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IQALUIT - Saila Kipanek's smile is broad as he describes his work. The veteran craftsman has been drawing the shapes of Northern animals from cold stone for decades, but despite the skill evident in his creations, Kipanek is his own harshest critic.

"I'm never satisfied. I learn from every piece I work on. Even after you're done then you got to try and sell them."

Saila Kipanek displays a narwhal sculpture he created. The Arctic serpentine soapstone came from a quarry near Cape Dorset and the tusk is made from real narwhal ivory. - Gabriel Zarate/NNSL Photo

Three carvings sit on the table beside him in the foyer of the Igluvut building in Iqaluit. Two are narwhals, each complete with an ivory tusk Kipanek carved out of actual narwhal ivory. The third is a beluga, similar but without the toothy appendage. The smallest of the three took Kipanek more than two days to carve.

Kipanek speaks of the focus required to produce a quality carving. Rushing, he points out, helps no one because in the end you'll just have a carving you aren't happy with.

His craft has forced him to learn patience, a trait vital to the traditional Inuit way of life.

"Our ancestors as Inuit were very, very patient as people before," Kipanek said. "Today's people are very different. People used to go out hunting for days and they wouldn't come back until they got food."

Kipanek was born in a camp near Cape Dorset and spent his early years on the land. At age 10 he moved to Iqaluit and grew up there. He began carving at age 12, but didn't really take it seriously for nearly 20 years.

Since then Kipanek's work has been displayed in galleries and exhibitions across North America as well as in his own gallery in Apex, Gallery by the Red Boat.

Kipanek is self-taught, but he's not the first in his family to produce artwork. His father was Pauta Saila, whose sculptures of dancing polar bears have earned national and international recognition.

Unfortunately, business has been slow for months. Kipanek blames the weak economy. "People just don't want to spend money right now," he lamented.

So he's out most weekdays in the Igluvuk building and the Frobisher Inn on Saturdays. Sundays he neither carves nor sells, to properly honour the Sabbath.

When asked where he draws his inspiration Kipanek replied, "Mostly from stone, from the body space of the stone. I used to think, 'What will I carve today?' But that didn't work for me."

Most of the stone Kipanek works with comes out of quarries near Kimmirut and Cape Dorset through a local supplier in Iqaluit. The various shades of green found in so many Inuit carvings are Arctic serpentine soapstone, but Kipanek also works with marble.

Adding ivory to his sculptures is a relatively new thing for Kipanek. He first tried his hand at ivory carving in 2002 after more than 20 years of carving stone, caribou antler and wood. He used to polish the ivory parts of his sculptures until they shined, but he found that the ivory tended to look fake when he did that, so he stopped.

"Life is still a learning process," he said with a smile.