Baker Lake (Mar 29/06) - Despite living in a place just crawling with artists, illustrator and carver, Simon Tookoome sets himself apart.

The Baker Lake elder dedicates the colder months to drawing abstract images of animals and shamans, pulling inspiration from his surroundings.

When his career first bloomed, he drew images from the stories his mother would tell.

Throughout the warmer season, he resorts to carving soapstone at his cabin near home.

This story isn’t rare, in fact, it’s average.

But Tookoome is not.

Through translations from his daughter Nancy, Tookoome said he considers his art, specifically his drawings, unique compared to others because he simply draws different things.

"He feels like after looking at other artists' art, they mainly focus on one item, one seal or one bear, etc.," said Nancy.

"And he says to himself there has to be different images that I can create. Like an animal figure attached to a human body, for example."

And how many others are known for their work with the whip?

"Every time he leaves for art shows, he always brings his whip," said Nancy.

His highly crafted skills with the dog whip include snapping off one pop can at a time when lined five inches apart.

He also plays around with cigarettes. Setting one on the floor, he cracks his whip and slices the smoke in half, and then again, this time slicing the filter clean off.

Another trick is putting a pop can one foot in front of him and whipping it away using a 35-foot whip.

Nancy says this takes serious skill.

He left the outpost camp he was born in near Cambridge Bay when they ran out of supplies. Hearing the post near Baker Lake never suffered that problem, he trekked across the Kitikmeot in 1967.

A couple of years later, he moved to Baker.

"He enjoys living in Baker Lake because he can do whatever he pleases. It is beautiful. The lake is considered to have the freshest waters in the world," Nancy translated.

"The caribou are the best tasting and so are the wolves and wolverines. He has a cabin about 12 kilometres north of here and during the spring and summer he spends most of his time carving soapstone."

This winter he has been teaching kids in school to draw.

He’s also a Ranger and Justice of the Peace.

Although Tookoome may be out of town sometimes for art shows and what not, his daughter Nancy and son Johnny are often available.