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Blog Entries
March 23, 2022
The NWT Arts Sealebration Workshop travelled north this year to Inuvik February 24-March 1, 2022.
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Eight Indigenous artists from three communities (Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk, and Yellowknife) took part in the five-day workshop designed to promote and showcase the beauty and marketability of sealskin products and fashions.
“Sealebration is about refining the skills of our Indigenous artisans who work with seal and fur, and sustaining traditional arts and crafts as an important contribution to our creative economy says Johanna Tiemessen, ITI’s Manager of Fine Arts and Crafts.
The Inuvik workshop sessions were instructed by Master furrier, Panagiotis (Panos) Panagiotidis. They focused on (seal) skin grading, blocking, pattern design and sewing – with both a fur sewing machine and an industrial sewing machine.
An industrial sewing machine and a fur sewing machine were purchased for the event and have since been donated to the Town of Inuvik. They will be housed at the Inuvik Welcome Centre and are available to community residents, artists and crafters to access and use throughout the year.
Each participant received a comprehensive sewing kit with the tools and supplies needed to create with sealskin. A full sewing kit was also donated to the Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation who have a fur sewing machine for artists in the community to use.
The week-long event also included the presentation of the NWT Arts Series: Selling Your Art.
”Seal is deeply respected and valued by the Inuit and Inuvialuit of the NWT. It is harvested from the wild and all parts are used. Traditionally, nothing goes to waste, from the oil that is burned in the qulliq (lamp), to the skin that provides warmth for a cold winter,” Tiemessen noted.
Sealebration was presented by ITI under the NWT Arts Program and in collaboration with the federal Certification and Market Access Program for Seals funded by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
“It was wonderful, educational and life changing in regards to my work. I learned so much that I look forward to putting into practice,” one participant noted.