The story by Katharine Sandiford in the January-February edition of Up Here magazine is wrong in the way it describes the people I call the “Colourful Five Per Cent.”
I have always respected the interesting personalities I photograph and paint. It really upsets me when this writer describes them as all being eccentrics and misfits. Those are not my words.
I regard most of the people mentioned and shown in the story as simply interesting and colourful personalities. To put a single label on them, as this writer does, is not justified.
Certainly, in any group of people of any size, there are bound to be some eccentrics. But to call the people who make up the Colourful Five Per Cent eccentrics, misfits, etc., is uncalled for, and definitely not accurate.
It is also distressing to me that this writer uses off-the-record and confidential information offered to her for background information, not publication.
Also, there are some statements she makes that need to be corrected.
For instance, I have received $10,000 for some extra-large paintings, but I typically get $5,000 for a painting.
Furthermore, the disposition of my artifacts is well taken care of.
And, finally, my good friend Larry (Cowboy) Smith is very much alive, and out there trapping. This writer makes it sound like he is a goner.
Personally, I really don’t mind being called a misfit or an eccentric, though I think the personal details about me could have been left out.
But to call everyone in the Colourful Five Per Cent an eccentric or misfit is just not accurate.
The writer who interviewed me said she was going to let me check this article before it came out, but that did not happen.
The writer also mentioned, in the front of the magazine, that I am “the Klondike’s most popular artist”à I think that title should go to my good friend Halin de Repentigny of Dawson City.
Jim Robb
Whitehorse