Yukon artists donate work to support refugees in the Netherlands - Action News
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Yukon artists donate work to support refugees in the Netherlands

Members of the Yukon Artists at Work collective have donated work to be auctioned off in Ottawa this month, with proceeds going toward an art therapy program for refugees in Europe.

Auction to raise money for art therapy program for refugees

Lillian Loponen at the Yukon Artists at Work gallery in Whitehorse, posing with two pieces donated for auction in Ottawa later this month. (Paul Tukker/CBC)

A group of Yukon artists is doing its part to help refugees in Europe, not by focussing on material needs, but ratheremotional needs.

"We decided to go back to the roots of our social conscience of our group and do something with art therapy," Harreson Tanner, a member of the Yukon Artists at Work (YAAW) collective, told CBC's A New Day.

"We looked at options of raising money and sending clothing and all kinds of different things, and it's all being done already by, certainly, bigger organizations."

25 YAAW members donated original artwork paintings, sculpture, jewelryto be auctioned off later this month, in Ottawa.The money will go towards a fledgling program in the Netherlands, that offers art therapy to newly-settled refugees run by an acquaintance of Tanner's.

"It was a fantastic fit, and obviously meant to be," he said.

The auction is being held in Ottawa because "we needed a larger community," and it will provide exposure to Yukon artists.

Lillian Loponen, anotherYAAW member artist,estimates the donated artwork to be worth more than $30,000.

"The response was phenomenal," she said. "Our social responsibility is part of YAAW's mandate."

Loponen said the Netherlands program, which incorporates music, dance, writing and visual arts, can offer something to refugees struggling to adjust to new circumstances.

"It's a matter of having them able to express emotionally their trauma, and what they've been through."

The auction willbeheld at the Ottawa School of Art's Byward Market Gallery, on April 24.

With files from A New Day