Tuktoyaktuk (July 05/04) - Annie Felix sits at a small sewing table in her Tuktoyaktuk arts and crafts store grasping a newly delivered muskrat pelt.

Tuktoyaktuk's Annie Felix stands in her arts and craft shop, a popular stop for tourists visiting the Beaufort Sea hamlet. - Andrew Raven/NNSL photo

She runs her hand over the whiskers sprouting from the ragged looking fur, which is dotted with holes and tears.

"These take a lot of work," she says, pointing to a semi-circular gash about the size of a quarter.

"But the tourists sure do like them when they're like this," she says with a laugh.

Within a few days, the Tuktoyaktuk native will transform the beleaguered looking pelt into a pair of traditional Inuvialuit slippers -- an art that Felix says is becoming increasingly rare.

The slippers will eventually find their way onto the shelves of Felix's Fur Shop, Tuktoyaktuk's pre-eminent spot for Inuvialuit artistry. The store, which was opened by Felix's mother in the late 1980s, features everything from carvings, to Felix's traditional slippers, to used licence plates.

"These are really popular because of their shape," Felix says as she unwraps a new batch of polar bear plates.

She also sells work from Tuk artists, who drop off their work at the store on a relatively random basis.

Felix has learned to adapt to the tourist market. Her store carries rocks and water from the Arctic Ocean along with sunglasses.

"They like the small stuff," she said of the several thousand visitors who pass through Tuktoyaktuk each year, usually on day tours.

Foreign chat

Felix says the best part about running the store is chatting with visitors, some of whom come from far flung locations including California, England and even Switzerland.

"It's always nice to chat with them about where they're from and explain to them a bit about what life is like here in Tuk," she said.

Tourists have provided steady business for Felix, who took over the store in 2000, following the death of her mother.

When she has time, Felix fills out the shelves with traditional footwear and mittens. It's an art she learned from her mother and mother-in-law. She said the younger generation isn't as interested in the ways of the past.

"My daughter doesn't even sew," she says with a laugh.