Jennifer Geens
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 04/04) - There are many design lessons to be learned from in the traditional crafts of Canada's Arctic regions.

"Design didn't start in the 20th century," said Elisabeth Kaine, an instructor at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi who teaches a course in aboriginal philosophy of art and design. "We can learn from artifacts to do better."

Kaine said most design courses only look at modern devices.

The exhibit Paysages divers/Diverse Views has items designed by her former students from the master's degree program in design and are displayed alongside artifacts from museum collections.

It is on display at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife until December.

"There's (also) an ecology lesson because every part of the animal is used," she said.

Tools and clothing were also individualized. She indicated a 500 year old scraper as an example. The scraper has a space precisely carved to fit one's own finger.

She compared it to a commercial scraper made in 1991 which is displayed beside the artifact.

"The modern one is designed to fit everyone and fits nobody," she said.

A third lesson for Kaine was the use of symbolic decoration on utilitarian items. That provides the item with a dual value -- one practical, one spiritual.

Kaine said aboriginal artisans of the Arctic know their environment so intimately, they come up with some ingenious designs, such as two children's coats in the exhibit.

One is a rain coat made of duck. The feathers on the outer side are waterproof. Female duckskin was used for the elbows as it's more flexible, where male duckskin was used on the arms because it's more durable.

For a coat made of Arctic hare, instead of stitching hides together the artisan cut the hareskin spirally into long strips then wove the strips together.

This technique created a coat without any drafty gaps, which has fur on both the inner and outer sides of the parka.

Diane Blacksmith of Mashteuiatsh, Que., was working at the museum at Mashteuiatsh when the exhibit came to her town. She is one of the artists with designs in the show.

A member of the Montagnais First Nation, she was fascinated by the Dene arts and crafts she saw in the NWT.

The Montagnais and the Dene use similar materials, such as porcupine quills, moose hair and antler.

"There is more detailed embroidery," she said of Dene work. "I think it's prettier."

Blacksmith designed a space divider of canvas and wood.

"I wanted the feeling I was in a tent, with the light from outside," she said.

Since embers from campfires sometimes hit the tent wall and burn holes, she made the top of the divider out of wood in a lattice form, which also evokes snowshoes. Moose hair and caribou antler also decorate the divider.