The PLRAC is delighted to be partnering with the Dawson Creek Art Gallery

for this year’s Wild Words North Art Exhibit

 

Click here to see the brochure for this year’s WWN Art Exhibit

 

 

Calling all artists region-wide – quilters, potters, painters, sculptors – whatever your discipline, this year’s inspiration for the Wild Words North Art Exhibit will be the writing of the artists featured at the Dawson Creek Art Gallery’s exhibit, “The M-K,” which will be on display at the gallery during the festival weekend.

How to Submit your Artwork

1. There is no Entry Fee.
2. Artists can submit up to three pieces by submitting digital images of their work to edplrac@gmail.com .
3. Work will be included in a dedicated virtual exhibit page on the Peace Liard Regional Arts Council website and will be promoted via social media.
4. The Dawson Creek Art Gallery may select some pieces to be physically included in the “M-K” Exhibit which will be on display during the festival weekend.
5. Work can be inspired by one piece of writing, an excerpt from the writing, or a combination of lines from both pieces. You can also check out the trailer for CBC’s The Muskwa for even further inspiration.
6. Deadline for submission of work is August 31, 2021.

If you require any further information, please contact edplrac@gmail.com .

 

FEATURE WRITING

Ryan Dickie

I’ve long dreamed of this place. I feel like I’ve been here once before. As we ascend the highest reaches of the continental divide, I pause for a moment to catch my breath, savouring the last glimpses of the Tuchodi valley as it sinks further and further below the hard worn trail left behind us. Startled by our intrusion, a grizzly bear and her yearling cub scramble to a more comfortable distance high above the scree slope to the off-side of the saddle. Even from afar, the respect she commands is undeniable. Still reeling from the encounter, we mount up and continue trudging up Misery Pass. 

I’ve got an eye on the weather. Ominous clouds and rain shower curtains are sweeping through the snow-capped peaks to the front of the pack-string. Look up and there, a young bull moose nearing its prime strides through the scrub brush beside us. It’s velvet and hide as dark is this morning’s coffee. I am certain the day is growing long, and we have a ways to go yet.  One boot in front of the other, I find myself living deep in the moment. I am immersed in the lived experience of my ancestors. I can feel their footsteps ahead of my own. I keep looking for something they may have left behind. Perhaps a blaze in a tree, or an old camp-site near the creek. No such luck. To tread lightly is the old way. 

This connecting past would not be possible if this place had been stripped of its values like so many others. It remains as primitive as it always has, and that today, is our fortune. As we crest the shoulder of Misery, a handful of stone sheep and mountain goats dot the rocky void we find ourselves in. They effortlessly navigate terrain not made for the foot of man. Everything has its place.

Leading our horses along, enduring grit subsides. Heart pounding, we summit just as the storm begins to break. Sun rays seemingly sent from another dimension, cut through the misty clad trail ahead. Flanked by waterfalls and arctic lupin, down below lies our camp on the upper Gataga. A warm fire and a hot cup of tea await. The day of all days. Heaven and earth might well have collided up here, but I am certain I have never felt more alive. 

 

Wayne Sawchuk
“Step out of the Gataga cabin summer or winter and listen for a moment. No motors intrude, no clicks and bangs and calls of humanity- we’ re much too far from civilization for that. Then a raven, far off, cawing- and again. Ah, there’s wind in the trees and a snap from the fire in the stove. Listen harder- there’s a rhythmic thumping, steady and strong- it’s the beating of your heart.”

 

 

 

A sincere thanks to our 2021 Wild Words North Supporters.