Iqaluit (Apr 18/05) - John Quigley looks at the sea ice and sees a canvas.

The other ingredient for his art is human bodies - lots of them. For past projects he's arranged thousands of children on sunny beaches who, when viewed from a helicopter above, form shapes like a dove as a sign of peace.

Aerial artist John Quigley plans to arrange hundreds of school children into the shape of a drum dancer on the sea ice outside Iqaluit, which will be photographed by helicopter. - John Thompson/NNSL photo

This Thursday, the Los Angeles, California, artist hopes to arrange 1,000 Grade 2 and 3 students in Iqaluit into the form of a giant drum dancer.

For the past two weeks, Quigley has scoured the landscape for the perfect spot.

The project is intended to draw attention to global warming and how it affects the Inuit.

He begins by laying out a large grid, marked by small flags. More flags are used to sketch out key points. Quigley says he's resisting using anything like ink to sketch the ice.

"The idea is that when the work's done and people scatter, there's no marks," said Quigley.

The event will draw southern media like the Washington Post and MSNBC, as well as Hollywood stars like Salma Hayek.

The United States is the audience being targeted for the event because it is the largest greenhouse gas contributor in the world and abstainer from environmental initiatives like the Kyoto protocol, he said.

"It's embarrassing," he said.

The event depends, of course, on clear weather.

Funding for the project was raised from a variety of environmental and human rights groups. It's organized in part by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference.

Photos of the display will be available online at www.arcticwisdom.org.