Ravens Hill Studio
Arctic Reflections
Arctic Reflections
One of my biggest projects was a show of fourteen paintings titled "Arctic Reflections" and I am at present trying to find a home for all of these paintings and they need to stay as one unit.
They tell the story of four months of a journey I made with my husband, who as a Dentist had worked out of Inuvik General Hospital and had flown to the outlying settlements. On several occasions I was fortunate to join him as his assistant. We travelled the Mackenzie in our little 16ft boat, joined our Inuit friends at Whale Camp on Shingle Point and Gary Island.
The exhibition starts with snow in May and ends as we leave in August with snow again. The exhibition is of a "white woman's" impression of life at Rat Camp in the Spring and going to Whale Camp in July. These paintings are large, bold and express my delight in a sculptured and
patterned landscape.
Tour The Arctic Reflections Collection
View Pam's paintings below; audio is provided if you'd like to hear Pam describe her pieces.
Pam's Introduction
Back From The Picnic
The Ice Road
Rat Camp
Back From The Picnic
Oil On Canvas, 36" x 48"
I want you to imagine you are in the bubble of a helicopter. We are coming back from a spring picnic in the Richardson mountains -- ahead is the Mackenzie Delta, the ice and snow are starting to melt. It's May.
The Ice Road
Oil on Canvas, 36" x 48"
As we pass out of the cut, we fly over the rotting ice of the Mackenzie River ice road. It still shows all the patterning of the traffic, large trucks, pickups and snow machines that have used this "highway" during the long dark winter months.
Rat Camp
Oil on Canvas, 36" x 48"
June brings the native inhabitants of the delta, the joy of getting out on the land. It's time to get back in a tent to enjoy hunting muskrat and to start fishing.
Whale Camp At Last
The Shingle Beach
The Whale Camp
The Whale Spotter
Whale Camp At Last
Oil on Canvas, 25.5" x 68"
July - and off to whale camp. We will go down the great Mackenzie River and it will take us the best part of the day by boat to get from Inuvik to our destination, a shingle beach, a peninsula that juts into the Beaufort Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean from Gary Island. Out of the shelter of the river, a storm approaches and the waves become wild, quite a ride in an 18 foot open boat. Whale camp looks small and lonely, yet a haven from this storm.
The Shingle Beach
Oil on Canvas, 36" x 48"
Imagine we have landed at the end of the 1/4 mile long spit jutting out into the ocean. The patterning and design of the land shows the sculpting effects of the ocean and the ebb and flow of the tides. Now come down the beach to camp.
The Whale Camp
Oil on Canvas, 60" x 78"
I want you to feel as if you can step over the green tarpaulin. There's Buck on the lookout for a pod of white Beluga whales, while on the tent frame some Coney fish will soon be ready for the pot. The square building on the right is the main cooking area and our friend Emma sleeps here - us too, on the floor, sleeping on a musk ox skin. The little house on the left is for Emma's son Buck and his family. You'll notice all those gas cans - you have to be prepared - no garages or places to get supplies around here! The wind blows constantly up on the beaches, coming from maybe Alaska, Russia or down the Mackenzie River from the interior. Beyond the windbreak is the tent used by Emma's daughter Lois and her family and here too is a small shelter similar to the ones used by the Inuit during their summer camps long ago. And there go Emma and Lois, heading down the beach toward the main part of Gary Island.
The Whale Spotter
Oil on Canvas, 20" x 20"
The whale spotter - a man with wonderful eyesight and the ability to see whales just under the surface, when others would just think they were seeing small "white caps" out on the ocean.
Pod of White Belugas
Winter's Food
Cutting Muktuk
Tidal Mudflats
Pod of White Belugas
Oil on Canvas, 32" x 45"
A pod of white whales, beautiful, graceful, and very vocal. I imagined and painted the sound waves around them as these are the most vocal of all the whales.
Winter's Food
Oil on Canvas, 12" x 15"
The Inuit use most of the whale for food - Muktuk, the outer layer of fat and skin is very important to their living and way of life and the meat, which is very dark, is dried to be used for food later.
Cutting Muktuk
Oil on Canvas, 48" x 60"
Well we've caught up with Lois and Emma, who are cutting up the whale and hanging up the muktuk on a rack before cooking and Alyssa, Emma's granddaughter has brought them tea. Everyone has a fierce joy in being out on the land and especially like going to the ocean for whaling and life at whale camp.
Tidal Mudflats
Oil on Canvas, 36" x 48"
Walk on past the women toward the main part of Gary Island and we come to the tidal mudflats - when the tide is out we can walk out over the mud, but be prepared to lose your rubber boots - the mud is tenacious!
MacKenzie Delta From The Air
Bearberry Season
Here Comes The Snow
MacKenzie Delta From The Air
Oil on Canvas, 60" x 48"
We leave whale camp by helicopter, the Mackenzie Delta with all its ponds, lakes and rivers lies before us. The delta itself I've painted, so you can see the mud flats formed by all that silt brought down by the river - mud flats we know too well since we've been stuck on them and had to get out of our boat and lift and push it until we reached deeper water.
Bearberry Season
Oil on Canvas, 32" x 48"
We leave Inuvik. It is August and in the lower lands on either side of the Dempster highway that runs from Inuvik, NWT to Whitehorse in the Yukon, the countryside is brilliant with the crimson and gold of the bearberries, a form of low bush cranberry.
Here Comes The Snow
Oil on Canvas, 36" x 48"
Driving the Dempster highway up into the mountains, it becomes colder and mist and snow drift between the black spruce - the mountains become black and ominous with the approaching storm. It's August 16th!
Conclusion
Wall Hangings
The Wall Hangings
There are also in this display wall hangings: four long wall hangings painted on material with figures of drum dancers, hunters, white whales, and inukshuks. Each one is 22" wide by 122" tall.
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Drum Dancers
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Hunters
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White Whales
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Inukshuks
