SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - After graduating this year from the textile design program at Capilano College in Vancouver, jewelry designer Caroline Blechert isn't taking a break from her artistic education.

Textile artist and jewelry designer Caroline Blechert holds a selection of Northern jewelry she will display in Inuvik this week. She uses smoked caribou hide, dyed porcupine quills, caribou antler, shells, beads and metals in her traditional designs. - Daron Letts/NNSL photo

The 21-year-old artist is traveling to Inuvik to meet other artists and build on her skills.

She said she is eager to attend as many workshops as she can during her fourth visit to the festival, especially on embroidery and beading.

"Whatever I learn I will probably experiment with and explore (during the festival)," she said. "The festival is so rich in culture and that's what I enjoy most - being around other like-artists and to express and celebrate my culture with the community."

While her Inuvialuit heritage inspires her choice of media, Blechert blends many traditions in her work.

"I actually draw from a lot of cultures, not necessarily my own, but the materials I work with are ones my grandmother used to work with," she said.

Blechert's maternal grandmother, Annie Kunuk, lived in Inuvik.

Blechert uses dyed porcupine quills, smoked caribou hide, antler, shells and metals in her bracelet and earring designs.

"Anything interesting that I find I try to incorporate it into my jewelry," she said.

She designed earrings to bring to the festival that she made using dentalium, a rare kind of shell found on the ocean floor and used decoratively for millennia by First Nations along the Pacific Coast.

"They are really hard to come across," she said of the long, thin and smooth white shells. "I like to pick up new techniques and new materials as I continue to expand my line."

Blechert will continue pursuing her education after returning from Inuvik. She returns to school to study jewelry design at La Salle College in Quebec for the fall semester. When she graduates from that program, she plans to pursue a degree in studio arts from the Santa Fe School for the Indian Arts in New Mexico.