HAY RIVER - Brendalynn Trennert grew up around tufting, but never bothered with the traditional art form as a child.

Brendalynn Trennert is a full-time professional tufter, as of last month. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"I never touched it," she said, adding she only helped her mother sort moose hair into grey, white, brown and black while growing up near Fort Providence.

"I never even thought of tufting," said Trennert, who now lives in Hay River, adding she instead dreamed of being a wildlife officer or a fashion designer.

It was not until she was attending Yellowknife's Sir John Franklin School in her late teens that a teacher turned her towards tufting.

The teacher asked if she could tuft some moose hair items for him, and she agreed.

"He saw something in me I didn't even see," she said, adding she will be forever grateful for that.

Trennert said the teacher probably knew her mother was well-known for moose hair tufting.

She completed four tuftings for the teacher, but it turned out not to be what he wanted.

"I was pretty upset," Trennert said.

She explained he wanted four traditional tuftings featuring flowers. However, her tuftings featured ptarmigans, trees and pussy willows, and she used caribou hair.

"So right from the start I was a caribou-hair girl," she said, noting it is much finer than moose hair.

Trennert was ready to throw out the tuftings, but her parents encouraged her to continue with the art.

"I've been doing it ever since," she said.

Trennert has been a part-time professional artist since graduating high school - working various jobs during the day and honing her art at night. She also went to college in Edmonton to study to be a child and youth care worker. After college she began applying for juried aboriginal art shows.

"It just went crazy after that," she said. She travelled to art shows in the NWT, Alberta and even New Mexico while working in Hay River as a receptionist.

In 1994, she even presented a sample of her work to Queen Elizabeth in Yellowknife. However, when Trennert was 28, she took a break from her art - a break that stretched into five years.

Some southern galleries were encouraging her to change her professional name, Inuk, which honours her Inuvialuit heritage, to something more native-sounding to boost sales. The galleries also told her to change her designs to put more emphasis on polar bears and bright colours.

"I can't be told what to tuft," she said, adding that is at the heart of being an artist. "Every artist will tell you that."

Trennert recalled a talk that she had had with the late John Seagrave, co-owner of the Gallery of the Midnight Sun in Yellowknife, in 2002. Seagrave asked her if she was going to waste her talent. Trennert recalled no one else had ever said that to her.

"His words rang in my head," she recalled, adding she quietly started to tuft once again to make sure she came back strongly.

"From there, it just friggin' rock 'n' rolled after that," she said.

As of last month, Trennert became a full-time artist, and, this month, she will experience a career highlight as part of the NWT's cultural delegation at the Vancouver Olympics.

"It's absolutely, completely mind blowing," she said, adding she has worked all her life for such an event.

Trennert will display and demonstrate her work from Feb. 23 to 25, and one of her tuftings - Strength Through Fun - will put on permanent display in Whistler, B.C.

Trennert's next goal is to become a fashion designer. She graduated from Olds College in 2008 with a diploma in fashion, apparel and technology.

"One day I'm going to combine tufting and beadwork with my fashion designs," she said, noting she has designed clothes since 2007. "That's my next step, to combine those two worlds."

Trennert, who was born in Fort Simpson and grew up at a family-owned cafe and gas station on Highway 1 south of Fort Providence, said her goal is to become the NWT's best fashion designer.