BAKER LAKE/KIVALLIQ - Baker Lake has agreed to purchase a second set of drawings from renowned Manitoban artist Gerald Kuehl.

A pencil artist, Kuehl is wellknown across the region for his stunning portraits of Kivalliq elders.

The recent order is for 15 Kuehl drawings. Baker's had 12 of his elder portraits hanging in its community hall since 2005.

Kuehl is also shipping 20 elder portraits to Chesterfield Inlet later this week, with 10 being for the hamlet and 10 for the elders pictured in the drawings.

The artist will be spending most of the next two years working on drawings of elders from Coral Harbour.

That will leave Rankin Inlet as the only Kivalliq community that does not have any of Kuehl's elder portraits on display.

"I've done five elders from Coral and I'm returning there this summer to take more photographs and conduct more interviews," said Kuehl.

"I hope to have 10 or 12 Coral drawings completed sometime within the next year.

"There are another 10 to 12 elders I want to do in Baker, which will take me about five years to complete."

Kuehl said Rankin doesn't seem to have a venue it considers satisfactory to hang his elder portraits.

He said a set hangs in Tusarvik School in Repulse Bay, and Don St. John has a private collection displayed in Arviat.

"The Hamlet of Arviat does want a set for public display at its community hall, but nothing has been finalized on that and I haven't pushed it because I'm been so busy with my other work.

"It's kind of sad there's none in Rankin, to be honest, but I hope to be in the community this coming month and maybe I'll touch base with them about it then.

"I've still got a lot of work remaining in the Kivalliq, so I'll be in the region for awhile."

Kuehl has been asked to be the keynote speaker at a special arts conference at the Winnipeg Arts Gallery this fall for the Special Area Group.

He said people will be coming from across Canada to attend workshops at the convention dealing with all avenues of education.

"I will be speaking to more than 300 art teachers about social justice.

"Because I've spent the past 12 years travelling across northern and central Manitoba and Nunavut for my art, I've learned a heck of a lot through my interviews about the social injustice that's gone on with our indigenous people.

"That's, basically, what I'll be talking about: the elders and their lives south and North of 60, including the forced relocations and residential school issues that went on in the Kivalliq.

"Just like those who attend, I'll be at the convention for art, but also to tell some of the stories I've uncovered while talking to the elders I draw, so I'm really looking forward to that this fall."