Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson ( Mar 03/00) - A grant from the NWT Arts Council helped motivate Fort Simpson artist Jerome Thomas-Ekinla to create 10 carvings and four acrylic paintings for an art show last week.

He said he enjoyed the past few months of creative productivity, and the subsequent exposure.

"It's inspiring to have people come up to you and say, 'Right on, you're really talented, get out there and do it,'" he said.

Thomas-Ekinla, who learned carving skills from renowned carver Bill Nasogaluak, periodically carves human images (Metis Reeler), wildlife images (Eagle's Lunch) and sometimes a combination of both (Wolf Child).

"I just like portraying things around this area," he explained. "It's life in general."

For last week's exhibition, he worked with Brazilian soapstone, Northern Quebec soapstone and British Columbia chlorite. Each type of stone brings a different look, colour and character to a piece, he said.

"I was working in any type of stone I could get my hands on to see what was easier," he said, adding that the cost of the rock ranges from $1 to $5 per pound.

Some carvers tend to produce the same images repeatedly, allowing them to become very proficient in their carvings, he noted. If he has an idea in his head, he can create it in as few as 10 hours, but most of the carvings on display took him at least a couple of days, he said.

"I've been trying different things, different ideas, so it takes me longer," he said.

Also a little unusual was trying his hand at painting again after a five-year hiatus. He said he spent his time alternating between mediums for his most recent show.

"Sometimes it will just come natural that I can do a painting, other days I'll do a carving," he said.

As well, he tried putting his own touch on an idea he had seen elsewhere, an impressive pair of moose-horn eagles. The eagles' heads were at the stem of the horn with the bulk of the horn representing the outstretched wings.

"It turned out all right," he said, eyeing his handiwork.

Thomas-Ekinla, who has taken fine arts programs through Aurora College in Fort Simpson and at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe, New Mexico, has made sales in the North and to southern institutions such as Grant MacEwan Community College.

He said he plans to create a couple of big pieces and sell them down south, perhaps during a trip to Calgary this summer. The large markets in Vancouver, Chicago, Sante Fe and New York are also appealing, he said.