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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A city art collective known for not having the same production twice will soon be hosting a fundraiser to continue holding one-of-a-kind shows.

Eli Purchase, playing the titular character in the Borderless Art Movement's (BAM!) production of The Mad Trapper at Folk on the Rocks on July 21. BAM! is planning on an autumn fundraiser for the collective's productions for 2014. - Graeme McNaughton/NNSL

The Borderless Art Movement, better known simply as BAM!, is planning on performing a show similar to the ones it did at Folk on the Rocks in order to help raise funds to keep the group moving into 2014. While it's not yet known what exactly the show will be, the group is expecting a sold-out performance.

"Any time we've done a show, lots of people come out," said Eli Purchase, a member of BAM and former board member. "We've even done shows at places like Top Knight, and have seen them sold out."

Jen Walden, the group's president, said BAM! will be raising money to replenish the coffers after exhausting much of its funds during a summer festival circuit, which included the Atlin Arts and Music Festival in Atlin, B.C., and in front of the hometown crowd for three shows for Folk on the Rocks.

The remainder of the funds went toward new painting boards, said Walden. The new boards are designed to be easily taken apart and configured to suit a variety of stages. The new boards are also much easier to travel with, allowing BAM! to take part in more shows in more locations.

The first show took place on July 19 at Somba K'e Civic Plaza as part of the Warm the Rocks event. They followed with a joint performance with Yes Nice, an electro-pop band from Edmonton. The collective painted on boards and later themselves and children in the audience as part of the show.

Their third performance was a solo act on the smaller Left Stage, on July 21, the final day of the festival.

For that performance, the collective performed a production of The Mad Trapper, the story of Albert Johnson, a trapper who in the early 1930s sparked a manhunt throughout the NWT and Yukon after he was accused of tampering with traps.

RCMP officers first attempted to speak to Johnson in the winter of 1931 outside of his cabin near Aklavik. After shooting at the officers, Johnson's cabin was blown up with dynamite.

Johnson survived the explosion, and remained on the lam until February of 1932 when he was killed by RCMP officers on the Eagle River in the Yukon.

The BAM! production was put together using telegraphs sent between RCMP detachments during the manhunt, said Purchase, who played the trapper.

"(Jen Walden) really sketched out the brunt of it, like how the paintings should look at certain points," said Purchase. "Every show, the paintings are slightly different, but overall are very structured."

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