TUKTOYAKTUK - Ryan Taylor first picked up a chunk of soapstone out of boredom. Twenty years later, he now makes his living as one of Tuktoyaktuk's youngest and most well known carvers.

Ryan Taylor, a stone carver for 20 years, hasn't gotten bored with his craft. - photo courtesy of Christine Macdonald

The 32-year-old father of three sells about half of his carvings in gift shops across the North, while the other half go to buyers by commission. His carvings of traditional hunting scenes and Northern wildlife have ended up in homes, businesses and exhibits across Canada and internationally in places such as New York, Chicago, Japan and Australia.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and National Defence Minister Peter MacKay each took home one of Taylor's carvings during their visit to Inuvik last year.

Taylor usually carves about 12 pieces a week, enough to support his family year-round - something he never thought he'd be able to do with his art when he was just starting out. His father, Bobby Taylor Pokiak, was an avid bone carver and his brothers Derrald and Ron are established stone carvers in their own right.

"When we were young, my dad used to carve bone (at) the house and tourists used to come right in, so it just became second nature. That's the way pretty well all of us learned how to carve, because we were always seeing tourists," Taylor said. "My dad used to always try to get us into carving, but I wasn't interested in it."

But one day, having nothing better to do, 12-year-old Taylor hung around his brothers as they carved and noticed a tiny, half-finished soapstone bear the other two had gotten tired of working on.

"I grabbed it and I finished it off and that was my first piece," he said. "And it sold, to make it even better."

Later he began to hone his craft, sharpening his skills with carvings of whales, seals and walruses. Now, his specialty subjects are muskoxen and kayakers - their traditional way of hunting continues to captivate his interest. But one carving means more to him than all the rest: a depiction of an Inuvialuit drumming woman that's based on his mother wearing her sunburst parka.

"When we were younger my mom used to - well, she still has her parkie - and she used to walk around with it and I always remembered that," Taylor said. "I remember scenes in my head."

No matter how many Inuvialuit drumming women he carves, though, he can't manage to keep one for himself - it's too popular among his customers.

"I tried to keep it and couldn't. People see it," he said, even when he keeps them in his home.

But it's his customers who have kept him from getting bored as a carver over the past two decades.

"What really keeps a carver going when you're getting bored ... you do a piece and you're unsure and stuff, then somebody sees it and they're just excited. So that just gives you more gas," he said.