House and Home

That’s what I’m calling my upcoming show at the Yukon Arts Centre in the Community Gallery. I’ve been colouring and painting the 30 houses that I drew around Whitehorse last June and they will be ready to hang on Monday, October 1. My show will be up for a month and the opening is on Thursday, October 25th from 5:30 to 7:30.

The idea for this show came from my impulse to draw all these houses in the first place. I wanted to capture a moment in time in my hometown, and draw some of the unique and eclectic houses that I’ve grown up with. I wanted to try to save a little history too. Whitehorse has been changing the last few years and with many new people moving here, our town has undergone a lot of new construction. Along with that comes the deconstruction, I suppose. The loss of some of the cool old places to make new for newer and more modern buildings. I hate change, so I guess drawing some of these houses was a way for me to save a few. Not all of the house I drew were really old or slated for demolition. Some of them I just wanted to draw for their architecture or the feeling I got from looking at them. Some of them just felt like home to me, like my own house for instance.

The idea of home for a lot of us is not a simple thing anymore. The question of “Where do you live?” can include anything from a tiny portable house, to an apartment, condo or even a boat in some places. I think the current times have changed our ideas of what constitutes a home, especially considering it’s getting harder and harder to buy a house, if that’s even what you want. Some people are giving up the idea of static roots for the life of a wanderer. But I think the old saying will always apply, no matter where you live. Home is where the heart is.

See you at the opening!