AKLAVIK - Aklavik artist Robert Buckle is making a name for himself in the world of carving and jewelry design. Although he has had to leave Aklavik for training in the past, he recently returned after another completing a course in Yellowknife.

Robert Buckle files a piece of mammoth ivory at the Great Northern Arts Festival. Buckle recently completed training in diamond cutting and polishing. He is setting up shop in his hometown of Aklavik. - Brodie Thomas/NNSL photo

"I just moved back there this spring. I was in Yellowknife taking a diamond polishing and cutting course," he said.

Buckle said he hopes to set up a workshop and studio in Aklavik in the coming months. At the moment he does most of his work outside.

"Carving you have to do outside because it's so messy. Jewelry you can't really do inside either because it can be messy with power tools," he said.

Buckle said he started carving at an early age and his interest in art developed from there.

"I carved stone first and a bit of wood. Then the Aurora College offered a jewelry and metal work course in Inuvik back in 2000. That was a two year diploma program," he said.

Now with his diamond cutting skills, the price he can command for his work may significantly increase.

At the moment he primarily works with metal, mammoth ivory, and stone. Buckle also paints but lately he said he has been focusing on jewelry. While at the Great Northern Arts Festival last week, he was showing off his skills in the artist's workshop by working on some small carvings made from mammoth ivory.

"We do find some ivory locally in the Delta. But not all of the ivory you find can be carved. You need something that is not too brittle. When I get something that is carveable I usually make jewelry out of it," he said.

Buckle said he has never actually found a piece of mammoth ivory on his own, although he is always looking. Community members in Aklavik know he is in the market for ivory and they often bring him pieces they find on the land.

For the rest of the summer he will continue to work away and hopefully have an indoor workspace before winter.

"Even a little workplace will do but someday I would like a studio where I can not only make jewelry and carvings but bigger pieces. Some paintings and carvings and big enough space so I can teach kids these skills," he said.

Buckle has worked with youth in the past. He did a workshop on traditional fishhook making with an elder. He has also done a stone carving demonstration. He finds that kids are especially receptive to artwork.

"It would be nice to teach more," he said.