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IQALUIT - Archie Ishulutak's figurative carvings depict women caring for children, throatsinging or preparing meat and skins, hunters on the land and Inuit legends.

"I've always enjoyed Inuit culture and I try somehow to keep it alive in stone," he said.

Carver Willie Ishulutak of Iqaluit is pictured here with a recent work. - photo courtesy of Lori Idleout

Ishulutak creates his art on the land, often on the beaches of Frobisher Bay.

"I usually try to stay out in an open space where there's hardly any public," he said. "I just feel more free. I get to see the land and get inspiration from when I grew up."

The artist grew up in Apex but is now based in Iqaluit. He learned to carve by watching his brother, Paloosie, at work. He's been carving for more than 20 years.

This week he is working on a drum dancer in soap stone. The last piece he finished was a sedna in an amutik.

"When we were growing up being out on the land as kids we used to be out on the edge of the water and when we were too close our mother would shout at us a sedna might come and get (us)," he recalled. "I just imagine that she's wearing an amutik and she would put the child in the back and take it away."

When Archie's nephew Willie Ishulutak picks up an uncarved hunk of soapstone he sees a work of art deep inside.

"My father told me 'If you want to become a carver you're going to have to think hard and you won't believe what you're going to make,'" he recalled, referring to the late Paloosie Ishulutak of Pangnirtung.

Willie, who grew up in an outpost camp near Iqaluit, creates scenes with multiple carvings portraying a dog team or a hunter in a kayak pursuing a diving polar bear, walrus, loons, seals, oil lamps and majestic narwhals. His work is displayed in several major centres in the south including Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

"My first carving was a little wall hanging mask I made using files by hand," he recalled. "That was about 21 or 22 years ago. I sold it for $15 at the co-op. I was proud of myself. When my father saw that first art that I made he was proud of me."

Willie supplements the money he earns through his art with meat from hunting on the land where he grew up. He supports a large family through his art and his hunting.

"I really love to carve," he said. "I'm just happy and I really enjoy this art. That's my job. That's my passion. It's what I love to do in life."

For more artist bios, see next week's Nunavut News/North.