The Yukon School of Visual Arts (SOVA) is Canada's most northerly post-secondary fine arts school, and it receives its accreditation through the Applied Arts Division of Yukon College. SOVA is located within the traditional territory of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation in
Dawson City,
Yukon Territory
Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
, Canada. SOVA offers a Foundation Year Program, which is the equivalent of the first year of a
Bachelor of Fine Arts
A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases.
Background
The Bachelor ...
(BFA) degree. The school offers an experimental, integrated curriculum that is studio-based with liberal arts courses. Successful students continue their degrees at their choice of five partnering art schools across Canada, including the
Ontario College of Art and Design in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, the
Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, the
Alberta College of Art and Design in
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
,
Mount Allison University
Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839.
Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not parti ...
in
Sackville, NB and the
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University
NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design or NSCAD, is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The uni ...
in
Halifax.
YSOVA is a partnership between the Dawson City Arts Society,
Yukon University
Yukon University (formerly Yukon College) is a public university in the Canadian territory of Yukon. The university main campus is based in Whitehorse, although the institution also operates 12 campuses throughout the territory. The university c ...
and Tr'ondek Hwech'in. Each founding organisation has equal representation on the governing council. Yukon School of Visual Arts changed its name from KIAC School of Visual Arts in the Fall of 2010 to avoid confusion between the school and the community arts organisation KIAC.
Location
YSOVA is located in Dawson City, an extremely remote location with a rich history. Home to the Han people for millennia, at the turn of the 20th Century Dawson City became the centre of the Klondike Goldrush and was suddenly the largest city north of San Francisco and west of Winnipeg at the time. Today, the town is home to many national historic sites, a self-governing First Nation, an active mining industry, and a diverse international community. During the summer months, tourism reaches a peak of 60,000 annual visitors, providing a major source of revenue for the town. The border of
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
is only a few kilometres away to the west, and the Tombstone Mountains are only 45 minutes north along the
Dempster Highway en route to the Beaufort Sea.
Curriculum
The curriculum includes studio classes in 2D, 3D, and 4D (new media), as well as liberal arts classes in English and Visual Culture Studies. The design of the curriculum and the intimacy of the school creates an integrated curriculum with themes and issues crossing over from course to course.
Facilities
The school is located in a historic building in downtown Dawson City. This two-story structure was custom designed specifically for the needs of the foundation year program with studio facilities, a lecture room, a media lab, indoor/outdoor common areas, woodshop, a library and digital resource centre, a student gallery and an art supplies store. Laptop computers and a digital still camera are assigned to each student for use in both their academic and studio coursework, and wireless internet is available throughout the facility.
KIAC & YSOVA
The Klondike Institute for Arts and Culture (KIAC) is a community-based arts centre offering a rotating schedule of workshops, screenings, festivals, exhibitions, and non-accredited courses. YSOVA is a post-secondary institution offering accredited courses and articulation agreements with colleges and universities across Canada.
Closely associated, but different organisations, YSOVA and KIAC mutually support resident artists, special events, and facilities.
KIAC is located on 2nd and Princess in the ODD Fellows Hall. YSOVA is located on 3rd and Queen.
Over The Wire
''Over the Wire'' is a project series that creates an exchange between an established artist and the Yukon School of Visual Arts. Celebrating the extreme remoteness of the school, the project mediates the geographical distance by fostering a correspondence—both literally and aesthetically—between the artist and the students. Each semester, a set of instructions created by a distant Artist is delivered to the students in order to produce a new work. The students in turn interpret the instructions and create the work locally for exhibition. In addition to the exhibition of the work, each project is archived by a publication or multiple that is distributed in return across the country.
''Over the Wire'' artists:
*
Tim Hecker
Tim Hecker is a Canadian electronic musician, producer, composer, and sound artist. His work, spanning atmospheric ambient albums such as ''Harmony in Ultraviolet'' (2006), ''Ravedeath, 1972'' (2011) and ''Virgins'' (2013), has been widely cr ...
: ''Sonic Palimpsests''. (multiple: Audio CD).
*
Shary Boyle: ''Anthropomorphic Mother''. (multiple: Book).
*
Gary Hill: ''The Highcoo of Synaesthesia''. (multiple: DVD).
*
Iain Baxter&
Iain Baxter& (born Iain Baxter on November 16, 1936) is a Canadian conceptual artist.
Baxter& is recognized internationally as an early practitioner of conceptual art; the Canada Council Molson Prize committee stated in 2005 that his "highly rega ...
: ''Sense of Place Guide''.
*
Lawrence Weiner: ''A Translation from One Language to Another''.
*
Simparch Simparch is an American artist collective that was founded in Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1996. Presently this group is organized and maintained by founding members Matthew Lynch and Steve Badgett. Former members were Pat Finlay and Robert Hollinger. ...
+ Deborah Stratman: ''Habitual Suspects.''
*
The Center for Land Use Interpretation
The Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) is a non-profit research and education organization involved in exploring, examining, and understanding contemporary landscape issues in the United States. Founded in 1994, the CLUI organizes exhibi ...
: ''Dawson City: Mining the Interpretive Realm of the Klondike.''
''Over the Wire'' is a pedagogical art project created by SOVA faculty member
Charles Stankievech
Charles Stankievech (born 1978) is a Canadian artist, writer, publisher and curator.
Biography
As a result of the wide spectrum of strategies and the conceptual drive behind the production, his work has been located in the Conceptual Art
Co ...
.
Art in Dawson City
Dawson City—for its extreme geographical location—has a vibrant and international art scene.
Art and artists
The German artist
Martin Kippenberger
Martin Kippenberger (25 February 1953 – 7 March 1997) was a German artist known for his extremely prolific output in a wide range of styles and media, superfiction as well as his provocative, jocular and hard-drinking public persona.
Kippenbe ...
constructed the second METRO-Net subway entrance in Dawson City in 1995, connecting an island in Greece, ''Documenta'' in Kassel, Germany, and the German Pavilon in Venice, Italy. The Dawson station was dismantled and sold to an American institution in the fall of 2008. A Wake for the death of the artwork which included the Mayor "beatifying" Martin Kippenberger as the Patron Saint of the Arts for Dawson City was held in January 2009
A Wake for St. Kippenberger's Metro-Net
/ref>
The KIAC Artist in Residence program hosts two artists in the historic Macaulay house year-round with a constantly changing roster from around the world.
The ODD Gallery is a not-for-profit gallery exhibiting Canadian and international artists, including the long-running series ''The Natural and the Manufactured''.
See also
*Higher education in Yukon
Higher education in Yukon is shaped by the territory's small population (40,717 people as of Dec. 2018) in a relatively large geographic area. The history of higher education went hand in hand with the establishment of a representative territoria ...
Notes
External links
*
Festivals
Dawson City Riverside Arts Festival
Dawson City International Short Film Festival
Dawson City Music Festival
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiac School Of Visual Arts
Art schools in Canada
Universities and colleges in the territories of Canada
Education in Yukon