INUVIK - In a corner of the Cafe Gallery, Ron English sits at his laptop with a coffee.

Inuvik based artist Ron English with some of his works on display at the Cafe Gallery on Mackenzie Road. - Aaron Beswick/NNSL photo

The walls behind him display his work – eagles and bears, landscapes, images of old Gwich'n tales.

English's techniques are as varied as his wandering conversation and history, split, like him, between south and north.

"This one takes a lot from the pointilism style – they were a bunch of French artists in the late 1800s who everyone thought was crazy at first, sort of like me," said English, who peppers his conversation with jokes at his own expense.

A painting of the Mackenzie River takes more from the impressionists, while there's an eagle done in the Ojibway style and a bear in the manner of the Sahtu artists. One common theme is the mixing of traditional aboriginal themes with those of Western culture.

The works include a brass polar bear, from one angle appearing as a traditional work, while from another it takes the long clean lines of modern architecture.

"There isn't much appreciation up here for someone who takes traditional art and modernizes it," said English. "So they asked that I come by and rock the boat a little bit."

This is the first art show for the artist who grew up between Fort McPherson and Calgary.

"My memories are split between fish camps and Northern life and city life."

His life has also been spent in print shops and art studios, school, surveying jobs and entrepreneurial endeavours as a graphic artist, between Alberta and Inuvik. For the last year and a half he's been running a design company in Inuvik called E3 Grafix. Business is good and he's enjoying talking to people about his art at the gallery, but, as always, his mind wanders again.

"People always ask me, are you going to stick around for a while snowbird? I say, I don't know, I've got this plan."

The dream bouncing around English's head as he sat at the Cafe Gallery surrounded by his work is actually an old one for him – enrol at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, learn new techniques and refine old ones. Life for English is a series of adventures and as he nears his 50th birthday, he doesn't seem about to change tack.

"It's been fun."

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