Kimmirut carver was a quiet, gentle leader

Kimmirut carver Nalenik Temela died on May 7 following a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 64.

Best known for his smooth-limbed bears with textured bellies, the self-taught artist’s carvings toured with Amway’s Masses of the Arctic – a collection presented to the United Nations in 1990.

In 1982, The North West Company presented Charles and Diana with one of Temela’s carvings as a wedding present.

His finely sculpted work is sold in galleries throughout Canada and the United States with asking prices as high as $11,000. The Museum of Civilization in Ottawa and Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit also display his work.

Despite his accomplishments, Temela’s work remains largely unknown.

Thomas Webster, a former arts and crafts officer for the territorial government, has his theories why.

“There are some very talented men and women who have not gotten the recognition they deserve because they didn’t come from Cape Dorset,” said Webster, who met Temela in Iqaluit in 1969.

Webster remembers Temela as a soft-spoken man who, like other carvers at the time, were concerned about the commercialization of Inuit art for southern markets.

“For such a tiny little man his works were massive, even his smaller pieces had this incredible power, this large feeling to it. He was shy, sweet and very, very gentle,” Webster said.

Temela’s finishing technique set his work apart, Webster said. After polishing the stone with sandpaper, he used a metal file to create rough creases and a translucent-like surface.

His passing is a loss for Nunavut in many ways, Webster said.

“The community has lost a pleasant cheerful person who was a good leader without being a political person. We’ve lost someone who made outstanding sculpture that had a fabulous contemporary feel to it as well as reaching back to that real centuries-old basis of Inuit art.”

Temela is survived by his wife Itee, their six children and their extended family.

A memorial service was held in Kimmirut on May 12.