ARVIAT
A minor act of vandalism led to a major piece of art being created in Arviat recently.

Charlotte Karetak stands beneath the logo she designed and painted on the Arviat youth dropin centre recently. - photo courtesy of Gord Billard

John Arnalukjuak High School's Ross Paterson said the Leadership and Resiliency Program (LRP) he works with completed a community beautification project mural at the community hall earlier this year.

He said program participants worked on the mural for a week with two artists from Toronto through the Nuschool Design Agency.

"Charlotte Karetak had been a LRP participant a number of years ago, and I asked if she'd like to shadow the artists and spend as much time with them as she could," said Paterson.

"Later on, one of the spray cans went missing from the site and some graffiti showed up on the youth drop-in centre.

"As a way of apologizing, we made a connection with Kukkik Baker who, kind of, runs the centre.

"Charlotte took a bunch of the LRP paint and did a huge mural on the centre by herself, and it really looks fantastic."

Paterson describes the mural as a collection of abstract shapes, designs and colours.

He said, from his perspective, Karetak took the initiative on her own to clean up the graffiti, but she also took it a step further by adding her own artistic flavour to the mix.

"Charlotte really showed her artistic side during her time in LRP.

"We did mask-making and mandalas in the program, and she was very engaged in those activities.

"We also asked her to design our program's logo.

"She did the logo for our LRP, and she did the logo for the youth drop-in centre, as well."

Karetak has shown a flair with her work in an arts-and-media capacity for the local wellness program for the past year.

Paterson said her career trajectory definitely seems to be in the areas of visual art and graphic design.

He said Karetak's work on the drop-in centre has been very well-received by the community.

"Our SAO, Steve England, was very happy with her work and told me the centre looks fantastic, while Mayor Bob Leonard also said it's great, so it's been really encouraging for her. The graffiti wasn't anything terrible, but it looked really bad. It was a dull beige looking building to begin with, and Charlotte covered three of its walls with really imaginative shapes, designs, and vibrant colours.

"It's really quite cool and, with art sometimes comes criticism, so it also speaks to her confidence and character."

Karetak, 19, said she began getting interested in drawing while in Grade 4.

She said the techniques she learned while spending a week with the Toronto artists helped give her the confidence to tackle the drop-in centre job.

"I was really nervous at first because it was a huge project," said Karetak. "But, as I started spay painting I began to get the hang of it. I started getting comfortable with it when both Ross (Paterson) and my boss told me I could paint whatever I felt like."

Karetak said she didn't sketch anything before starting the project.

She said once she started painting, everything started happening like it was coming out of the top of her head.

"I didn't start with a plan or anything, so most of it all just, sort of, happened by accident or instinct.

"I now have a smile on my face every time I drive to the youth centre because of the positive feedback I got on Facebook and meeting people around the community.

"They complimented me on the building and told me it really looks like a youth centre now.

"I was told the work is really eye-catching because it's so colourful."

Karetak intends to start applying to art schools this coming fall.

She said although she plans to apply to various schools, she is intrigued by the number of people who've mentioned Ottawa's Carleton University to her.

"I also recently attended an art therapy workshop in Rankin Inlet, and I had so much fun that week because everyone was really positive, happy and helping each other out.

"The facilitators were really good people who made you feel comfortable painting whatever you felt like at the time.

"I definitely picked up a few tricks and learned a lot during the week because I don't normally paint.

"I usually use pencils, pens and markers, but I got a couple of paintings done in Rankin and I'm really happy with them."

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