INUVIK - Inuvik resident Kevin Floyd sat snugly in the skeleton of his partially-made Eastern Arctic designed kayak near one of the entrances of the Great Northern Arts Festival workshop section at the rec centre on Saturday.

Floyd and his friend Paul Lalonde of Victoria, who has already constructed eight kayaks, had spent the day piecing together the vessel that will fit him like a glove.

Kevin Floyd checks to make sure his Greenland-style kayak fits him perfectly. Floyd and his friend Paul Lalonde of Victoria were constructing the vessel at the Great Northern Arts Festival on Saturday. The Inuvik resident said the art of kayak building helps him to connect with his culture. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photo

It isn't the first time he has tried his hand at kayak building; it's his second. Last year he built an Inuvialuit kayak.

His proud creation towered over the artists' showcase room during this year's festival. A purely organic work of art, its frame was built from silver spruce, which he cut himself from the shores of the Mackenzie River east channel. The ribs were made of willow from the land, and the vessel's frame was constructed without nails. His wife Jennifer Lem, an accomplished local artist, helped him with the finer details of sewing the canvas on.

Floyd is a hybrid of various bloodlines, including Inuvialuit, Scottish and Dene. His great-grandfather was a Portuguese whaler. A proud Inuvialuit, he explains kayaks were once the only means for his forefathers to gather food for their families and in remaking the vessel he wanted to keep that history alive and reconnect with the past.

"I wanted to understand the culture of the kayak," he said. "I wanted to understand the construction processes the elders used a long time ago and I thought the best way to do that was to just go and build it.

"One of these joints you see represents a whole background of knowledge and by preserving this you're in part learning about sled making, and lots of avenues and disciplines of our culture. We might as well start somewhere."

A work in progress of he and his buddies, which is based on a Greenland kayak model, looks similar to an Inuvialuit kayak except the designs are very different. The Greenland kayak boasts a shallower hull and is a little less agile and speedy in water.

But the same care goes into the craftsmanship of both vessels. The deck beams, for example, are spaced evenly throughout the length of the boat, maintaining its shape, and are attached to the gunnels by artificial sinew. The sinew lines keep the deck beams in place by distributing the force of the potentially rough ocean waters evenly. Because the kayaks are generally made from one piece of wood, it holds a uniform consistency, making it easier to manoeuvre in water.

"If you build them right, you get a little rolling machine," said Floyd.

Floyd grew up in Victoria and spent several summers leading kayak tours around Vancouver Island's Beaufort Range area. Hired as the Inuvialuit Development Corporation Arctic Youth Leadership co-ordinator, he moved to Inuvik in April 2008.

He mostly kayaks on the Mackenzie River East Channel. His aims to get youth out there with him, hoping they'll get hooked, too.

"It's a part of our culture," he said. "I just want to preserve that culture. If we don't, then it's going to disappear."

A huge fan of the Great Northern Arts Festival, he said it's offered him an opportunity to learn more stories about his people and other cultures across the North.

"I love the festival," he said. "It's bringing groups from all over the Arctic and the continent together just to celebrate the arts. They all have amazing stories. You go in the country foods tents and you get fascinating stories about life on the land. You'll get the history of the Arctic in the last 80 years, and really in-depth. It's a really special venue."

Roberta Memogana made the trip from Ulukhaktok to attend the festival, which ended on Sunday. She said Floyd deserved a lot of credit for recreating a work of art that was once key to the survival of the Inuvialuit.

"It's important; it's part of who we are," she said. "It's the only way that our ancestors could hunt and he deserves a lot of credit for bringing it back for the youth to see."