Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Dec 10/99) - Andrew Kendi is one cool customer. The Aklavik native and Inuvik resident chose winter as the best time to create the outdoor sculpture he's just completed in time for the holiday season.

Depicting a reindeer, an eagle and a nativity scene, the massive ice sculpture sits in front of Aurora College's Inuvik campus, where Kendi is enrolled in the jewelry-making program.

According to Kendi, he was a sculptor long before he came to Aurora. He added the ice sculpture is a long-overdue tribute to a man who inspired his talents: Belgian-born Father Joseph Adam of the Our Lady of Victory parish.

"He was there until about 15 years ago and I'd never seen an ice sculpture like this until I saw the ones that Father Adam made," said Kendi.

"He was a painter and a sculptor, himself, and worked with Northern themes and held exhibitions at Stringer Hall. I think people appreciated the encouragement he gave us to learn about art."

Kendi said he's been working in art since that time, carving soap stone and driftwood. He even created a large ice sculpture for last spring's Caribou Carnival in Yellowknife. He said he prefers working with soap stone and making use of Gwich'in themes.

"I love soap stone because it's simply a piece of stone until I put my creativity into it; and then it becomes something unique," he said. "I also usually make use of the siksik, or ground squirrel, because it's something that no one else does."

Kendi said the toughest part of making the Aurora ice sculpture was working with the icy medium, which was slow to freeze in the recent, relatively mild temperatures.

He said performing delicate work with a chainsaw was also a challenge, but that he was encouraged to work fast and meet a self-imposed Dec. 1 deadline and conditions got too dark and too cold. He turned the lights on the sculpture right on time last Wednesday.

A seemingly artistic jack-of-all-trades, Kendi said he graduated in fine arts from Aurora in 1995 and entered the jewelry-making program. He wanted to combine new skills with his existing expertise and learn the business end of the art. He said whether he'll one day be able to go full time with his work remains to be seen.

"I will if we can get into a co-operative," he said, "because that would mean I wouldn't have to be a sole partner."

For his part, Kendi's classmate Martin Goodlife said he'll help promote the idea of a co-operative.

"The biggest problem right now is that no carver in Inuvik has a place where he can go and work in winter," he said. "Even at the college, we're limited as to when we can use the facilities."

Goodlife said the problems of dust and ventilation mean most artists can't work indoors at home in winter.

"I've carved in a tent at 40 below, and it's just not that much fun," he said.

On the plus side, Goodlife said a co-operative would help artists work together and share what can be very expensive tools, as well as to fill orders and meet demand.