Holidays inspire high school jewellers

Damien Macpa, a jewellery/metalwork student at Inuksuk High School, works to connect the bronze links of a chain. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Wesley Simms files a piece of brass in his jewellery/metalwork class Dec. 7. Simms says he likes the class because it gives him the freedom to create whatever he wants. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Here’s a close-up look at some of the jewellery Inuksuk students sold Dec. 3 at the annual Christmas bazaar held at the school. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Lasocki watches over students at work. Lasocki said the jewellery/metalwork program attracts a lot of students who would otherwise skip school. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Damien Macpa is quietly absorbed in his work.

The 15-year-old Inuksuk High School student is armed with pliers as he attaches the tiny bronze links of a growing chain, which will soon become a handmade necklace.

“I’m the only one in the class who can make this kind of chain,” Macpa boasts.

Macpa is one of a handful of students at work in the high school’s jewellery studio, where instructor Mark Lasocki teaches students in Grade 10 and up the basics of jewellery and metalwork.

His students work with copper, bronze, brass and silver — all recycled or donated from local organizations — while they learn how to stamp, bend, shape, pierce or sculpt the metal.

“They don’t have to be jewellers, but they can use the techniques as adults,” Lasocki said. “No one is forced and everyone gets a chance to learn whatever they want.”

Lasocki said the program, which focuses on both Inuit cultural images and more contemporary metalwork, attracts several students who would otherwise skip class.

“My students like to be here because of the creative freedom it gives them,” he said. “And they’re very talented young people.”

For Macpa, the newly-acquired skills have taught him patience and pride.

Just last weekend, he manned a booth of his and his classmates’ wares at the Dec. 3 high school Christmas bazaar, selling over $2,000 in handmade pieces.

The craft sale, one of two that the high school’s jewellery program participates in, is important because it gives students a chance to showcase their work.

From Monday to Thursday every week, anything produced at the studio stays in the studio.

But on Fridays, students can take home their creations to keep, sell or give as a gift.

Wesley Simms, 17, recently crafted a pair of silver textured dome earrings that he gave to a friend’s sister.

She liked them a lot, he says, and plans to try a more complicated pair this week.

Simms has even had requests from other friends for custom-made jewellery pieces.

“Mark gives us a lot of freedom, we can create whatever we want,” Simms said.

The jewellery/metalwork launched at Inuksuk High School about six years ago.

The program is funded outside Nunavut’s Department of Education, through groups like Brighter Futures, Kakivak Association and Embrace Life, although students who complete the course still earn an industrial arts credit towards their high school diploma.

Although the studio’s creations tend to be more popular among females, the jewellery program has always attracted more male students.

Since the program began, four of Lasocki’s students have gone on to the jewellery program at Nunavut Arctic College. Another few have left the territory to study jewellery-making in British Columbia and Ontario.

The program is also offered to inmates at the Baffin Correctional Centre, another program sponsor.