Art installation offers mammoth welcome into Dawson City
5-tonne installation of ice age mammal is latest work from artist Halin de Repentigny
If you've noticed a giant mammal perched on the grass across from the Commissioner's Residence in Dawson City, Yukon, lately, don't be alarmed.
The five-tonne, three-metre-tall ice age creature may be true to size, but it comes in peace. It's a new art installation meant to greet visitors with a mammoth welcome to Dawson City.
It's the creation of local artist Halin de Repentigny, who says he wanted to draw attention to the paleontological history of the area. Gold miners have been discovering massive tusks, bones and other fossils since the beginning of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898.
The artist says he first became interested in the ice age mammals after a mammoth convention was held in Dawson City in 2003. He built several models of the mammoth in recent months, before starting on the final project, made of rebar, chicken wire, and cement.
"I bent 1,500 feet of rebar in it to give it the shape," said de Repentigny.
He said he worked with a mammoth expert in Austria to get the dimensions exactly right.
"The thing is scientifically correct," said de Repentigny.
He's hopeful the mammoth will draw more people to the park where it's located, and even become a landmark for tourists to visit and photograph.