Alien visitations. Post-apocalyptic riots. Prospecting.

Artist and prospector Walt HumphriesSA国际影视传媒� work runs the gamut.

SA国际影视传媒淚 get bored easily,SA国际影视传媒� he said, explaining that he aims to challenge himself with new ideas while depicting daily observations. His exhibit at Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre holds its opening reception on January 16. It's currently open for public viewing. 

SA国际影视传媒淚 paint what I see, what I feel and what I think about,SA国际影视传媒� Humphries said.

In text accompanying the exhibit, curators Sarah Swan and Bill Braden call it outlier art SA国际影视传媒� talent fostered on the fringes. Humphries agrees. While he had contact with larger art scenes in Toronto, Yellowknife was smaller and a better fit when he arrived in 1969.

Back then, the few artists in town mostly painted fairly traditional landscapes and tourist scenes.

Working on a painting in his trailer, Humphries had to ask, SA国际影视传媒淲hy doesnSA国际影视传媒檛 anybody paint Yellowknife other than the tourist things?SA国际影视传媒�

He started to paint scenes around town of neighborhoods like Northlands and Old Town, capturing slice-of-life depictions of the growing city with an absurdist bent. They ranged from visiting four-armed aliens sizing up the real estate in Old Town to survivors fending off super-sized mosquitoes with machetes at the boat launch. 

SA国际影视传媒淲hen I set out to sort of figure out what I wanted to paint, I didnSA国际影视传媒檛 want the fine art highbrow stuff. I didnSA国际影视传媒檛 want to do landscapes. I didnSA国际影视传媒檛 want to do portraits. I didnSA国际影视传媒檛 want to do that,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

What interested him more? Comic books and illustrations. Science fiction and other fantasy flourishes, like dinosaurs, took centre stage in much of HumphriesSA国际影视传媒� work. 

SA国际影视传媒淓very painting you do, once youSA国际影视传媒檙e done it, you think, SA国际影视传媒榦h I could have done that one better,SA国际影视传媒橲A国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淏ut I donSA国际影视传媒檛 like repeating paintings SA国际影视传媒� I want to do something different. Challenge myself.SA国际影视传媒� 

He said he wanted his art to be accessible, allowing a viewer without a degree in it to appreciate it. 

SA国际影视传媒淵ou could do a painting of downtown Yellowknife and make it really bad. Or you could make it comical,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淏ecause itSA国际影视传媒檚 both. I donSA国际影视传媒檛 want to go to one extreme or completely to the other. Because thatSA国际影视传媒檚 what lifeSA国际影视传媒檚 about it. ItSA国际影视传媒檚 a mixture of things.SA国际影视传媒�

Observation plays an important role in finding this balance between local history, fantasy, and storytelling. Humpries attributes his eye for detail to a life prospecting to SA国际影视传媒渟ee these little things that are insignificant and unimportant, because theySA国际影视传媒檙e part of life.SA国际影视传媒�

That can draw criticisms. One he's received is that he included too much litter on the streets, but despite that, Humphries stood by what he saw. Same goes for including too many telephone poles SA国际影视传媒� it was a fact that there are that many in place, and if anything there were too few in his painting.

When prospecting, he said, discoveries are predicated on noticing small clues. 

SA国际影视传媒淚f you work in the bush and youSA国际影视传媒檙e away from civilization, when you come back into civilization, you notice some things. And you go, SA国际影视传媒榃hat were they thinking? Who thought this was a good idea?SA国际影视传媒橲A国际影视传媒�

Local history also plays a key role. In one of HumphriesSA国际影视传媒� pieces, two girls are depicted paddling a boat. According to Humphries, those are the ghosts of the two Watts sisters who would ferry residents to the liquor store on Latham Island before the causeway was built. 

Cameos from local personalities and characters make regular appearances too, though Humphries prefers to leave it to the viewer to pick them out.

That's proof of the staying power his pieces have. When the curators put out a call for lost Humphries pieces in April, works came as far Alberta and British Columbia. 

"I like art that tells stories SA国际影视传媒� If you get into it, your mind starts weaving your own story about the painting, which is what I hope for."