A
century after Roald Amundsen became the first to navigate
the Northwest Passage, a group of artists have retraced
the Norwegian explorer's steps to capture and celebrate
Canada's North.
Arctic Quest - the group of 25 professional artists
who went on the journey - returned Aug. 4 from a 12-day
adventure in Canada's High Arctic. Their first in
a series of exhibitions showing what they've captured
opens tomorrow at Oakville's Win Henstock Gallery.
"It was just incredible to go and experience
history and feel what the early explorers felt more
than 150 years ago," said Linda Mackey, who,
with Kathy Haycock, conceived the idea for Arctic
Quest. "The trip was absolutely amazing."
The group, comprised mainly of artists from the Greater
Toronto Area, captured the scenery aboard the cruise
ship Akademik Ioffe, which took off from Iqualuit,
the capital of Nunavut. They traveled up the east
coast of Baffin Island towards Greenland, where they
made three stops, then headed back to Canada, cruising
through the Northwest Passage and making stops at
historical sites like Beechy Island along the way.
"Every morning it was amazing, you didn't think
it could get any better than yesterday," said
contributing artist and exhibition coordinator, Lynn
Soehner. "Then you looked out and it was, 'Oh
my God,' icebergs as big as football fields, seals,
walrus, orca whales, polar bears."
Artists either took pictures to work from later on,
or painted on location on the boat. The 24-hour-a-day
sunlight, wildlife and natural scenery is represented
in many of the works now hanging at Win Henstock.
"The show is really about our experience,"
said Soehner. "We were all on the same boat,
but it really is a varied experience with a lot of
different interpretations."
For some, like Mackey, the history and the chance
to see parts of the country most Canadians aren't
aware of was the most important part of the trip.
"It's like you're walking through a live museum
there - everything is pretty well untouched,"
she said, adding you'll still find remnants from the
mid 1800s in the High Arctic.
Artists on the Arctic Quest trip, she added, were
selected not only for their artistic talent, but also
for their appreciation of the Arctic and its history.
In 1906, after a few failed expeditions by several
groups to open Canada's Northwest Passage to allow
for trade, Amundsen - after years of studying and
living in an Inuit community to learn how to survive
the conditions - eventually found his way and opened
it up.
"It was because of the Canadian Inuit that he
was able to succeed," said Mackey, who added
this part of Canadian history isn't as recognized
or celebrated as it should be.
"To go and experience some of Canadian history
firsthand was amazing. That's why I felt it was an
incredible secret to share with other artists."
Mackey met Haycock in 2002 on Baffin Island, and
the pair started brainstorming about Arctic Quest.
Painting Canada's Arctic is in the Haycock genes,
as her late father, Maurice, traveled there many times
to paint its scenes along with A.Y. Jackson of the
famed Group of Seven.
While Arctic Quest's trip was inspired by the 100th
anniversary of the navigation of the Northwest passage,
it's also a celebration of those artists who captured
Canada's North in the early expeditions, including
Lawren Harris, Fred Varley and Jackson of the Group
of Seven, as well as more recent trips by Doris McCarthy
and Maurice Haycock.
Of that group of esteemed Arctic painters, Jackson
and McCarthy's works will be on display at Win Henstock,
and three of Haycock's paintings will be for sale.
The Arctic Quest Painting Exhibition opened Saturday,
Sept. 9 at 1 p.m. at Win Henstock Gallery, 334 Lakeshore
Rd. E., and ran until Sept. 22, 2006.
For more on Arctic Quest, visit www.nwp100.com
~ Courtesy of The Oakville Beaver
