NNSL (Mar 30/98) - Elisapee Itulu is an artist without a canvas.

Itulu, a printmaker and carver, lives in Kimmirut where there is no studio and it's not legal to make prints at home without a business licence.

"I'm not allowed to print and prints as long as I'm going to sell them," she said. "That's what housing told me." In the meantime, she's tries to cram months worth of work into brief trips elsewhere.

"I try to print every time I go down to Iqaluit or Pang," she said. "In Iqaluit, there's a print shop through the Arctic College."

When the weather warms up she plans to pursue her talents at soapstone carving. In contrast to printmaking obstacles, she said she has little trouble acquiring the soapstone because her eldest brother picks it up by boat in the Markham Bay, between Kimmirut and Cape Dorset.

She sells usually sells her art in Iqaluit.

Sometimes when she can't get inspired, she said she pursues other crafts, weaving and sewing.

Itulu's father is the well-known carver and print-maker Davidee Itulu. She said she learned the basics of the arts from her parents.

"I decided to do it myself," she said, adding that her parents encouraged her. She went on to take a two-year print-making program Arctic College.

She said her mother and father first saw her work after she graduated from the course in 1995.

"In the first place they didn't really believe my work, but they do now," she said.

Itulu recently attended the Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop in Ottawa and said it was very beneficial to her.

"I'd never seen basket making in my whole life," she said.

"I had a great time along with the other women."