We invite you to participate in First Fridays. These monthly self-directed art crawls take place between three galleries in downtown Whitehorse (Arts Underground, Northern Cultural Expressions Society, and Yukon Artists at Work) on the first Friday of every month. Some months we are joined by additional arts groups too. Here’s what’s planned for this month.
Friday, November 6th, 2026
Yukon Artists at Work
A new art exhibit opening at the Yukon Artists at Work gallery in November 2026 allows people to experience the grandeur yet impermanence of ice. Sublime: the ethereal world of (im)permanent ice is a solo show by Whitehorse-based artist Leslie Leong. It opens on November 6th and runs until December 1st, 2026.
“Standing up close to a glacier is both humbling and unsettling,” says Leong. “Massive, ancient walls of ice, they seem to dissolve into light. They glow from within in turquoise and deep blue, their edges turn translucent in the sun, and their undersides are scooped and cupped as if carved by hand. I feel awe and grandeur in their presence, and also nostalgia for what we have lost so far and one day may be gone completely.”
Sublime brings that experience into the gallery.
“The exhibition title is named after Sublime: Poems for Vanishing Ice, an anthology given to Leong by Whitehorse poet Joanna Lilley, whose poem “Transported” is included in the book.
Everyone is invited to the opening exhibit, taking place on November 6th from 5-7 pm as part of the city’s monthly First Friday art crawl. Then on November 14th from 5-7 pm at our gallery, some of the writers who have work in Sublime: Poems for Vanishing Ice will be reading from the anthology.
Note: we are starting a new program where we invite youth artists to have a pop-up show during our First Friday events. In November the artist is Emily Mervyn. Emily create oil paintings of Yukon landscapes and wildlife, as well as wet felted abstract panels.
Arts Underground
Northern Cultural Expressions Society
The featured artist will be Justien Senoa Wood
Visit all three galleries for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate from Air North, Yukon’s Airline.