Nunavik artists celebrate the face

To encourage carvers in Nunavik to experiment and improve their techniques, this year’s carving contest, sponsored by the Fédération des cooperatives du Nouveau-Québec, has a novel theme: the face.

Bernard Murdoch, director of Art Nunavik, the FCNQ’s art sales division, said carvers generally concentrate on the form rather than on the features.

“If we can improve this, it will help carving sales,” Murdoch said in an interview from the FCNQ showroom in Baie d’Urfé.

Murdoch is quick to point out that the carvers who want to enter a work can let their imaginations go anywhere they want, as long as their carving somehow brings in this year’s theme.

“It can show whatever scene they want as long as a face is there,” Murdoch said.

Last year the theme was “from the land.” The winning carving by Nutaraluk Iyaituk told a story from the carver’s childhood when he and his sister chased a polar bear with a shovel.

Carvers in Nunavik have until Feb. 5 to enter their carvings around “the face” theme.

About 150 carvers regularly sell carvings to the FCNQ, with the greatest number of carvers in Nunavik now working in Inukjuak.

The FCNQ is the largest wholesaler of carvings and other arts and crafts from Nunavik. Last year, the FCNQ bought $300,000 of carvings.

But the market for carvings, particularly those in the low and middle price range, remains tough. Last year’s SARS outbreak cut down on the number of tourists visiting Canada, who buy Inuit carvings as souvenirs.

Any carvings submitted into the competition will be purchased by the FCNQ. The winners will be announced during the FCNQ annual general meeting held this spring.

For the winning entries, the FCNQ is offering a top prize of $3,000, a second prize of $1,500 and a third prize of $750, in addition to special youth prizes of $1,000 and $500 for carvers under 30.

Those attending the AGM will select the winner of the “popular prize” because, as Murdoch said, “what we like and what the galleries like aren’t what Inuit think are the best carvings.”