Stone works breathe life into unlovely city centre

JACKIE WALLACE

Prodded gently by a forklift, a boulder larger than an adult seal balances precariously as the stones of Iqaluit Square fall precisely into place.

Mary Crnkovich, a mason from Ottawa who specializes in fitting stones together without concrete, is deep in the dust of this painstakingly slow process.

As the forklift tips and holds a boulder in place, she and her colleague steady the rock by shoveling dirt at its base to hold it in place. They step back to make sure it is perfectly placed, and check the line of where other rocks will follow. It’s a project taking shape one rock at a time.

These stones will create a 30-by-60 metre ellipse that will host gatherings of up to 1,000 people. It will be the centre of the future public gathering place in front of the elder’s qammak.

The ellipse, with a stage built at its centre, will be finished by the end of this summer, and a wall surrounding the square will be completed by the end of next summer.

The project is intended to beautify the otherwise dusty and garbage-strewn streets of Iqaluit and kickstart the identity of the city’s downtown core. The stage will be a venue for performance and the stone wall will have broad openings to welcome visitors into the space and act as a bench.

“The spirit of the square is a public gathering place for one person or many people,” says Clarissa Lo, the city’s assistant planner.

Crnkovich was brought to Iqaluit by the city to work on the project. “No mortar is being used between the rocks,” says Lo. “They are held together by gravity.” This is meant to suggest a traditional use of stones, such as the piling of rocks for an inuksuk.

The design of the project aims to be meaningful and traditional. The largest stone of the ellipse will point north toward the rest of the territory.

The construction methods of a Thule sod house will be used to lay the stone slabs that will pave the way from the largest opening in front of the elder’s centre and that will be used to build the stage inside the ellipse.

The city is also using sculpture to bring life to the Iqaluit’s main drag. Passing by the college’s central arts and crafts centre, Crnkovich’s handiwork is evident again as she and her team work on a stone slab platform that will display a group of sculptures centered around the concept of the sea.

And right next door, an unused area in front of the post office will become home to two bird sculptures by the end of the summer.