Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

INUVIK (July 30/99) - Close to 100 artists from across the vast North joined up in Inuvik from July 16-25 for the Great Northern Arts Festival.

Six were Yellowknife artists and at least two were experiencing this peerless event for the very first time -- potter Linco Schoenne and painter Ann Timmins.

Both were bowled over by the whole experience of meeting up with so many artists of such varied gifts.

"Big...huge..." begins Schoenne.

"When I walked in I was overwhelmed. I thought it was just a really nice setup. I liked the way all the work was intermixed."

The look of the gallery, which everyone present continuously and rightly praised, was the responsibility of one of the original festival founders, Charlene Alexander.

"I was surprised by how busy the whole place was," admits Timmins.

"There was so much going on. Meeting a lot of people from Whitehorse and from other areas, as opposed to just the local thing was really neat."

The length of the festival, notes Timmins, encouraged people to get to know each other.

Both Schoenne and Timmins gave workshops for other artists and the public at large. Timmins was a little leery since she'd never taught before.

"In this instance, because I worked with the artists group first, it was really different. They were listening and they were interested and they applied their own ideas to the dye painting."

For her, this helped pave the way to teaching the public. Workshops lasted approximately four hours on any given day. Some artists gave one or two, others gave one each day.

"It was so much fun," exclaims Schoenne, who, incidentally, sold all 30 pieces she'd taken up with her.

Unlike other artists, such as the carvers, Schoenne did not make any pots to sell while on site.

"That's something I regret. A lot of artists, the carvers especially, were making pieces and then putting them out. So were some of the painters. It hadn't even crossed my mind. I would do that for sure next time."

For Schoenne, meeting the other artists was the highlight of the festival.

"I just walked in and I felt like I fit right in. People were so nice. So many good things seemed to be happening. I just really had a good feeling leaving there."

Asked what she's taken away from the experience, Timmins says that such events help artists to feel that art is viable for people to do.

"It's not a frill," she adds. "This really proves that art gives people life, gives people that excitement."

Schoenne will soon be opening her first shop, Linco's Pottery Nook, while Timmins has her work hanging at Javaroma (the big one).