Caldera

Caldera: Blue Lake with Mt. Washington in the distance and the view from my studio of Link Creek.

I am in the woods, spending a month working on a new animated film at Caldera, near Sisters, Oregon. Caldera was created in 1996 by Dan Weiden of the Weiden+Kennedy Advertising Agency, as a “catalyst for the transformation of underserved youth through innovative year-round art and environmental programs.” In winter, Caldera runs an Artists in Residence Program, with five or six artists, musicians and writers here each month. They are given a cabin, studios (for two residents) and “the time and space to create”. You should apply!

Clockwise from top left: Caldera A-frame cabins (mine is on the right), chain saw bear and decorated cow in the Hearth Building, monumental fireplace and black cat (also chainsaw art) on the Hearth Building fireplace and the water wheel on Link Creek.

February has been surprisingly warm here, with highs up to 54 degrees. I brought a down parka but wore it only at the Hoodoo Winter Carnival. Every day has been bright and sunny with only one snowstorm so far.

Caldera: The Hearth Building in February. This is the largest building, with a huge kitchen and a great hall where we can look at films.

It is a marvelous gift to be able to spend a month in this deeply inspiring environment with complete solitude, profound quiet and a sweet, little cabin to work in. Yesterday, while sitting at my table struggling with After Effects, I saw two sleek, black-brown otters gallop along the snow drifts and tumble in and out of Link Creek. Major treat!

The torch procession (using highway flares) and the huge fire pit at the Hoodoo Winter Carnival.

Last weekend, all of the artists-in-residence piled into Van-na White and drove to Hoodoo Winter Carnival, at a small ski resort ten miles from here. They had snow sculptures (the kids loved climbing into the toothy shark tunnel), live country music and a huge fire pit (left).

The grand finale was a dramatic torch light procession down the mountain (left), with skiers waving highway flares on long poles and a terrific fireworks display.

Fellow Caldera Colonists, February 2013: Helen Hunt, Roger Peet, Jason Baker, Elsbeth Pancrazi and Laura Gibson.

What to Pack for a Trip to the Yukon – in Winter!

Alpenglow on the Dempster Highway. Photo by Dan Sokolowski, super talented filmmaker and Director of the Dawson City International Short Film Festival.

Still under the magical spell of the Yukon and planning a return trip in late winter or early spring!  I never would have imagined that I would take a vacation to the far north in winter. This is what I plan to pack:

• Passport – Cash – Credit Card(s) – Driver’s License – Airline Tickets
• Lodging and rental car reservation info – Maps – Guidebook
• Camera, case, extra memory cards, extra battery, charger cable
• Phone, charger cable, clgarette lighter charger (if driving a car)
• Sunglasses (it’s sunny!) – spare eyeglasses if needed
• Ladies: Very small purse (unless you want to carry the camera inside- also depends on the size of your parka pockets)
• Very warm parka with hood and fur trim (trim keeps the wind off your face)
• Warm hat with brim (it’s sunny!) that covers your ears and a spare hat (my faux fur hat that attached with a strap under the chin worked great)
• Very warm gloves or mittens (down is good, mittens are warmer but also clumsy)
• Warm, thin liners for gloves/mittens plus a spare pare of gloves
• Warm, thin neck scarf
• Very warm fleece jacket that can be worn alone or under the parka
• 2 fleece pants
• 3 long sleeve tops (I like thin, soft fleece or thick cotton)
• 2 long wool knee socks (leg warmth) and 3 wool socks
• Long underwear (I like silk) - Underwear
• Sleepwear and travel slippers (great to have after taking off boots)
• Sorel boots (very warm and good for walking)
• Lighter weight boots: warm, comfy and good in snow/ice
• Cosmetic kit – moisture cream – 2 chapsticks
• Herbal tinctures – prescription drugs – packet of handwarmers – hankerchief
• Reading book (or e reader) - sketchbook – 3 pens – business cards
• Small gifts to give away (Possibilities: note pads, postcards, small tubes of moisturizing cream, bandannas, crafty items, etc.)
• Snacks for the plane and emergencies (organic nuts, dried fruit, granola, sliced turkey, cheese and big crackers)

A team in Yukon Quest on the Yukon River.

