Inuvik (July 25/03) - In arts, education, sport and most professions there are those precious few who reach the pinnacle of their chosen field and are granted the title "Master."

This year's Great Northern Arts Festival was centred around the theme Spirit of the Masters -- Past, Present and Future.

Archie Beaulieu once worked as a grocery manager for the Bay in Rae and later as a teacher's aid, but now he makes his living at what he says he was born to do.

"I was born an artist -- my granny knew that and she told me to find a star that nobody has," Beaulieu said.

His mother said he did his earliest works in charcoal, but they were temporary drawings at best.

"She told me I used to take charcoal from the fire and paint things on the rocks and then it would rain and they would always wash away."

Beaulieu attended residential school in Fort Smith, where he first started sketching.

"You were only allowed two pencils for a whole year," he remembered with a grin. "The teacher would get mad when my pencil would get short."

With no formal art training, most of his skill came from instinct and his own perception of the world around him.

"I went to Banff School of Fine Arts for 30 days -- just to learn the colours," he said. "The rest is just self-taught."

Now one of the most prolific artists in the territory, Beaulieu takes it in stride. Original oils, limited editions all sell out to the point where he doesn't know how many are "out there" anymore.

"I have no idea," he admits. "I used to keep track, but I have sold so many now, that I don't keep track anymore."

Alfred Masazumi's art tells the stories his elders told to him, be it oil paints, pen and ink or stone.

He started working with oil paint first but the dimension left him flat.

"I could see the front, but I wanted to see the back," Masazumi said.

He said he took up carving because he wanted a new challenge.

With no tools in his small home in Fort Good Hope, he scrounged around until he found a toy truck with a small electric motor that he fashioned into an engraving tool.

"I soldered three D batteries on it and a house switch and I had an engraving machine," he grinned.

Self-taught and skilled in most disciplines, Masazumi has always been fascinated by the arts.

"I could carve it, I could sew it into a tapestry, I could paint it with oils or acrylics," he said.

Masazumi is also an accomplished writer, with his first book, Survival Skills and Caribou Hide already in print and he's working on a second.

William Gruben has been carving stone and bone for about eight years and was humbled this year, when the festival deemed him a master.

"You work, and you toil along and you create pieces and tell stories and eventually, hope that people notice what you're saying," Gruben said. "To be called a master, kind of verifies in your mind that what you're doing is OK."

Gruben now works at his art full time and has an Ottawa gallery that takes all he can produce and is considering a second in Halifax.

"I'm stretched as far as I can be stretched," he said.

Hundreds of carvings have passed through his hands and he loves the work of art, but says it's the arts festival that keeps reviving his thrill for the craft.

"You have this chance to interact with other artists and from that you get inspiration," Gruben said.

He's thrilled by studying the style of others and will incorporate the vision of others into his own, to challenge himself.

"You show each other to the best of your ability and then you admire what they do,' he said, adding that the respect of the peer group is a great accolade to any artist.

"That's about as good as it gets."

The camaraderie among each of the artists makes it a unique experience, but he says more important than the interaction with the accomplished artists, is the interaction with the burgeoning youngsters who have found their way into the fold.

In his talks with a new artist, Gruben saw a bit of himself in the young carver and offered some advice to the future master.

"As he walked away, I felt this sense of ease in my mind that the future of this art is in good hands."

Nineteen-year-old Calvin Romie has been painting about two years and has known Archie Beaulieu about as long.

Romie was working side by side with Beaulieu throughout the festival and picked up some tips from the master.

"It's been so good," he said. "I've learned a lot."