Krystle Silverfox moved from B.C. to the Yukon — to a town so small it doesn't have an art supply store

Picture this: you've just landed an exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada. It's the kind of news you've waited your whole career to get, and you can't wait to get started. There's just one thing holding you up: art supplies! There's not a single place in town where you can buy them.

Back when she was living in the Vancouver area, Krystle Silverfox probably couldn't have imagined herself stuck in that particular situation. She grew up in B.C. and studied there, most recently finishing an MFA at Simon Fraser University. But family ties to Selkirk First Nation (plus a job offer at the Yukon School of Visual Arts) recently brought the artist to the territory — which is where she was when the Sobey Art Award people reached out with some life-changing news: Silverfox had made the 2022 shortlist. 

The honour comes with a $25,000 cheque, plus a spot in that aforementioned show in Ottawa. This fall, the grand prize winner of $100,000 will be revealed in a gala ceremony. But until then, Silverfox has got plenty to deal with here in the present. There's the matter of making new artwork, for one — plus the Arctic Arts Summit, an event she'll be taking part in between June 27-29. We caught up with her by phone late last week.

CBC Arts: Hello! Are you in Whitehorse right now? I saw something on your Instagram about an artist residency there …

Krystle Silverfox: Yeah, I'm doing it till the end of the month at the Jenni House. I'm also doing another artist residency later in the summer, so I'm just going to spend the whole summer here.  

What's it like there?

KS: I'm in a 100-year-old cabin that has been restored. I'd say it's almost like a bachelor suite. And I've been painting in there, thinking about what I'm going to be doing with the Sobey prize exhibition.

Were you there, at Jenni House, when you got the news about the Sobey shortlist? 

KS: I don't remember, to be honest. Everything happened so fast, and I really never let it sink in until they did the announcement.  

The National Gallery emailed me and said, "Congratulations, you made the shortlist. We need you to keep this under wraps until we announce it publicly." I think that was a week before the actual announcement. 

Was that hard, having to keep the news a secret? 

KS: Um, well, I didn't really believe it, so it wasn't so hard for me. (laughs)

Well, congratulations! It's wonderful news. The prize gets described as one of the most prestigious art awards in Canada, but for you — personally, professionally — what does that actually mean? What doors do you hope it opens?  

KS: When I went to art school, all the people I looked up to — all the artists and teachers and mentors — everybody seemed to be affiliated with this prize. And so I always kind of considered that if I were ever nominated, that'd be amazing — because that means a gallery or curator believes in your work and wants to support you. 

The money is great, but the prize itself is so well-regarded.

About that prize money — what's your plan for it?

KS: For the $25,000? Ooh. I'm just going to make sure I have my rent and my bills paid. As an artist, you don't have a monthly income, really. For me, I'm kind of like a gig-worker artist: doing artist residencies, working on art shows. It would be nice to have that money help support my living.

The teachers and mentors you mentioned a moment ago, the artists you looked up to who are affiliated with the prize: who are they?

KS: Dan Starling would be at the top of my list. He teaches at UBC and he was my photography teacher when I went there. He was longlisted for the Sobey prize back when I first met him, and I've always just admired his work and his practice because he's very experimental.  

Recently I got to reconnect with him through the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture in Dawson, and I was just talking to him about some ideas for the National Gallery show in November. He came by my studio at the Jenni House. 

He's great to talk to because I'm so new to all this. He understands the kind of pressure that is on you, if that makes sense. It's more fast-paced than I anticipated, for sure.  

What's fast-paced? The timeline you've been given to produce work for the National Gallery?

KS: Oh yeah. That's one thing. I really have to step on the gas pedal for this project. 

But also, there's just so much attention on my art and my practice. A lot of people are wanting interviews or they want to see my artwork or they want to work with me in some sort of capacity. I'm a quiet, keep-to-myself artist, so it's very new to me.  

The National Gallery show: what can you tell me about what you're putting together?  

KS: I am thinking about how I can speak to the concept of land and embodiment of the land.

I'm thinking about using cement — maybe found cement. Or actually, I'm really hoping I can make a concrete mix out of the local clay in Whitehorse. That would be really cool, but at the same time, the deadline is looming in a couple of weeks. I have to have a tangible plan for the gallery. I believe I have until August to actually make things.

I like to make art thinking about the land and consumption — our connection to the land and different materials. For the Yukon Prize, I did a piece called All That Glitters Is Not Gold. It's a Hudson's Bay blanket cut in half with the thread going down to the ground and piled up with copper pennies. 

Everything in the piece is made of copper: so, copper nails, copper wire, copper pennies. A lot of my work reflects the land through, I guess, conceptual material objects. I like to think of them as "belongings" — belonging like "you belong." You belong somewhere. You have a story. It has a cultural significance rather than just being an object.  

What was the cultural significance of the copper in that piece?  

KS: So my First Nation, one material that we would trade with was copper. We traded with the Tlingit people forever before settlers came. Copper is a significant material for all Yukon First Nations — and also, now we have multiple copper mines. It is a source of income for the First Nation.  

In the last year, you made a permanent move to the Yukon, right? Vancouver to Dawson City? 

KS: Yeah!

How has it been living there? Has it changed the way you work in any way? 

KS: Well, Dawson has been quite challenging because of its location. There are no art stores there, so you have to pretty much scavenge or build anything that you want to use, and that has pushed my practice to really think about found objects. I think that's why I'm kind of drawn to concrete as my material for this next piece. I'm thinking about what found objects can say about our lives.

But yeah, that's been a challenge. Like, if you want to paint on a giant canvas, you have to either make it yourself or pay a lot of money to get it shipped. It's different. I'm so used to Vancouver. 

Actually, for this project that I'm doing for the National Gallery, I have to go back to Vancouver to get materials because I'm doing another Hudson's Bay blanket. It's going to be going with the concrete. There's no Hudson's Bay up here, so I have to fly back. It's a lot of legwork, but I'm sure it's going to turn out amazing.  

I understand you're going to be part of the Arctic Arts Summit this week. What can you tell me about what you have planned? How are you taking part in the events? 

KS: It's awesome because it seems like artists from all over the North are coming to Whitehorse!

I'm currently in two different art shows as part of the summit. (There's a whole bunch of art shows happening and pop-up shows and whatnot.) I'm doing an open studio art talk with Stormy Bradley. She's a beader; she's amazing. Together we're going to have a very casual drop-in where you can talk to the artists, and maybe we'll have the fire pit going and do s'mores. (laughs)

I'm excited about meeting new artists, making new connections. The North is so vast, but it's full of small artistic communities all over. So it's going to be great to connect with people. I'm hopeful that this is going to become a more common thing.  

This conversation has been edited and condensed.

The work of the five artists shortlisted for this year's Sobey Art Award will be on view in a special 2022 Sobey Art Exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada starting October 28, 2022 and running until March 2023.