Discovery Day, Dawson City, 1977

Ted Harrison Foundation

Ted Harrison, “Children of the Yukon”, Canada/United States, 1984, unpaginated, reproduced Ted Harrison (Introduction by Robert Budd), “Ted Harrison Collected”, British Columbia, 2015, page 11

As a teacher, school principal, and Chief of the local fire department, Ted Harrison was clearly a ‘people person’. He had a particular kinship with children and much of Harrison’s work attempts to capture the joy of the community and the wonder of childhood. In “Discovery Day, Dawson City”, Harrison captures a weekend-long festival that occurs annually in Dawson City in early August. The celebration centres on the history of the town and the discovery of gold that led to 100,000 people rushing to the Klondike gold fields in the hope of striking it rich. During the celebrations for Discovery Day, people dress in the costume of the ‘Gay 90s’ and are treated to parades, a show in the Palace Grand Theatre, and raft racing. As an outsider, Harrison was well placed to marvel at the unique qualities that the Yukon possessed. Reflecting on his work Harrison said, “[w]hat I have painted in this book are scenes that have impressed me. It is not a complete picture. Children in the towns of the Yukon do many things other North American children do: they go to school, watch TV, play basketball in winter and baseball in summer. But they also do things children further south never have a chance to do, and this is what I have painted. Not how the Yukon is the same, but how it differs.” Harrison believed that it was the role of the artist to create the image, but the role of the viewer to interpret what they saw. It was part of the reason that the artist did not include faces on his figures. He wanted the viewer to impose the face that they wanted to see. “I treat the people the same as the landscape. They’re natural because they’re in a landscape they feel part of...but I like to feel that people imagine a face in. You know, they can pop their grandmother’s face in.” All proceeds from the sale of this artwork are being directed to the Ted Harrison Foundation (THF). THF is a registered non-profit organization whose mission statement is to support the ongoing development of the arts, artists, art education/educators and associated programs. You can learn more about and/or donate to the Ted Harrison Foundation by visiting TedHarrison.ca.