With the help of a tennis ball, Yellowknife artists try to bounce back

Yellowknife’s art community isn’t letting a global pandemic get in the way of sharing and creating art. A virtual Iceolation Art Show is now planned.

Both the virtual show and a separate, community-generated video project are launching. Each is looking for submissions from residents of the city and the Northwest Territories.

After a five-year hiatus, Yellowknife’s Iceolation Art Show is coming back – this time in a new format and with a new meaning.

The show is being organized by Down to Earth Gallery owner Rosalind Mercredi with Yellowknife artists Alison McCreesh and Fran Hurcomb.

They want NWT residents to create one isolation-inspired piece of art then submit up to two photos of their work

Submissions are welcome at downtoearthgallerynwt@gmail.com until April 3. The exhibit will open online on April 6 – watch the Down to Earth Gallery Facebook page for details.

“We wanted to revitalize the name [Iceolation],” Mercredi told Cabin Radio. When show was held at the Snowcastle in the past, it featured ice-themed art.

“We are sure people are at home creating,” she said. She wants to see examples of photography, painting, quilts, sewing, carving, snow-carving, and more.

“It’s your imagination that sets the guidelines,” she said. Four submissions were received almost immediately on the day the event was announced.

One minute with a tennis ball

Elsewhere, Yellowknife’s Artless Collective production house is calling on filmmakers and video artists to participate in a project entitled Co-video Quest.

A post online by Artless Collective calls the project “a community-based, participatory cinema initiative, co-produced by a diverse collective of video artists and filmmakers, in response to the isolation challenges we are all experiencing right now due to Covid-19.”

Here’s what they’re looking for: first, grab a standard tennis ball (this is important for continuity and “other technical reasons,” they say). The ball is representative of a “globe of hope.”

Now take a video in which the ball enters from one side of the screen and exits on the other.

Artless Collective will stitch together the video clips it receives, culminating in a surprise finale to be filmed at the Snowcastle – which currently sits abandoned amid the pandemic.

“Your job is to create a one-minute video, or less, that revolves around the journey of this tennis ball,” said Artless Collective’s Pablo Saravanja.

“We want you to tell a story that’s funny, charming, wild, crazy, serious, or heartfelt, any creative way you want.”

Videos must respect health and safety regulations wherever the filmmaker lives. The project team hopes to get entries from across the world.

“We’ve got an army of filmmakers out there and what the world needs right now is some entertainment,” said Saravanja’s business partner, Jay Bulckaert.

“That’s what you guys do. That’s what we do. So let’s help people, let’s give people some entertainment, because that matters right now.”

Videos can be uploaded to social media, tagged with #covideoquest, and emailed to info@artlesscollective.com.