This carving of a (I believe) woman fishing is done by Pita Pirti from Akulivik. The carving is relative small measuring 2 x 3.5 x 3.5 inches. The pictures don't show it well but the stone is a mottled black-brown stone and has quite a nice hue.
For a small carving it has remarkably strong lines and gives a good sense of the patience involved in fishing. It has nice details in fishing pole, fishing line and a caught fish, all in less than 3.5 inches.

A lovely small carving from Baker Lake in the typical Baker Lake basalt black stone. The carving is by Hugh Haiqpi. I don't know much about Hugh, but I do have another carving by him. Maybe he is a new carver, but I like his style. This little Dancing Man measures 2 x 1 x 3.5 inches and Hugh seems to have captured quite a joyous moment. It's almost as if you can hear the guy singing for joy.

This little carving by Tytoosie Quvianatouliaq, called Heads, only measures 2 x 1.5 x2 inches; so it is quite small. Especially if you compare it with Tutuiya Qatsiya' sculpture listed a few blogs back. Whereas one sculpture seems to speak to the powerful struggle of man to be an individual formed by it's community, this little one seems to make more a spiritual statement. Almost like an amulet to hold, to be protected by good spirits. It's such a small carving in serpentine stone, yet I counted six profiles of heads emerging out of the stone. Tytoosie Quvianatouliaq is from Cape Dorset.

This one is not for sale . It is an exquisite little carving. It feels so incredibly fragile. I again don't know much about this carving. It has a sticker underneath. But otherwise nothing that I can identify it by. The measurements are 4.25" x 1.25" x 0.75". A lovely little piece.

This is a large carving by Aisa Amittuk from Akulivik. The dimensions are 16 inches by 10 by 7 inches; quite large. Aisa presents here the almost impossible struggle between a hunter with just a knife and a bear where the latter seems to outmeasure, outweigh the poor hunter by quite a bit. Yet the hunter seems to be getting the upper hand. Fortunately for him! Yesterdays blog entry showed a bear ready to munch on a seal. It seems that today the tables are changed.

A small carving by George Alayco from Akulivik of a bear getting ready to eat a seal. The carving measures 3.5 inches by 3.5 by 3.75 inches. Not necessarily the most pleasant subject matter, but again a reflection of a life centered on living off the land. Each creature has its place in the fragile ecosystem. And, although this bear seams to be a well fed creature (look at his well rounded behind) , the overall plight of the bears in the arctic is quite uncertain with the pressures from "progress". I guess progress can be a loaded term.

Tutuiya Qatsiya, born 1966, is the carver of this impressive sculpture.








The dimensions are 13 inches by 8 inches by 12 inches and executed in a beautiful greenish stone. The carvings I have seen from Tutuiya all carry a strong, powerful statement. In this carving, called faces, you will notice numerous faces in the lower part of the carving, on the side you will also notice the emergence of a hawk, but out of it all rises a new identity: man as being created out of, and through his community. I don't know if that's what Tutuiya's intent is, but that's how the sculpture speaks to me. A marvelously strong carving. Tutuiya Qatsiya is from Cape Dorset.