Layering: It is very important to dress in layers so you can peel off clothing when you go into restaurants, bars, shops and homes. You will constantly be going from inside, where it can be very warm, to the extreme cold, wind and snow.

About the parka: A very warm, windproof, down-filled jacket is crucial. The parka that I brought on the last trip was totally inadequate. Fortunately my hosts lent me a very warm Canada Goose parka. I have no idea what I will bring this time, perhaps an old Eddie Bauer parka that I can wear with a short Patagonia down jacket (with hood) and/or a thick fleece jacket. This will give me options if I go up to Tuk and it is much colder.

About the boots: Extremely warm, waterproof, insulated boots with thick rubber soles (to insulate your feet) are called for. I was totally happy with my sturdy Sorel boots on the last trip. The only problem is that they are large, heavy and hard to pack. I wore them on the Air North flight to Dawson City so they did not add to the weight of my big bag, which turned out to be great because the cabin was cold.

About the moisture cream: You will need this. The weather can be sunny and very dry in the far north. I am packing Weleda Skin Food, a thick paste made with excellent ingredients in a tube that can be flattened as it is used. Dawson has an excellent drug store that is open in the winter, but it does not carry the health food store brands.

What you will not need: Dress up clothes, fancy shoes, lots of jewelery or dangling earrings. On the last trip, I immediately learned that long earrings get very, very cold. People look stylish in Dawson, but they do not dress up in the winter. At the Yukon Quest Awards Banquet, everyone was totally casual in fleece, flannel, boots and jeans.

About airline weight restrictions: Air North has two types of planes and both have weight restrictions. Click here for Air North info.

• Boeing 737: Total weight of 45 kg (100 lbs). First piece can exceed 32 kg (70 lbs).

• Hawker Siddeley 748: Total weight of 20 kg (44 lbs).

I had a big bag for my month long trip, so before weighing my luggage at the lovely Whitehorse Airport, I put on the Sorel boots and filled my parka pockets and purse with heavy items. I did not have to pay an extra fee even with the super large bag. The Air North flight attendant wears a warm jumpsuit!

Bon voyage! Hope you love it!

Still Under the Spell of the Yukon

Late afternoon view of the mountains from the Dempster Highway.

I have been back in Portland, Oregon for two weeks and I am constantly thinking about Dawson City.  I want to return….in winter.  (Below: Cabin on Front Street, downtown Dawson.)

Cabin on Front Street, Dawson City

My former housemate, documentary filmmaker Andreas Horvath, drove as far north as possible, to the edge of the Beaufort Sea, on the amazing Dempster Highway.  He went to Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk  (aka “Tuk”), Northwest Territories.  Inuvik is a ~14 hour drive from Dawson (people usually stop half way and spend the night at the Eagle Plains road house) and Tuk is another three or so hours on a frozen shelf of ice that melts in the spring.  He made a brief visit to the Tuktoyaktuk Beluga Jamboree, saw the snow mobile racing and “was appalled by it and left immediately.” He says lodging is around $220 a night and gas is about $10 per gallon.

A truck breaks through the road near Aklavik on April 18, 2012.

On the way back, Andreas had to shovel snow for half an hour to make a detour on the ice road, because it was completely underwater.  He said “It was literally the last minute to pass” and just after him, three fuel trucks broke through the ice and were partially submerged in the Arctic waters.  Scary but no fuel leaked and no one was hurt.   Officials with the Department of Transportation said that if trucks travel too fast on ice roads, a wave is created beneath the ice which weakens the the surface.  The ice road to Tuk is closed May 1.

Can’t wait to go back! To see some amazing photos of the far north (above by Justin Lewis) check out this blog about Greenland: 70 Degrees West. Scroll down half way.

Northern Lights!

Every night for a week I got up at 2 AM to search for the Northern Lights but never saw them.  People repeatedly told me that they’d seen them at 1:30 or 2:30 AM, when they were returning from the bars.  On the day I was to leave Dawson, Veronica Verkley (director of the cat sledding film) called me at 3 AM, to tell me that the Northern Lights were out!  I flew out of bed, pulled on my boots and parka, ran out the front door into a shimmering, dancing, green curtain of light, similar to the web photo above, running east-west right above the house!  It was absolutely astounding.  Before, I had been looking north, out my studio window. I did not imagine that they could be right above our house.

