Daron Letts
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 21/05) - There is a cozy shop on the edge of Enterprise that stocks the work of more than 60 artists who live in Aklavik, Northern Alberta and in most communities in between.

Winnie's Dene Art Gallery and Gift Shop is lined with all variety of unique and traditional aboriginal arts and crafts.

Beaded caribou tufting, birch bark baskets, moosehide slippers and mitts, pointilist drawings in pen and ink and acrylic, antler and soapstone carvings, handmade dolls and feathered dreamcatchers all find a place on the walls and shelves.

"We buy it all directly from the artist or the sewer," said owner Winnie Cadieux. "We don't work through agents or wholesalers, so we know the money we pay goes directly to sustain the artist or sewer."

Cadieux moved to Enterprise in 1984, when she started Winnie's restaurant and service station. Soon, artists approached her to sell their wares. She began to buy, and started the craft store in 1989.

She sold the restaurant and gas bar and went full time as an arts and crafts dealer last year.

"The way we look at it is that the aboriginal people of the North have developed many unique products which blend artistic designs with natural materials that have practical and aesthetic appeal," she said. "We want people (who purchase from the store) to take pride, as we do, that we're supporting a way of life for the artists and sewers."

The store takes on new producers regularly, always ensuring that the products meet standards of quality and consistency in sewing and production, Cadieux said. She describes the store as one piece in a sustainable economy.

The supply of products relies on the harvest of materials from the land and intensive artistic labour. A sustainable economy doesn't pursue exponential growth.

"It's not like we want millions of people asking us for product because we wouldn't be able to supply it," Cadieux said.

The store attracts walk-in traffic, including passing tourists and visitors from other communities in the region.

The store will launch a website early in 2006.

-with files from Andrea Markey