Old Gun Shop, Dawson, 1972

Private Collection, British Columbia

“Old Gun Shop, Dawson” encapsulates Harrison's ability to render the northern landscape and its community with joy and vibrancy. The daily bustle of the men, women, children and even animals including the artist's signature dogs and ravens, is echoed in the fluid lines and off-kilter buildings creating a charming rhythm to the piece. For Harrison, a deep sense of community was pinnacle both in his practice and daily life living in the Yukon. The artist sought to translate the universality of joy in his works, informed by the people and spirit of the community where he lived. The figures remain faceless in this work, a deliberate act to ensure that each viewer may freely interpret and draw from personal experience to fill in the respective characters in the piece. For the artist, the people within the community in his works are just as important as the landscape itself, and are in fact, mutually inclusive. Every element of the work has a sense of interconnectivity, mirroring Harrison's harmonizing experience living in the North.