Layers of luminous, silver green veils, like seeing the beginning of a distant rainstorm, were dancing, changing and shifting ever so slowly and gracefully.  Sometimes two or three tall, vertical layers would come together like rippling shower curtains made of tiny glowing green beads. Then they would gradually pull apart and reform into a single graceful neon green spiral. It is hard to describe and impossible to capture in photos (need a tripod for minute long exposures).   Thank you Veronica!

Andreas and I took a long dive up Tanner Creek to King Solomon Dome and down along Quartz Creek.  We saw two cars on a five hour drive.  We were looking for a specific creek (Pup 19- all the small creeks are called Pup) and we backed up to check a sign, when Andreas heard beeping sounds.  We walked into a jumbled mining area to find a large bulldozer moving great wads of earth and, hidden off to the side in the ice, snow and rushing water, a hunched man, panning for gold in Quartz Creek.  Classic!

Andreas talked with him and got directions and at the end of the conversation the guy admitted this was where The Gold Rush, a television reality show, was being made.  He must have thought that we were rabid fans, creating an excuse to see the show in progress (apparently it is very popular), but neither of us had heard of it before arriving in Dawson.  On a five hour drive into the mountains, what are the chances we would end up at the site of a reality TV show?

The Road Closed sign, which we ignored, may have been put up by the TV people, since the road was mostly clear and well graded.  ’Lucky Ladies’ may be the name of the episode they are working on.

What I forgot to pack: sunglasses, cream rinse, lots of moisturizer (Weleda Skin Food- good for this high desert climate), extra camera cards, two hats with a brim (for the bright sunshine) and lots of gifts.

I have had a fabulous month in Dawson City.  It is a truly interesting place.  I met friendly, talented, fascinating people and they made me feel very welcome.  I love the energetic visionaries here, who are developing art and culture in the Yukon.  Thank you Dan and Laurie Sokolowski, Tara Rudnickas, Karen Dubois and the Klondike Institute for Art and Culture staff for the gift of this residency and for making it possible for so many artists and filmmakers to work in this wonderful place.  It was a great honor, I loved every moment and got lots of animation done on a new film.  I look forward to returning to Dawson City with Paul and to seeing everyone again.

PS  Yukon dress up! Jackie Olsen, the enthusiastic proprietress (her label) of Peabody’s Photo Parlour, which was open for one day during the film festival, added the furs, tilted my hat, fussed with all the props and snapped this photo.

Film Fest + Cat Sledding with Blue Fish

The the Dawson City International Short Film Festival was a great event.  I saw many excellent films and especially loved the Spell of the Yukon and First Nations programs. I met lots of filmmakers from Dawson and Whitehorse and was surprised to find that there are seven or eight animators here (pop. 1800).  The festival has a warm, homey feel because it is run by happy volunteers who know what they are doing and especially because of festival director Dan Sololowski, who introduced the screenings and made everyone feel very welcome.  The concession stand sold delicious food made by community members and I had yummy chicken curry and rice with marvelous gluten-free cookies made by Dan’s wife, Laurie.  They also served homemade popcorn with pan melted butter and free beer from another festival sponsor, Yukon Brewing.

Image from Getting Around in the Yukon, a new film by Veronica Verkley.

One of my favorites was Getting Around in the Yukon by Dawsonite Veronica Verkley, a hilarious film about cat sledding.  She is a sculptor and a filmmaker, so the props were amazing, with tiny fur trimmed harnesses and historic cat sledding ‘artifacts’.  She won the Audience Favorite award and second prize in the Yukon Filmmakers category.  I juried the Emerging Yukon Filmmakers and was very impressed with the quality of the work.  Moira Sauer won first prize with a ‘silent’ film about a pioneer woman living in an isolated cabin with 14 dogs.  When she runs out of kibble, she arranges for a mail order husband, who is delivered by dog sled.  They meet, there is a moment of flirting, then she chops him up with an axe and feeds him to the dogs.

Coming in for a landing at the helipad in Dawson City.

