Yellowknife (Mar 10/06) - A Yellowknife gallery is calling for female artists this month.

For the rest of March, Nor-Art International Gallery will be dedicating most of its display space to female Northern artists in a show called Women of the North.

Jen Walden shows off her paintings at Nor-Art International Gallery in Centre Square Mall. Her work is part of a month-long feature called Women of the North, which attempts to give a stronger voice to Northern female artists. - Adam Johnson/NNSL photo

Della Green, store manager, said the program is designed to give female painters, sculptors and artisans a stronger voice in the art world.

"I don't think women are nearly as exposed as they should be," she said. "I'm just trying to get the ball rolling."

Green said she has sent invitations for submissions throughout the NWT and Nunavut, both to established artists and community centres that could "get the word out." She has already received pieces from Deline, Trout Lake and Yellowknife, among others.

Jen Walden, who has three paintings featured at the gallery, said she appreciates Green's aims "because there aren't a lot of places to show out here."

However, she said she already feels well-supported by Yellowknife's arts scene. Walden is also a musician, fronting the band Transience, and is the assistant coach for the NWT female hockey team at the Arctic Winter Games.

Karen Wright-Fraser, a traditional clothing artisan featured in the show, called Green's belief that female Northern artists are underexposed the "understatement of the year."

She said women's art, and particularly the traditional art of aboriginal women, is severely undervalued and underfunded in the arts community. As a result, she said, this form of traditional art is "slowly dying."

Wright-Fraser said she appreciates Green's efforts to put women in the spotlight, but feels it won't help the broader problems female artists face. Wright-Fraser sells her work through her store and workshop, Whispering Willows, which she said will be closing soon due to financial pressure.