Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Jul 03/98) - On an open plain along Navy Road with the Mackenzie Delta providing a scenic backdrop, Andrew Kendi uses a woodmizer to transform driftwood into valuable lumber.

For much of each day he takes the raw logs, slices off the outside bark and cuts inner strips into two-by-fours, four-by-fours and two-by-two-inch slabs that will be turned into houses or warehouses for the Gwich'in Tribal Council.

His real love, however, stands between the woodmizer and the Delta.

There stands a life-sized partly finished sculpture of a grizzly bear Kendi has sculpted in his spare time.

"I'm bringing this dead driftwood back to life," he says. "I've seen the front paws of the bear so I got right into it."

This is the first time Kendi has used his sculpting skills on wood.

Previously he was worked with soapstone, selling many pieces both in Inuvik and Yellowknife, mostly to tourists.

He has also etched life into ice blocks, carving a four-foot-by-four-foot moose.

"It's 10 per cent talent and 90 per cent hard work," says the father of four, who is married to Susie.

Originally from Aklavik, Kendi has lived in Inuvik off and on for 15 years. He went to art school at Aurora College.

And whether he is sculpting with wood or cutting logs into lumber, he says a large part of the joy he gets out of it is knowing he is working with natural resources and helping other people get jobs in spinoff industries, such as construction or logging.

He expects to finish the bear sometime this week. "Once I get all the rough stuff out then I can put lines on it," he says.