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IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY
The project seemed a little overwhelming at first but one glass tile at a time, Cambridge Bay students and elders created a mosaic with images of seals, Arctic char, caribou and the Northern lights in the community late last year.

Cambridge Bay residents Mary Kilaodluk, left, and Anna Nahogaloak help gluing glass tiles in the iglu and drum dancer scene for a mosaic at the May Hakongak Community Library and Cultural Centre. The mosaic was done late last year. - photo courtesy of Renee Krucas

The 3.9 square metres mosaic – about 3.6 metres long by 1.8 metres high – has rested on a wall of the May Hakongak Community Library and Cultural Centre in Cambridge Bay since Dec. 2.

"The curvy rows are meant to represent the Northern lights and on each level, there are different animals represented of the North," said Tanya MacFarlane, a southern-based mosaic artist who flew to the community to help create the mosaic. She added some of the animals represented are Arctic char, seals and caribou.

MacFarlane, also the owner of Mosaic Beach studio in Toronto, worked with some junior and high school students as well as elders on how to create the mosaic and install it. The participants cut glass tiles into 650-millimetre sections, and glued and grouted the tiles into place at a rate of about one metre per day.

"Once we have a design, we blow it up to the size," she said. "We cut the materials and replace them to follow the design. Once we glue the design onto mesh, then we take the mesh and we install the mesh on the wall. Once the mesh is installed, then we grout it."

She added the process took 10 days, including six longer than 12 hours. MacFarlane said she really enjoyed her experience.

One of the elders who participated is Anna Nahogaloak, who glued glass tiles in the iglu and drum dancer scene, amongst other things. The Cambridge Bay elder said the mosaic is beautiful with a nice design, and she would get involved in building another one if the opportunity came up.

"I've never done that before so it was something new for me and I really enjoyed it," she said. "It's very, very beautiful because it's got iglus, seals, caribou and birds."

The construction, 18-months ago, of a children's playhouse under the stairs of the May Hakongak Community Library and Cultural Centre left a bare wall with an awkward shape. Unsure how to decorate it, the idea came to build a mosaic to fill the space, explained Renee Krucas, executive director of the Kitikmeot Heritage Society.

"The kids are so proud of it, the elders who worked on it are so proud of it and everybody just loves it because it is so different – it's so unique," she said. "And it's not something that has been done up here. It's really the first mosaic project that's ever been done in Cambridge Bay."

Krucas said the participants were nervous at first, enterprising a complicate project, but they learned they could do it. They also had to use math and geometry skills.

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