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September 21, 2001
Carrying a torch for creativity
Trash metal from dump
is transformed into art
MIRIAM HILL
Nunatsiaq News
A
raven crafted by Arctic Bay’s Rick Oyukuluk sits beside a
kayak he has also created.
(PHOTO BY MIRIAM HILL)
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IQALUIT — On the door of the metal workshop at Inuksuk High
School there is a sign saying the room will be occupied until
Sept. 24.
Behind it are eight students and an instructor. Acetylene torches
blaze and sparks fly as people in coveralls, gloves, helmets and
goggles melt steel against steel.
It’s reminiscent of a machine shop or garage, but the products
being made here are an example of recycling at its best.
Thanks to the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association, eight Nunavut
artists are transforming scraps of metal into pieces of art.
Most of the artists are new at this sort of work.
“Welding is pretty hard,” says Chris Aula of Iqaluit.
“You have to get the temperatures exactly right and I still
don’t know how.” Aula was trained as a mechanic, so
he’s been around blowtorches and metal, but he had never
tried welding as an art form.
He shows off the gleaming silver inuksuk he created using scrap
metal from Iqaluit’s dump.
Other artists in the group come from Cape Dorset, Igloolik, Arctic
Bay and Qikitarjuaq. They vary in age from youths to elders.
Andrew Raney, of Salmo, B.C., is the instructor for the three-week
course.
“It all came from the dump, the wonderful dump,” says
a smiling Raney, safety goggles resting on his head.
So much material is brought up north and just left, Raney observes.
He says all sorts of metals can be found at the landfill, but
for the workshop they use mostly steel and aluminum.
A table sits near the door of the metal shop, displaying works
the class has already created. A shiny spider web, complete with
a spider, is positioned in a base with a tall, graceful silver
flower.
A small raven bearing metal feathers and gleaming beak sits next
to a silver kayak and a bushy-haired creature whose tongue sticks
out. Across the room, Serapio Ittusardjuat works a one-quarter-inch
pipe with a torch, creating a large silver walrus.
“The purpose of the course is to introduce metalwork and
see if there’s an interest,” Raney says. “The grand
result would be to have one or two continue with it.”
Aula says if he is able to get the acetylene and oxygen needed
to run a torch, he will continue doing metalwork. But Raney points
to a set of tanks on the floor and says it costs about $800 to
fill them. The class is going through about two sets of tanks
each week.
Raney suggests gas costs even more in smaller communities. But
there are other options, he notes. Some welding machines run on
electricity, and there are plasma torches, more practical for
smaller centres.
Some of the students had welding experience in high school, but
Raney says all have picked up on the skills quicker than he’d
hoped.
“It’s a tough medium, but also forgiving,” he
says. “If you make a mistake you can always redo it.”
The public is invited to an exhibit of the art created during
the metalwork symposium on Friday, Sept. 21, between 5 and 7 p.m.
at the Arctic College arts and crafts centre next to Iqaluit’s
post office.
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