Steinbär Crafts
intuitive, painter + fine toy maker
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ
Yukon UFOs and Encounters
Type: Collaboration with Nicole Bauberger
Genre: Oil and acrylic paintings + workshop + exhibition
Location: Yukon Transportaion Museum, Whitehorse, YT
Year: 2020
The Yukon borders were closed on April 17, 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone from elsewhere was suddenly considered an alien, a potential threat. Eyes narrowed and tempers flared when Albertan… BC… American license plates were spotted in local parking lots. Yukon communities withdrew into themselves and became wary of other Yukoners. In 2020 we all became aliens to somebody.
In 1920 the Black Wolf Squadron appeared over the Yukon horizon, the first aircraft to enter Yukon airspace. How can we conceivably imagine what it was like to encounter those first aircraft, appearing so suddenly, a century ago?
In the infinite monkey cage of our universe, it is inconceivable like and civilizations do not exist out there amongst the stars. The universe contains two trillion galaxies. Our galaxy contains 300 billion stars. We have already found hundreds of potentially inhabitable planets within our galaxy. But being separated by light years make conversations difficult and our Milky Way galaxy is very big anyway (about 170,000 light-years in diameter).
It took us four billion years to evolve from the origin of life to the civilization we know today. Another planet may begin embarking on the same process tomorrow or they may have inadvertently destroyed their environment and themselves yesterday. Statisticians continue to calculate the likelihood of ever getting to meet other aliens. Yukoners talk of them visiting us all the time.
Join Nicole Bauberger and Heather Von Steinhagen as they explore alien within the Yukon landscape.
Plein Air Collaborative Paintings
In June 2020, Nicole Bauberger and I painted a collaborative series of plein air paintings by trading canvases and inserting extraterrestrial happenings in each other's landscapes.
From the tailgates of our trucks, we painted from different stops in and around Whitehorse, Yukon:
- Carcross Desert
- Emerald Lake
- Yukon Transportation Museum
- Grey Mountain
- Tankini River Bridge - Historic Mile 946
These oil paintings were exhibited at the Yukon Transportation Museum from July 2020 until 2021, in celebration of the 100 years of aviation in Yukon.
Thank You
Nicole Bauberger for being so generous with your time
Yukon Arts Centre Emerging Artist Program for supporting the plein air painting in oil mentorship with Nicole.
Yukon Transportation Museum for space and dedication to let Nicole and I run our imaginations wild.
Workshop, August 2020
This year marks 100 Years of Yukon Aviation.
How can we conceivably imagine what it was like to encounter those first aircraft appearing over the horizon a century ago?
We invite you to explore the wonder of flight and the myriad strangeness of the 2020 Covid-19 situation through a solitary sculpture creation workshop. This workshop has been devised by the Yukon Transportation Museum, Nicole Bauberger, and Heather Von Steinhagen to be delivered to you without face to face interaction, without Zoom!, and in a geographically interesting area.
You will leave from the starting point without knowledge of what to expect, other than knowing you are expected to complete a sculpture with provided and found items over the next several hours. Early in your hike you will receive direction from a surprising encounter from the sky.
How can we conceivably imagine what it was like to encounter those first aircraft appearing over the horizon a century ago?
We invite you to explore the wonder of flight and the myriad strangeness of the 2020 Covid-19 situation through a solitary sculpture creation workshop. This workshop has been devised by the Yukon Transportation Museum, Nicole Bauberger, and Heather Von Steinhagen to be delivered to you without face to face interaction, without Zoom!, and in a geographically interesting area.
You will leave from the starting point without knowledge of what to expect, other than knowing you are expected to complete a sculpture with provided and found items over the next several hours. Early in your hike you will receive direction from a surprising encounter from the sky.