INUVIK
When the whale's jawbone is carried into the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex, it means the Great Northern Arts Festival is open on July 11 with what promises to be an eclectic cast of characters and workshops.

Marnie Hilash, the executive director of the Great Northern Arts Festival, is promising another vibrant event. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Marnie Hilash, the executive director of the festival, said she's particularly pleased with the selection of workshops being offered this year.

"There are some I want to take," she said with a laugh.

"Our workshop program in general is spectacular. I was editing it up for a short brief, and I was thinking to myself, 'I want to take that and I want to take that and I can't take any of them,'" she said.

"The kid's workshop program is free of charge and it's a really nice opportunity to work on some creative stuff."

Hilash also pointed to an appearance by a group of artists from Cape Dorset.

"We're really excited about that," she said. "It's never been done before, and they're probably the oldest and most successful artist collective in the North. So I think that works nicely with our theme of circularity and community, and provides some incentive for artists to group together and make it easier for themselves to get it to work."

Hilash said she is expecting 45 visiting artists to attend the show, which is about normal.

"I'm really excited to see all the people arrive and the different things they're going to be doing. It's going to be very lively here."

Arranging space, especially accommodations, was a tricky process this year with the Inuit Circumpolar Council meetings beginning immediately after the festival ends, she said.

As well, the 2014 Traditional Circumpolar Games will be running as well.

"It got really complicated this year, but we've got a festival that will be a spectacular event for the whole community."

Members of the Nasogaluak family are returning with their artwork, along with many other regulars.

Bambi Amos of Sachs Harbour, who won best young artist in 2013, is displaying her work again. She's been attending college in Inuvik.

"It's great to have that continuity," Hilash said.

Jen Lam is another of those artists who attends year after year. She said the festival is like "going to summer camp."

"The people here are my family now," Lam said. "I love the atmosphere and I love the multidisciplinary environment. I come from a dual background of textile and kayaks. To be able to see a venue that encompasses all these different disciplines from traditional to contemporary is something I've never seen before."

Lam said the opportunity to sit down and work with a master carver is something you won't see anywhere else at such a low price anywhere in the south.

"There's some fabulous workshops this year," Lam said. "There's one on how to make a sealskin teddy bear."

"I'm doing two workshops, one on spinning and the second is a new one, on Kumihimo, which is a Japanese form of braiding. There's a lot of cool things you can do with it. One of the things I do is bead with it.

"It's also useful for making trim," she added.

"We just want to keep opening it up and bringing in new people," Hilash said.