Personal Inuit Art Life Experience

the drill for instance, the handle is made from a rib of a polar bear and if one is not available it is made from caribou antler. The line is made from bearded seal rope. The drill bits are made from bone when no wood is available with flint stone tips known as bits and the mouth piece is from a knee cap of a caribou. Even things like combs were made out of ivory.

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Vancouver, the Hot Place for Inuit Art

Since I came to Vancouver of the night of the Olympic opening ceremonies on February the 12th, it has been non-stop all the way. Besides the Olympics Games going on there are many other things people from the city and the visiting world can see and do. The last couple of days have been very interesting to me as it felt like family day to me. On February 17th a carver from Cape Dorset, Matthew Saviarjuk Jaw was invited by Nigel Reading of the Spirit Wrestler Gallery to have some concerning discussions of the Inuit art world. I went there with him as his interpreter, though is his English is good but he preferred I went with him, much to my delight. Upon entering the Spirit Wrestler Gallery, one can seem to find peace after hearing the busy streets of Vancouver, a...

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Canada`s Northern House

I have visited the Canada`s Northern House in Vancouver on 602 West Hastings, and yes it is very interesting. The set up is so that one can see and experience the three northern Territories of Canada. Walking into the Canada`s Northern House (CNH) one can see the inuksuk made by Peter Irniq of Ottawa, Canada originally from Repulse Bay or Nauyaat, Nunavut. Since I am originally from Nauyaat as well I could recognize some of the rocks coming from there. Many people were getting their photos taken next to the inuksuk both young an old alike, and from all over the world. There are many displays of arts and crafts from the aboriginal and some non aboriginal people of the three territories. I will elaborate on the arts as that is the field of my interest. There are...

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Inuit and the Fashions of Nunavut

The new Inuit fashions emerging from Nunavut are very exciting. Sewing jackets with matching wind pants, amautiit (large pouched at the back of the woman`s parka, used for carry our new-born till too big to fit, or too heavy), children`s clothing, teens, this trend is becoming popular among our young people. When looking back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the girl would have different styles of atigi (inner top wear usually made from caribou skin) and qulittaq (outer to the inner top wear) all the way up to maturity. Very feminine designs for girls were worn all the way to adulthood for some, according to who their clothing maker was, of-course life did have their great and not so great designers then. This kind of style and other traditional clothing...

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Olympics – What It Meant To Me

The first time I ever heard the word Olympics was when I as going to school. The teacher proudly showed us a book with pictures of athletes and a runner holding a lit torch. As the teacher proudly explains what the Olympics is all about, to me it looked so much more like a fairy tale, about strong men and women, but I knew these people, all they did was compete to be the best for their country in sports. It was out of this world for me. Exciting part, it was in done in Peace. Just like when we had our aattauyaq (ball) games. We would team up and play all night in the spring time when we had 24 hours of day light. The object of the game was to see how much longer the team can have the ball by constantly throwing it from teammate to teammate, while the other...

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