Held at the Spirit Walker Gallery in Vancouver, Amulets to Art was the first comprehensive exhibition of Inuit jewelry in the South, all thanks to the Fine Arts and Crafts Program at Nunatta Campus in Iqaluit.

This was also "the first catalogued exhibition showcasing emerging directions and ideas being expressed by these vital artists," said Mark Webber, co-ordinator of the program.

"Everything was sold," said 33-year-old Matthew Nuqingak. He and nine other jewelry students were in Vancouver for the show. "We should have made more stuff."

Amulets to Art, a product of the Nunavut Arctic College Jewelry Program began in the fall of 1989 in Holman as a test of the interest in exploring new media from both new and established artists who might be attracted to jewelry-making.

This soon escalated into an eight-week course in Iqaluit, only to become so successful that the college developed a two-year diploma program, with a variety of short-term courses in several communities.

"The program focuses on teaching technical skills as well as design, creativity, history and business," said Webber. "It was a hope, and now reality, that through the metal medium, Inuit artists could tell stories of Inuit culture and the Arctic environment."

Nuqingak, who's been taking only part-time courses in Iqaluit, said he did so well at the exhibit he's going to leave his job as a shop teacher in Iqaluit to take courses full-time.

"It's creating something new. It's quite satisfying," said Nuqingak, whose detailed silver earrings in the shape of a kayak sell for $90 a pair.

"I figure I'll become an instructor or a full-time jeweller. I don't want to leave teaching," Nuqingak told News/North during a stopover in Yellowknife.

"This show demonstrates that an old craft, that of jewelry, is now being fashioned by Inuit into wonderful fresh possibilities," Webber said. "A whole new branch of Inuit art is growing in strength."