brosha's collection.

Influenced by Archie Beaulieu, Ned Harrison, Graeme Shaw and the Group of Seven, Craig will feature 15 new landscapes along with some prints of his paintings.

Last March, Craig's acrylic painting, The Untouched, was selected as winner of the Northwest Territories NorthwesTel Directory Cover Art Contest.

The painting was originally a gift to Brosha.

"He had given me a big, framed canvas from Mount Everest that I loved and he said, 'Just do me a painting.' So I painted him a couple of landscapes and he chose that one," said Craig.

Brosha convinced Craig to enter the art contest and use the painting as the entry.

"(He said), 'If you win, we'll just take it off my wall and go from there,' ... So I still owe him a painting actually," said Craig.

Brosha has just recently returned from Egypt from where he was on assignment documenting the culture and the people of the Muslim village of Siwa, in the Egyptian Sahara.

He was also photographing Tom Smitheringale, an Australian adventurer who is undertaking a trek across parts of Africa in the coming months and a second assignment photographing the operations of an Australian-owned gold mine on the Red Sea.

For the show on Saturday, Brosha is excited to include 15 of his favourite images from Siwa.

"Rather than playing 'tourist photographer,' I had access to the local people on this assignment that I could have only dreamed about in advance of the trip, so I think it's led to some

of my strongest images as

a photographer," said Brosha.

The photographer said combining Craig's art and his own images adds a unique element to the show.

"That's the beauty of the show. It's not meant to be this similar theme, but rather a contradiction...or a way of showcasing two completely different bodies of art that stand on their own," said Brosha. "I have so much respect for what Robbie has accomplished in a short time and I am honoured to showcase my work alongside his."

Since having his art featured throughout the territory, Craig said he has developed as an artist.

"I feel now that I'm more fortunate. Without this phone book I don't know if Dave and I might have had a show, so it's growth all around," said Craig. "I'm really excited because this a hobby that's become a passion."

The Views of Two will take place at the Champagne Room in Yellowknife starting at 7 p.m. Saturday.

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