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LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
After about 16 hours of designing, gluing and cutting, Kathryn Scott was ready to show off her traditional vest to the residents of Fort Simpson.

Kathryn Scott displays the vest she made during a week-long workshop held at the Open Sky Gallery on Oct. 3. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo

Scott and 11 other participants presented their creations, which they made during a week-long workshop, to the public on Oct. 3 at the Open Sky Gallery.

Scott said she was very pleased with the end product and enjoyed the experience.

"I feel a little more comfortable working with hide," Scott said. "In some ways it's very neat working with it because you cut and you have a finished edge, you don't have it unravelling."

D'Arcy Moses of Wrigley instructed the workshop, held from Sept. 17 to 21 during the evenings. The class was made possible with help from Devonian Metals Inc., Industry, Tourism and Investment, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Open Sky Creative Society.

Moses guided the students through the entire process.

First, participants were asked to decide if they wanted to create either a vest or a skirt out of elk, deer, moose or buffalo hide. They then sketched the front and back of the item and did some practice work, making small pouches to hold sewing materials. Then they started cutting and gluing their creations. The sewing was left to Moses.

In the future, Scott said she would like to learn that aspect of the process, as well. Scott said she learned a lot.

"I am a sewer so I’m pretty comfortable with a lot of these things, patterns and cutting. But it is a different technique for sure and I found (the hide) in a way not as forgiving of mistakes," she said, adding they were lucky to have an instructor who always found a way to rescue the material.

Participant Barb Tsetso said she was hesitant about attending the class at first but really enjoyed it. Moses was very helpful and supportive, she said.

"It wasn't really hard. D'Arcy made it so easy," Tsetso said, adding she was pleased with the vest she made for her daughter to wear. "It was lots of fun."

Moses learned the practice 15 years ago from elders in the North. It was great to be able to pass the knowledge onto others, he said.

"The traditional economy is fast disappearing in the Northwest Territories. People still hunt and trap and fish up here but not to make a living. It's more now of a subsistence living and in terms of the arts and crafts there's hardly anybody doing them in the emerging generations so all that knowledge is being lost with the passing of Dene elders," he said. "And it's important, even just starting with something as simple as this, to keep it alive and keep the interest in the community."

The creations that came out of the workshop will be on display at the gallery until Oct. 19.

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