.

Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Kuzy Curley was born in Nanisivik, a small mining town that used to sit just outside Arctic Bay, but he grew up in Cape Dorset. For six months out of the year he lived on the land with his grandfather, the late Kaka Ashoona. He learned to carve, hunt, build iglus and live on the land at his grandfather's camp.

"I watched my grandfather carving since I can remember," Curley said. "He is the one who encouraged me. I had dreams of being a carver like my grandfather or trying to set up an outpost camp like he did to keep the tradition alive. I don't think my grandfather had a job besides carving. He didn't have power tools. It's kind of overwhelming for me."

Stone carver Kuzy Curley. - Daron Letts/NNSL photo

Curley moved to the NWT capital at age 16. Now, eight years later he is established in Yellowknife, carving part time and working camp and construction jobs the rest of the time.

When he is away for work he brings his carving tools with him. He carved a charging polar bear while on a contract to clean up Dew Line sites north of Resolute, above the 76th parallel. This piece drew inspiration from real life.

Curley and his crew were charged by a large male bear while approaching the shoreline along Cameron Island. Their machines scared off a seal the bear had been tracking, and the bear turned his attention to the workers.

Curley recalled the bear diving off the broken ice and emerging ashore, where he stood up tall then ran full tilt toward the men.

"He was huge," Curley said. "Better get out of the way, we thought."

Back at camp, Curley spent the next few nights chipping at an 80-pound block of raw sandstone. By the time he finished, he had a 30-pound carving of a running polar bear. He sold the large piece to the Gallery of the Midnight Sun in Yellowknife.

"My favourite thing to make is the dancing bear," he said. "They are very popular."

Curley's carvings are recognized for their precision, with many of his bears balanced on one leg or in a variety of other dynamic postures.

Curley carves whalebone sometimes, and occasionally works with narwhal tusk and walrus ivory, but his first love is Cape Dorset stone.

"It's not too hard and not too soft," he said. It's good to work with, with hand files and chisels. I like the shine and the colours, blue, aqua and green. It's hard to get in Yellowknife because shipping is so expensive."

Curley also enjoys fashioning art from black marble.

"It's really hard and challenging," he said.

Most recently he has worked on his bears using white alabaster. He is working on a series of swimming bears in alabaster, displayed on a rod fixed to a stone base. This week he is working on a commissioned alabaster carving of an angel.

Sometimes Curley fills custom orders for Western arctic motifs such as the lynx, moose or bison, but he enjoys capturing the symbols of his birthplace most, such as seals and inuksuks.

This winter he depicted hunters wielding harpoons and completed a carving of a man with a sealskin whip that was inspired by a meeting with Baker Lake artist Simon Tookoome at the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik last year. Curley saw the artist demonstrate his skill with the dog whip as he showed off by snapping a cigarette held in a volunteer's lips.

Curley has attended four festivals in Inuvik since he was 19 years old. He has also displayed work, led workshops and demonstrated his art at the cultural programs during the Arctic Winter Games, Canada Summer Games and the NWT Games. He has also donated carvings to Yellowknife's Stanton Territorial Hospital, the Children's Wish Foundation and the Canadian Cancer Society.

Next fall he plans to visit to Toronto, as he has at least once a year for most of the last decade, to carve at the Eskimo Art Gallery. He hopes to showcase his work at the Olympic Games next year in Vancouver. He is preparing to launch his website this summer.

"I still have a lot to learn as a carver," he said. "But, I'm aware of who I am and where I come from. Carving is my trade. I love it. Nothing stops me from carving."