The morning after the festival I went for my first helicopter ride.  Dan Sokolowski, my wonderful host, arranged it with festival sponsor Trans North Helicopters. We had a gorgeous morning with blue sky, sun and patches of soft fog.

It is a mystery how filmmakers get such great helicopter shots of the far north. One cannot avoid glare and solar flares (see red triangles above) when shooting through the plexi windows and Andreas said filming through the open window was difficult  because of the vibration and the wind hitting the camera.

Yukon River and Ogilvie Mountains

When we soared up over the Top of the World Highway and the Yukon River and Ogilvie Mountains were suddenly revealed, it was absolutely thrilling.  Then the pilot (a very handsome Maori man from New Zealand) banked steeply to the right and we hugged the rocky cliffs as we quickly dropped down to the river and followed it to Dawson. Adrenaline rush! It is very noisy though and I worried about disturbing the animals.

Break Up

The Yukon River and Dawson City

I will just miss ‘Break Up’, the moment when the Yukon River ice in front of Dawson breaks up and starts to flow.  Below is last year’s break up, on May 7, 2011 at 4.25 PM.  Dawsonians have been keeping track of the exact minute of break up since 1896, which was on May 19 at 2:35 PM.

Dawson City Break Up on May 7, 2011 at 4.25 PM.

Nearly everyone in Dawson buys a ticket and places a bet on the month, day and minute they think break up will happen.  To record the moment, they put a tripod on the ice that is connected by a cable to a clock at the Danoja Zho Cultural Center.  When the ice starts moving, it stops the clock and records the exact time.  Then an alarm sounds and everyone leaves work and school and goes down to the Yukon River.

Nature here is spectacular but people say they miss loons, crickets and fireflies.  I love being here in winter.  The cold is easy to handle with layered clothing and a big parka.  It is a dry cold that doesn’t get into my bones like the damp cold in Oregon.  Dawson City is incredibly quiet (very little traffic, no stop lights, no industry in town), the sparkling snowy landscape is clean and lovely and 14 hours of sunshine daily (only one snowstorm in 3.5 weeks) is delightful.  But as the snow melts, we get to see the trash that has been jettisoned all winter long and many months of frozen dog shit are appearing.  Locals say there are more dogs than people in Dawson.

Tr’ondek Hwech’in beadwork on a dress at the Danoja Zho Cultural Center.

Behemoth relic of the first Gold Rush: Dredge #4 on Bonanaza Creek.

Andreas and I took a break from the short film screenings and drove out the icy road to Bonanza Creek, the site of the gold discovery that brought 100,000 gold seekers to the Klondike (translated from Tr’ondek) between 1897 and 1899.  We stopped at gold Dredge No. 4 (above), which operated 24 hours a day from 1913 until 1966.  It is now a National Historic Site.  No. 4 was the largest wooden hulled bucket lined dredge in North America and it dug up mountains of earth as it churned through the creeks.  The entire valley is lined with thousands of huge worm shaped mounds, the tailings left by 53 years of scooping and processing by the dredges.

DIY in Dawson: There is no sign shop.

13th Dawson City International Short Film Festival

“As the light returns to our corner of Eden, let’s take a few hours this weekend to enjoy the light created by some passionate people.”  -Dan Sokolowski, Festival Producer

The Dawson City International Short Film Festival is the big event of the spring season and a dozen filmmakers have come to town.  Programs include Spell of the Yukon, The Midday Sun, At the Confluence, Beyond the Aurora and Out of the Cold.  My program with Andreas Horvath is at 3 PM on Sunday.  Andreas will show a short documentary and I will show six animated short films and a clip from work-in-progress (below).

The opening short film program of Yukon filmmakers was absolutely wonderful.  There is loads of talent here.  Tomorrow I will jury the Emerging Yukon Filmmakers program.  We give award three prizes.   I am looking forward to all of the events, with 13 programs and ~100 short films to watch!

All of the screenings are in the elegant ballroom on the top of the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture, in the former Odd Fellows Hall.  It’s on Princess Street, just three blocks from my house.   On the final evening, there will be a BBQ Street Feast with Karaoke, outside on Front Street, right next to the Yukon River!

I am suddenly homesick and missing Paul and all of you.  Sigh.  xoxo