Finding the inner artist
Art workshop helps Kivalliq artists hone their skills
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 12, 2014
RANKIN INLET
A number of beautiful art pieces were produced during an art therapy workshop in Rankin Inlet this past week.
Ippiksaut Friesen displays the portrait of her mother she painted during a Kivalliq Inuit Association sponsored art therapy workshop in Rankin Inlet this past week.
- Darrell Greer/NNSL photo |
Sponsored by the Kivalliq Inuit Association (KIA), the event had regional participants from Rankin, Arviat, Baker Lake and Repulse Bay.
A combination of bad weather and flight cancellations prevented art students from Coral Harbour, Whale Cove and Chesterfield Inlet from arriving.
The workshop was supported by Calm Air and Inns North, and led by Rob Saley and Paul Mantrop of Collingwood, Ont.
Instruction was offered in water paint, acrylics, wall-hanging, sewing, marketing and more.
One of the workshop's more well-known participants was Rankin's-own Ippiksaut Friesen, who now resides in Inuvik, NWT.
Friesen graduated from Emily Carr University with a bachelor degree in media arts and a major in animation.
She starred in the short film, Throat Song, in 2011, and her graduate project, The Dimming, took two awards at the Toronto International Film Festival, as well as the Best Youth Award at the ImagineNative Media Arts Festival in 2012.
She is also known for her work on The Adventures of Artie the Ant in 2011.
Friesen said she was asked to help instruct the workshop by the KIA's Daisy Panika because she was a participant in 2006.
She said she started as a portrait artist in high school and her love for media arts grew from there.
"What I like about art is that there's a story in an art piece that gives a real insight into the stage a person is at in their life," said Friesen.
"It can express someone to the world in a way words just can't describe.
"I really like that they invite people to the workshop of all different ages, who have an interest in art or sewing.
"I never really saw myself becoming a professional artist until I came to this program in 2006, because they really felt I could succeed as an artist and encouraged me to go to school."
Friesen said growing up, she didn't believe she would ever attend university.
She said that came mainly from being told she would never go by some teachers she had while living in the south with her family.
"You have access to different types of media in this program, and the participants just need to be here to express themselves. I received so much encouragement here in 2006, as well as help from many people in the community like Jim Shirley of the Matchbox Gallery.
"People can draw landscapes from a memory in this program, if that's what they want, or a portrait of someone they love from a photograph.
"The first time I was at this workshop it was as a participant, and now I'm an instructor working next to people who have taught me in the past."
Saley created a line of cartoon characters while in arts school called Bucket Fish.
During the past year, he's been trying to do regional Bucket Fish from the different places he travels to.
"While working in Rankin this time, I thought I'd try my hand at creating an ulu fish," said Saley.
"It's a sort of a char-inspired fish with a beluga tail and some seal aspects.
"I'm trying to create something that feels like it's from the North by culling from different elements."
Saley was an art instructor at the week-long camp for Inuit youth in 2006.
He said he returned in 2007 and found it incredibly awesome to come back in 2014.
"We started this workshop with some basic drawing exercises we picked up while attending art college some 20 years ago. But, the real reason we're here is to help people with their individual projects.
"We're here to facilitate whatever interests the artists have.
"We don't want people to paint like us, but, rather, to find the artist within themselves."
Saley said if he, Mantrop and Friesen did anything to help each participant become that artist, they accomplished what they set out to do.
"We don't want to change anybody.
"We want to develop the artist that they all ready are.
"Everyone was very open to trying different techniques, and we brought a huge amount of art supplies.
"We all had a wonderful time during the workshop and, if you're painting with a smile on your face and enjoying your time, it translates into the art you're creating."
