Yellowknife (Sep 22/03) - "Do you know about the art bank?" Victoria Henry, director of the Canada Council Art Bank, asked the question of wner Ken Huss during a visit to Nor-Art gallery in Yellowknife.

"Oh yes," said Huss.

The art bank asks for submissions about once a year from artists across Canada, and purchases the ones it selects. Gallery owners can also submit works by the artists they deal with.

"Have you submitted?" said Henry.

"Yes," said Huss.

"Have we bought?"

"Not a thing."

Huss' answer wasn't surprising. Last year the art bank purchased 27 artworks by artists from Nunavut. It purchased only three pieces by artists from the NWT.

Henry said her visit had two purposes: to meet as many artists as she could and invite submissions, and to find corporations who might rent artwork from the art bank.

It's all about promotion.

"You've got to make sure people know what you're doing," she said.

"And I want to find out what the needs are up here."

Henry once owned a gallery in Ottawa devoted to contemporary Aboriginal art and has also worked at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. She's been with the art bank for the past four years.

Henry's third visit to North

With 18,000 artworks to manage (the art bank rents the pieces it owns out to corporations and to government agencies), it's hard for Henry to find time to travel, but she intends to visit the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik next summer.

"I've been up twice this year," said Henry, referring to this visit to Yellowknife, and her trip to Nunavut in the spring.

"Last year I was in Whitehorse. We come up as much as we can."

The art bank has become more budget-conscious in recent years, though, so the cost of travel to the North has to be weighed against the need for art representing the region.

Why were so few pieces bought from the NWT last year?

"A fewer number of submissions, and perhaps that the work (by NWT artists) is not as well known in the South," said Henry.

And that's why a personal visit helps, said Henry.

"It's one thing to get one slide, but when you see a whole body of work you get a much better idea of the art," she said.

"We choose juries we hope are representative of the various territories and provinces and disciplines. But if they don't know the work either, it isn't as easy a decision."

Slides better than digital photos

At Nor-Art, Huss gave Henry a crash course in NWT art, explaining the differences in carvings between the Eastern and Western Arctic while showing her some pieces by the Nasogaluak brothers from Tuktoyaktuk.

"This is gorgeous," Henry said, on viewing the paintings of Helene Croft from Fort Smith.

Henry advised Huss to send good quality slides of the artists' works he submits, instead of digital photos, which sometimes turn out blurry when enlarged. That might help give his artists an edge in the selection process.