ᓇᓂᓯᓂᖅ ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᑐᖃᖏᑦ

All the animals that were caught around here today they say that it's all been done. The soapstone now, all of the things they used to catch they used everything from the animals that they catch; skin, bones, and everything. But today they said tht they only catch it for the meat. No longer use what used to be used for the animal. He's saying that all of the local people carve, but not really

Years ago when they started all this stuff mainly to help get more equipment for the communities of the camps that were around. Today's he's saying that young artists mainly doing carving. You survive enough to put food on the table but many of them don't know any of the spiritual stuff.

Soapstone was new to the people around here. And for making money for the people in town they first started.

The only time they actually started carving these things was when James Houston came around. Nack then most of us called him Samiuk and he's the gentleman that introduced these stones to the local carvers.

Life before I started drawing back in the old days, they use to use seal skins and fox skins to sell, and I remember I had to be careful preparing the seal skins so they could be sold, and foxes were our only means of getting money, some pople would sell their kamiks occasionally. Before your parents, I know they use to sell seal skins, fox skins and Kamiks to get bullets with, when I was growing up we use to chew on the skins to make kamiks so they could be sold, that is when I was a young girl I use to chew skins that my uncle's wife Niviarsi's wife had to make kamiks with, when people were going into a settlement so they could be sold. Those are the things I rememeber, before the boots were introduced, we only use to use kamiks. there wer eno boots, and now a days Inuit are not even making kamiks anymore, only few use kamiks now a days, they only use boots today, but if it were back then, everyone would wear kamiks, even you guys I know use to wear nice traditional clothing when you were a child and your parents especially in winter time.

Like I was saying, when your father gave me a blank piece of drawing paper for me to draw for the very first time, I got paid $50 for it, back then everything was cheap, and i was just screaming for joy, and many people in Kiaktuut envied me...and I started drawing and the interest grew and soon there were more artist around. Qabvi, my inlaw, was very happy, his sister, and my husband use to sell his carvings, and we were very capable people.