Artist Info / Yukon art gallery

Yukon artist Halin de Repentigny was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1959. As a boy he demonstrated an interest and natural ability as an artist. He started painting with watercolours when he was six and began using oils by the age of 10. Exposure to the styles and techniques of French-Canadian Impressionists Maurice Lebon and Marcel Farreau made a significant impact on Halin. He abandoned a conventional education, and without any formal art training, merged his extraordinary skills of observation with canvas and oils, and began to record the world around him.

Halin’s arrival in the Yukon meant a new start - especially in his artistic career. Having already gained notoriety in Quebec, he was unknown in the Yukon. Closely following his arrival to Dawson City, he took up position on the corner of 2nd Ave and King St where he whipped off unerring caricatures for pocket money. By the next summer his murals were showing up to grace the sides of the false-fronted buildings. Scenes of historic Dawson City promptly became the subject of the many paintings created at remarkable speed by de Repentigny, as well as the colourful residents of Halin’s new home. There are many private collections of his work amassed particularly during this time. Soon he began to explore life outside of civilization, the Yukon vast wilderness, and brilliant landscape emerged.

Halin has spent most of his time in the bush, where he inhabits cabins of his own construction, runs sled dogs, traps and paints. He sometimes calls the lifestyle “pressurized living”, referring to the demands of day-to-day existence. This immersion is captured in many of Halin’s paintings, which are testimony to his unique lifestyle, as well as vision. In the last few years, de Repentigny has answered to a different “call of the wild” in Patagonia, Argentina where he lives part time with his new wife. His paintings are now finding new colours, and content as he travels and documents South America. As he gets older, he also finds his work becoming more adventurous as he feels the freedom to express himself in different styles.

Shop Halin de Repentigny's Artwork Here

Richard Shorty was born in 1959 into the Northern Tutchone First Nation. Richard is a self-taught First Nations artist. He originally started painting wildlife at an early age, along with painting his favorite rock star and sports idols in the early 1970’s. He was raised in Whitehorse, Yukon and moved to Vancouver in 1978 where he began his career as a graphic artist.

In 1980, with his artistic abilities maturing, he began working with Woodland Creations. His work with Woodland Creations focused primarily on painting wildlife and scenery. During this time, Richard began to develop his own designs by learning through books such as “Looking at Northwest Coast Art” and others. 

In the early 80’s Richard began working on indigenous designs. Many of Richard’s prints are traditional silkscreens rather than digital reproductions. The process involves adding colours one at a time on large printing tables. 

Richard’s unique style combines elements of traditional and contemporary design. He is an extremely versatile artist, having worked on drums, paddles, masks, boxes and rattles as well as his paintings. His pieces are collected nationwide.

In the summers Richard can often be found back in the Yukon. Often he becomes our temporary artist in residence at North End Gallery, where patrons are eager to speak to him about his creative process and whatever current work he is painting.

Richard lives his life for his family, his art and his strong spiritual belief.

Shop Richard Shorty's Art Here

Emma Barr is a Canadian artist living in Whitehorse, Yukon. She comes from a long lineage of artists and crafts people. The main theme to all of her work is colour. All facets of the colour world are explored. Recent works include illumination with light. Trained as a mixed media major, Emma works with two and three-dimensional works of art in many mediums including canvas, paint, paper, wood and now electronics.

Emma is a visionary when it comes to the commerce and commercialization of the arts world, in her mind there is no such thing as a starving artist-just a poor stigma that needs to be banished. Her works are archival quality and are intended to increase in value each year, lasting many lifetimes. Her original paintings are selling all over the world and sell out soon after completion. Emma spends much of her time painting commissions, teaching young art prodigies, travelling, and being the mother of Aidan and Daniela.

As a Yukon artist, Emma has had opportunities to be in residence at the Ted Harrison Artist Retreat, as well as be a participant in the Chilkoot Trail Artist Residency Program, experiences which have been inspirational to her artistic development.

In addition to her art career, Emma has written articles for What's Up Yukon, a local arts & entertainment magazine. She is an active art teacher in Whitehorse, doing group and private lessons.

Emma is passionately living her dream and giving as much or even more than she receives with the power to evoke strong emotion and even healing energies that are imbedded through the creation of her work.

Shop Emma Barr's Artwork Here

When asked how her images take form, Yukon artist Nathalie Parenteau promptly replies: "They take shape on their own. I just scratch the canvas with the paint brush and there they are."

Born in Montréal, Québec, Nathalie has retained the dramatic artistic tradition of the French Canadian culture. Emerging from a family background which cherished the arts, she found her artistic path at an early age. A love of nature and solitude also provided the fertile breeding ground for a rich and varied painting career. She arrived to this station after several detours which include volunteering with a youth group for a year after high school; living in the Yukon wilderness in tepees, wall tents, cabins and drafty trailers; earning a bachelor of sciences in biology at the University of Western Ontario; and traveling the globe. She now lives in Whitehorse, Yukon, where she works as a professional artist and shares her life with partner Peter and Haida Gwaii, her personal canine confidante.

Although her painting subjects seem to have the eerie property of having their own will, Nathalie admits to spending significant amounts of time with each painting to reach a subtle balance in both composition and tones. Her keen sense for melodrama has found the perfect outlet in this work. After viewing a painting, people often remark to feeling destabilized, of being pulled out of the known world and being put face to face with a new reality. Her work reach both genders at a deep and unconscious level and can be best describe as universal in its appeal.

Nathalie's style is easily recognizable and is collected by people from all over the world. She works both in acrylics and oils and is known for her sensitive representation of the subject in its environment. Her work is sold extensively across Canada and the United States.

Shop Nathalie Parenteau's Artwork Here