Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Mar 22/02) - Two Delta artists will be travelling to Virginia to display their art and demonstrate their artwork.

Ruth Wright from Inuvik and Tuk's Bill Nasogaluak are at the Virginia Tech State University in Blacksburg, Va., this week to demonstrate their craft and learn from other artists.

Carolyne Beale, the assistant director at the Reynolds Homestead, part of Virginia Tech's continuing education department, said arctic art is very popular in the United States.

"It's very highly collectible and what we have here is absolutely gorgeous," she said.

The craftsmanship and choice of stone, she added, is very impressive to Americans.

"I'll be at Virginia Tech for two weeks at a show put on by Dr. Joanne McNeal, who used to put on the fine arts program up here in Inuvik," Wright said.

She enjoys working in all types of media, but will be demonstrating paper making at the workshop.

"I like making paper and art from that paper," Wright said, adding that she also makes jewelry, sews, paints and carves.

"I'll be taking working workshops, I'll be giving workshops and I'll be displaying my art," she said.

From Virginia, Wright will travel to Indiana to put on a paper making workshop with Darlene Patterson -- a woman who conducted an art exchange during last year's Great Northern Arts Festival.

While there, Wright plans to do some digging into some old family roots.

"My grampa, Roy Wright, was born in Indiana, so I'm going to meet some long-lost relatives when I'm down there," she smiled.

At the age of 15, her grandfather worked his way across the U.S. to the West Coast and travelled north until he arrived in Aklavik, where he met his wife, Gladys.

Bill Nasogaluak from Tuk will be leading daily workshops with a local woodcarving guild and several members of the guild will be taking his soapstone carving class.

"They're an interesting lot," he said. "One of them used to be in law enforcement and would chase moonshiners out of the woods."

He and his son Lyle took the trip together and plan to stay in the state for about a month.

Last weekend the two went into the Blue Ridge Mountains to quarry 450 kilograms of soapstone they will be carving for the workshops and Bill will be teaching Lyle the trade.

"They are beautiful mountains, but not like our Rockies," Nasogaluak said. "They are big rolling hills and the stone is beautiful -- it's a black soapstone."

Bill and Lyle will be staying in Virginia to participate in a tribal artist's seminar in April.

"It will be a good opportunity for Lyle to relate to some of the younger native artists in this area," he added.