September 2026
Synergies by Cheryl McLean and Nicole Bauberger
September 4th-30th, 2026
McLean and Bauberger have joined forces and imaginations to create an exhibition that hopes to bring more people onto their own learning journeys about the treaties that we have here in the Yukon and more broadly across Canada.
Cheryl McLean is a fish skin tanner, teacher and student, having first discovered the almost-lost skill about 8 years ago. She is originally from Northern BC and is of mixed European and Beaver Cree ancestry.
Nicole Bauberger is an artist of settler heritage with a 26-year history of exhibiting her artwork across Canada.
The pair got to know each other through their connections to the family of the late Kwanlin Dün elder Annie Smith, and decided to explore making art together, culminating in this exhibition.They are both friends of Annie’s oldest daughter, Judy Gingell, an inspiring leader in the Yukon, and her telling people to “read the agreements!” inspires many of the activities around this show.
The audience will enter the exhibition through a beaded curtain that subtly depicts a salmon. As they enter they will touch beads rolled from our contemporary agreements and the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, strung together with beads of fish leather, waste steam glass, and Yukon clay.
After passing through the curtain, viewers will encounter a gathering of artworks using images of fishes and small sculptural dresses, in glass, fish leather and other materials. Some of the fishes will carry words based on reflections about where we’re at with treaties in the Yukon.
A human-sized dress of fish leather, featuring freshwater fish species like pike and whitefish will stand at the heart of this gathering.
Nicole and Cheryl are planning to host afternoon gatherings where guests will be invited to sit down together and read aloud from texts associated with the history of Yukon treaty-making, beginning with Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow. These will take place over three Saturdays September 12, 19 and 26, from 1 to 3 pm.
Cheryl and Nicole are also planning a Facebook live tour of the exhibition on Monday September 14 at 4 pm.
On September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Cheryl and Nicole will share tea with visitors in gallery for the closing of the exhibition from 1 to 3 p.m.
