Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Jun 08/98) - Teaching is just one of the things that Matthew Nuqingaq excels at. Jewelry making is another.

And the former resident of Qikiqtarjuaq has found a way to combine them.

"I've been a teacher since 1985, so for about 12 years. I really like it. And I just fell in love with the jewelry program, with the jewelry part," says Nuqingaq, during a brief break from his work in the Nunavut Arctic College Arts and Crafts building in Iqaluit.

With the two-year certificate for the Jewelry and Metalwork program under his belt, alongside a current teaching degree, Nuqingaq, who's in his 30s is ready to begin teaching the art of making jewelry.

"I'll be training for the next two years, this year and next year, and I might be going to the communities to work with different instructors to learn their teaching styles. There can be lots of different techniques that each instructor kind of specializes in. Like there might be someone who's good at goldsmithing or rivetting or bowl-making so it's good to learn from different instructors," says Nuqingaq.

He says he also plans to teach Inuktitut to first-year Arctic College students and he hopes to do some Inuit art history work in the Arts and Crafts program.

When Nuqingaq isn't teaching, he spends his time preparing for upcoming art shows and making jewelry for customers.

"I'm working on 10 bracelets for the 10th anniversary of the Great Northern Arts Festival. I hope I'll be able to get them out for July."

In August, he's off to Lunenberg, N.S. for an art show with Arctic College and then it's back to Iqaluit for the beginning of the school year and more training.

"I want to go to more school and I haven't really found my technique. I want to get into bigger stuff maybe like a big bowl or sculpture types of stuff from metal," says Nuqingaq who has so obviously found his niche in the art world.

"We have done some printmaking and I have done some carving but the jewelry...that's what I really get into."