Rankin Inlet (Jan 30/06) - The Matchbox Gallery, a cross-cultural arts studio in Rankin Inlet, is hosting the second half of a regional artists program this month.

Ten artists from around the Kivalliq are participating in this phase of the Kangiqliniq Centre for Arts and Learning Traditional Arts Workshop.

"We're picking up where we left off (last fall)," said gallery co-ordinator Jim Shirley.

The participants work in printmaking, ceramics and drawing. Carving isn't yet on the agenda, due to the frigid temperatures, Shirley said.

The days include academic studies in math, reading and drawing and lots of hands-on work.

The value of this program is in the people who attend, Shirley said.

"The human dynamics are very interesting," he said. "Each person brings the stories and the efforts that make them stronger and better with them from where they live. Those aspects of the workshop are very rich. I enjoy this very much."

Shirley wants the workshop to become a self-organizing annual event. That way, the learning can continue through the co-operation of communities rather relying on a couple of individual co-ordinators.

Communication, affirmation and recognition are paths to that goal, he said.

New website

The Matchbox Gallery is helping the participants connect with galleries in the south as a way to independently sustain their work. The gallery will promote a new database of artists next month.

The website features artist bios along with photos of their work.

"The database now doesn't reflect what it should, but it's a start," he said. "Here's a situation where technology really creates an opportunity for people to get known."

The gallery's approach to building the Northern arts community emphasizes the people doing the work and how the art is connected to where they live, their backgrounds and their traditions.

The artists come from Arviat, Coral Harbour, Repulse Bay, Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet.

The workshop runs until March 17.