Rankin Inlet (Sep 11/06) - A group of aspiring young artists had the opportunity to improve their skills with a special guest in Rankin Inlet recently.

Artist Jim Kogelheide of London, Ont., held the youth art program as part of his Rankin stop to unveil the fourth segment in his project, "Canada: Glorious to Be."

The project will see a unique piece of art donated to each Canadian province and territory and, once completed, he said, will be the biggest cross-continental, inter-connected and animated rendering series in the world.

Kogelheide unveiled the Nunavut segment at the Siniktarvik Hotel, Aug. 29.

He also displayed each painting made by the Rankin youth during the three-day program at the Pulaarvik Kablu Friendship Centre.

Kogelheide supplied the material used by the kids in the program, and he also helped them develop their poetry skills.

"We lost a few kids along the way, but the ones who came every day did a great job," said Kogelheide.

"They did their painting, wrote some nice poetry and, I hope, learned a little about the importance of protecting our environment.

"The great thing about a program like this is that the kids have a lot of fun and don't realize they're learning at the same time."

Janine Gordon signed up for the program as soon as it was announced because she likes doing art and writing poetry.

She enjoys drawing pictures of dogs, especially her own husky, Snowflake.

"I came to the class all three days and really had a lot of fun," said Gordon.

"My favourite part was learning how to paint a picture the right way from a real artist."

Christine Tootoo said she signed up out of curiosity.

She wanted to check out the class to see what Kogelheide would be doing.

"I really like doing artwork and I draw a lot at home and at school," said Tootoo.

"I enjoy drawing flowers the most, but I enjoyed doing the picture we made in class, too. We learned about things like global warming and Jim made the class fun."