YELLOWKNIFE - Thick, chalky dust clings to everything in John Sabourin's Yellowknife studio: the walls, the floor, the beat-up stereo in the corner - even the artist himself.

Fort Simpson's John Sabourin shows off a large work-in-progress outside of his studio in Yellowknife. The gifted sculptor and painter is hard at work preparing for summer shows and workshops, following having his work displayed at the Canada Winter Games National Gallery in Whitehorse. - Adam Johnson/NNSL photo

It's the by-product of hard work, something the Fort Simpson sculptor and painter has been doing plenty of since returning from his stint as a featured artist at the 2007 Canada Winter Games National Exhibition in Whitehorse.

He was one of 10 artists selected for the gallery, along with prominent southerners Brian Jungen and BGL, and fellow Northerners Shuvinai Ashoona, Annie Pootoogook and Floyd Kuptana.

Sabourin said a highlight of the trip was speaking to Jungen about art, business and other "fun stuff."

"He just sticks to the grind," Sabourin said of his fellow artist. "He goes to his studio and spends the majority of his time working.

"This is what I do in Yellowknife."

This hard work has paid off, keeping him employed as a full-time artist, travelling to festivals and exhibitions around the North and abroad. Recently, he and his Team NWT teammates took first place in the annual National Snow Sculpting Competition at Ottawa's Winterlude Festival.

Still, the Whitehorse exhibition appearance, where his half-metre-tall chlorite sculpture Controlling the Caribou was featured prominently, left him feeling a little out of place.

"Everyone is heading off and doing big things. I feel like I'm just getting started," he said.

Sabourin said he was first inspired to pursue art during a workshop in Fort Simpson in the late 90s, which prompted him to attend the Victoria College of Art.

Now he's come full circle, running workshops for young artists-to-be at Yellowknife's William McDonald middle school, as well as upcoming stints at the Open Sky Festival in Fort Simpson.

"It's a lot of fun," he said of the workshops, which give students a break from normal school work.

"It's a break for me, too," he said. "I don't have to worry about what I'm creating, I help them create something - their own little masterpieces."

Studio broken into

His good cheer was hampered, however, by a recent break-in at his studio, where thieves made off with close to $4,000 worth of his original work.

"People sell them on the street, they sell them at the bar," he said of the culprits.

"I try not to think about it. You've got to keep going and not dwell on it."

This attitude drives Sabourin as he prepares for upcoming shows, and an upcoming move to Kingston, Ont., where his wife, Susan, plans to study for her PhD.

Therefore he can't dwell on old works, such as Controlling the Caribou, no matter how good people say they are.

"It's just another piece," he said of the work, mentioning he couldn't help but notice the "extra work" it needed after it was done and on display.

"When's a piece finished, anyways?" he said with a laugh.