Melissa's Favorite

Hello everyone,
This is a carving by a elder in Baker by the name of Toona. His work is in the national Art Gallery in Ottawa and has been given as gifts to foreign heads of state. As you can see Baker artist have a much rougher and more primative style than Repulse. Toona is very old school and very simple in his carvings, he just emphasis's the rock shape. I had Toona make several pieces for us but this is the largest. It is a traditional dancer carved in black soapstone and stands about 8 inches high and weighs in at a hefty 5 pounds. Melissa loves this piece (his name is Mr Tippy)
Take Care
CG

I don't know if its Art, but I know what I like.

Hello Everyone,
This is a interesting carving we got while in Baker Lake. It was a strange one, when it was first brought to ou door I turned it down. I just didn't get it, I showed it to Melissa and she had the same reaction. I told the carver I just didn't get it and wasn't interested. Its the same carver as the Polar bear pictured above. Over the next couple of days, it was strange Melissa and I discussed this carving over and over, till I saw the carver in the store and I asked him to bring it back, we wanted it. Its grown on us and is one of our favorites, but I still don't get it. Its a Inuk face atop a flexible leg with a human ankle and a animals foot. The quality of the stone is better than any of our others though. Go figure. This is about 6 inches high.
Take care
CG

A interesting Repulse Carving

Hello Everyone,
This is a very interesting piece we got here in Repulse. The hunter and the Beluga whale are carved from Narwhal tusk, and have very interesting lines as they were carved from poor pieces of tusk, making it more interesting in our opinion. They are pegged to a piece of green soapstone using caribou bone pegs, the harpoon is also made from caribou bone.The tie line is made from dental floss, wintergreen I believe.
This is our favorite of the pieces we have gained on this leg of our journey. The carving stands about 4.5 inches tall
Take Care
CG

Our latest carving

Hello Everyone,
we've never shown any of of carvings that we've aquired since we got here so we wanted to share some of them with you now. This carving shows eight birds in various forms of action, the uppermost 3 are supposed to be perched above the water. The next four are diving into the water and the last bird is swimming under the water (for fish). They are carved of walrus ivory, the branch carved from caribou antler and the based carved from green soapstone. This is a Repulse Bay carving. It measure about 6 inches high.
Take Care
CG