Charlotte Overvold’s kitchen doubles as her studio. The table is strewn with fish scales, glues, pigments. The freezer is full of trout and whitefish skeletons from Great Slave Lake. The best feature though, is her burbling, bright-eyed, six-month-old daughter Océane Snow, who is waving happy fists in the air and refusing to go down for her nap.
ITI News
The new booklet highlights nine economically-significant commodities found in the NWT: Cobalt, Copper, Diamonds, Gold, Lead-Zinc, Lithium, Rare Earth Elements, Tungsten, and Vanadium.
ITI’s Indigenous Tourism Development Officer Douglas Dillon attended the Regional Health and Wellness Expo in Behchokǫ̀ last week to provide information on the rewards and opportunities that can be realized from tourism careers.
The NWT Film Commission returned to the Whistler Film Festival this month where a number of NWT productions have received their initial acclaim. It was an opportunity to build on their success.
A copper ulu with caribou bone handle, snow goggles, a sealskin bow tie, an ornate Dene Doll and a beautifully detailed birchbark canoe are just a few of the stunning pieces in a new set of arts displays at the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly.
The GNWT’s REDI (Resource and Energy Development Information) initiative was in Fort Smith in late November. The initiative encourages NWT residents to “Get REDI” with fact-based information about the benefits, risks and potential for resource and energy development in the NWT.
With paint brushes in hand and a pallet of vivid yellow and orange paint before them, students from the Mackenzie Mountain School in Norman Wells dabbled, dotted and swooshed their artistic contributions onto a 4x8 foot painting. The piece is one of two new murals that will eventually be displayed in their community.
Wayne Keefe likes to let go of the steering wheel. He’s a ditch-jumper, an off-roader, a joy-rider, and yes – he’s crashed countless times. These are metaphors of course, for Keefe’s creative process. The artist has learned, over many decades of painting, the benefits of maintaining a loose grip and giving up control – an approach that is at odds with the regulation and specificity he needed for his career in electronic maintenance.
Two years ago, Sophia Jia and her family packed up their belongings and flew from China to Canada. After landing in Vancouver, they loaded up their car and spent three days driving to Yellowknife – where the January temperatures were plummeting to -40°C. It was a leap of faith for the family and their two sons, aged 11 and 6, but they were surprised by how at home they felt so soon.
It was the homestretch for the community visits last week: the team hit Fort Simpson in the heart of big river country, listened to the voice of the capital, and travelled to Dettah – a hub for Indigenous tourism in the territory. Here’s a recap.