CAROLYN SIMMONS

Carolyn Simmons standing outside her home, Whitehorse, Yukon

I wish to thank Tariq, Jamelie, Ron, and all members of ECH for so generously creating this website which will be of benefit to many.   

Carolyn Simmons is a descendant of Scottish-Irish immigrants who lived in the St. Lawrence River region and the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee (St. Lawrence Iroquois).  
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Chimera, 1984, New City of Sculpture, Toronto, Ontario

In 1985, the year after Chimera (the first genetically engineered animal) was shown in the New City of Sculpture, I was invited by Ron and Jamelie to exhibit work at the ECH. My memory of them and of others in London is one of generosity. Paterson Ewen had an afterparty for my opening, in his studio. Everyone was so welcoming. And I see this still evident, with the development of this website, which I was invited to participate in. Those years seem so long ago. The years spent researching for the artworks of that time led me, in part, to leave Toronto in 1990. 

I have lived in the Yukon for thirty years. I was lucky to come here in somewhat earlier times, when life was slower and there were special people to learn from. All of this changed my life, and I am indebted to those who shared with me, teaching me the “art” of living. 

A big part of my life now is teaching mathematics. I studied with mathematicians from Simon Fraser University and received a master's degree in mathematics education. I tutor mathematics to students at the LDAY Centre for Learning in Whitehorse, where I focus on their development of number sense, taught visually by bringing attention to numbers as pattern, decomposition, observation, contemplation, and logical reasoning. I also teach mathematics for First Nations so citizens may enter trades apprenticeships. And I have taught in the Yukon Native Teacher Education Program and the Nunavut Teacher Education Program. 

In the past seven years, I returned to art making. As in the past, an occurrence or experience leads me to ask questions, which next leads to answers, and I spend a great deal of time exploring those. Then I look for the most efficient means to get what I want.  

The recent work, aeifwxyz, began with witnessing and photographing the North American Sandhill Crane migration at the Yukon Central Plateau located on the traditional territory of Selkirk First Nation. I was living in Pelly Crossing, and each day I walked up to the “monument” to watch what I called the “cloud show” when the Sandhill Cranes appeared. For five days, they streamed in thousands across the skies. I knew when they were coming because I could hear them first, way over behind the far horizon.

At the same time, “May Gathering” was taking place, and I spoke with Elders about my experiences. The cranes do not land there, so they talked mostly about knowing how the birds fly and talk and that they do not shoot them. In the following years, I did more research and discovered a direct connection to early written language development in another part of the world.

aeifwxyz, 2020
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Great continental sandhill crane migrations once took place over Eurasia and North America. In 1000 BCE, Mediterranean people formed some of the letters for their first written Phoenician alphabet from patterns they saw in overhead migrations: thousands of cranes flying together in undulating lines, long multisecting “V”s, mountain outlines—constantly moving and reshaping.  

Variations of these letters continued to be in use in the written modern alphabet, including in English. This work is comprised of eight letters, photographed in the latter days of the North American migration route, over the traditional territory of Selkirk First Nation and the Canadian territory known as Yukon. ​

Yukon First Nations used this alphabet and language to reclaim their losses from those who forbade their own language expression.

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​Earth Day 2021: Stop Extinction! Restore the Earth

Carolyn Simmons, Phantom Tree Mother in Winter, photography, 2018

Carolyn Simmons, Phantom Tree Mother in Winter, 2018

Several years ago, in May, I happened to witness a sudden flash snowstorm while walking with a friend down a road towards Lake Laberge. For a very short length of time, snow fell intensely. That winter, I had been wondering if, when a tree falls down or is cut down, it experiences the loss as a phantom, still standing in the air? When I saw the snow falling densely that day, I immediately saw the opportunity to use the density as a lens, photographing the spruce trees through it. This picture, called Phantom Tree Mother in Winter, is an image of the top half of a spruce tree photographed looking through that momentary snowstorm, in May.

​I’ve seen the weather become more and more unpredictable here in the Yukon. At one time, the snow would always arrive to stay in early November and begin to leave in early April.  The snow would fall gently throughout the night. We knew when the coldest days would be. In January, ice fog would hang in the air. Winter was majestic. Grandly silent. Another time. Another world.
 
Now we don’t know when the snow will come, how much will fall, or how long it will last. Some winters, there is so little snow on the ground that grass tufts show. It is as if winter has left us. Where is it? Why does it not return? In contrast, this year, the snow came abruptly and heavily in mid-October and continued to fall into April, accompanied by unusually high winds and -35 degrees Celsius temperatures.
 
I don’t want to rant here. Some of us saw this coming. I do things in my own life to make a contribution: replaced my lawn with a meadow, grow plants for bees, keep vehicle use to a minimum, be understanding of others, support my community. I suggest a cultural shift is needed.

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Works by Carolyn

Bhopal Story, 1986. Embassy Cultural House, 1986

Bhopal Story (Detail), 1986, Embassy Cultural House

Bhopal is a city in Madhya Pradesh, India. On December 2, 1984, a leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant killed thousands and injured over 500,000 people. See Bhopal Disaster.

​Banner Image: ​Dear Catherine, 1988, Mercer Union, Toronto, Ontario; Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta

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