Western Nunavut artist carves out a niche on the web

Iquallaq with CBC comedian Rick Mercer, who stopped by his shop this past summer. (PHOTO COURTESY OF DAMIEN IQUALLAQ)

Here are some of the materials that Iquallaq uses for his pieces. (PHOTO COURTESY OF DAMIEN IQUALLAQ)

This carving of Nuliajuk, or Sedna, is made from mammoth tusk, mammoth tooth, whale tooth, baleen, muskox horn and dolomite. It took Cambridge Bay artist Damien Iquallaq more than a month to create. (PHOTO COURTESY OF DAMIEN IQUALLAQ)

Cambridge Bay artist Damien Iquallaq works on a carving behind his small house inside a shed that can be heated throughout the long western Nunavut winter.

“To do more detailed work I need to be able to move freely and take my gloves off. You just can’t do that kind of work when it’s -30 C outside.”

The 29-year-old artist, originally from Gjoa Haven, can’t risk slipping up on his pieces due to cold hands, because his choice materials are high end, and not always easy to source.

For example, lately he’s been working with fossilized mammoth teeth, ivory tusks, and muskox boss, the chunk of forehead bone where the horns meet.

A carver for more than 10 years, Iquallaq has been selling his carvings for between $2,000 and $5,000 each.

One of his largest pieces—an eight-foot-tall totem-pole-like work with a muskox base made from ancient bowhead jaw, topped by a snowy owl, Sedna and her children—sold for $14,000 and the promise of a trip to the private museum where the piece is displayed.

And yet, the young artist, who comes from a long line of Netsilik carvers, said he finds it hard to get the quality of his work recognized within the territory.

“It’s frustrating because I know the value of this material and I know how hard it is to work with,” he said, adding that resellers will often start with a buying offer similar to what soapstone is priced at.

“It’s a slap in the face when they send me a lowball offer.”

His advice to Nunavut artists is: know the value of your work.

“I would suggest that artists spend time online searching for these materials,” he said.

In Cambridge Bay, where muskox is harvested, a horn might go for $20, Iquallaq said, but a look online shows that American buyers are paying far more.

“Somebody could take a nice horn and potentially turn that into a $1,000,” he said. “Where we live they are almost giving it away.”

Still, Iquallaq said he recognizes that he can’t sell what people aren’t able to buy.

“I prefer to make more profound statement pieces,” he said, but, “I work to whatever the market will allow.”

Right now that means making earrings, rings and bone-handled knives.

The smaller pieces allow him to use up bits of remnant material and also show off the beautiful finish of the pieces.

“With a carving you only see the outside layer, and there is so much nice material hidden,” he said.

But it could take hours of polishing to bring out those swirled marbled finishes. Iquallaq said he could spend as much time sanding and polishing a piece as he does carving it.

Mostly self-taught, Iquallaq studied under his cousin in Gjoa Haven and worked at Ashoona Studios in Yellowknife for a while before setting up his own small workshop in Cambridge Bay.

He’s now looking to promote his own work and do more direct-to-customer sales, to make sure his work is priced fairly.

He does this by taking professional photographs of his pieces at all angles and emailing the pictures to known collectors.

An economic report on the impact of Inuit Art within the Canadian economy—commissioned by the federal government and published in March—said that in Nunavut, the visual arts and crafts economy was worth upwards of $37 million in 2015.

And social media is helping artists widen their market and has increased distribution channels without the need for galleries or resellers.

“Buy-sell Facebook pages have created a direct-to-consumer (online) distribution channel at a scale that is new in the Inuit arts economy,” said the report.

Iquallaq has a selling page on Facebook, as well as an artist page the he updates regularly with photos of his pieces and the materials he gathers locally, or outsources.

“I want to promote my own work and sell it myself,” Iquallaq said.

While he does this, he’ll also be working away in Cambridge Bay, polishing each new piece to perfection.

“It’s pretty tricky stuff when you get into detailed and figurative work,” he said. “Once you remove something it changes the whole composition of the piece.”