Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 22/02) - Three thousand kilometres to the east, Kussy Curley and Dayna Meredith, two young Sir John Franklin students, are having the time of their lives.

Both are cultural delegates in Nuuk, Greenland, for the Arctic Winter Games.

For Curley, a 17-year-old carver originally from Cape Dorset, this trip that brought him among youth from four countries and nine regions is a first. But he's so impressed with the experience that he makes a big point of saying that in July he will attend the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik.

Curley says the carvers -- himself, one from Gjoa Haven and one from Nunavik -- are working outside.

Passers-by often stop to observe them.

"(Greenland) is different. It's something else. There's a lot of nice people," says Curley.

"There's artists from all over the place," he adds.

Cultural delegates, like the athletes, come from nine circumpolar regions: Magadan, Chukotka, Alaska, Yukon, northern Alberta, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik and Greenland. There are about 100 artists and performers split between Iqaluit and Nuuk.

Meredith, also 17, finds herself surrounded by artists older than herself.

"(The other artists) are all in college, in art school. They're all 20 to 23 so I'm the youngest one. They all know a lot more about art than I do. It's a learning experience for me," says Meredith.

The visual artists have been given four pieces of seal skin to work on. Their assignment is to create work that reflects the joy and friendship of the Games.

For the young woman, who normally draws and paints in acrylics, painting on a seal skin seems a little daunting.

"It's totally different than what I'm used to working with," says Meredith.

"I'm real happy. It's so much fun."

As for the Greenlandic backdrop, Meredith says, "It's gorgeous, beautiful. You can see the ocean, the mountains are right in the city. There's old-fashioned houses everywhere."

The two artists are scheduled to return to Yellowknife Monday.