Generel
information about Inuit Carving.
Evolution of an Inuit Stone
Carving.
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Generel information about Inuit
Carving
All over Arctis production of inuit craft is an important part of
the culture and identity,
and have been allways.
Most of the craft is following the old traditions, as F.ex.
Tupilaqs, carvings, jewelry, masks etc.
autentic copies of Kajaqs, dogsledge, hunting tools etc.
The used materials for tupilaq and different kind of jewelry is
ivory (tooth fro wallrus, narwhale)
Other materials is antlers from reindeer, horn and wool from
Muskox, bone from whales, and most of all
soap stone.
The craft is often produced with primitive tools in cold and
uncomfortabely places, if not outside.
About the Raw material
A variety of raw materials are used when carving. Some carvers
also
combine the different media of stone, whalebone, antler, ivory
and
muskox horn. Preference for one medium over another often depends
on the availability of the raw material to the carvers of the
community.
Stone
The term soapstone has been used to describe the raw material for
carving in Greenland and The Arctic. There are soapstone deposit
several places
in Greenland and in Sisimiut area as well, allthough it is not
easy to
come by. Soapstone is made of talc steatite and is very soft,
other stone found in the Arctic and used in carvings
are silstone, argillite, dolomite, quartz and marble.
Stone is often in short supply and artists must travel great
distances
over land or by boat to quarry good quality stone using hammers,
chisels, shims and wedges and crowbars. Sometimes
gasoline-powered
drills and a non-explosive demolition agent (S-mite) are used.
Local
Inuit share carvingstone without question among their
communities.
Whalebone
Weathered bone is found at sites once occupied by the ancient
Thule
people, who followed the great bowhead whales along the coast,
They used whale ribs as roof spars on their half-buried sod
houses.
Nowadays, Inuit carvers find a different
inspiration in the curving shapes and pitted textures of the
bone.
Ivory
Ivory in the Arctic is obtained from the canines of walruses and
whale
teeth of both the sperm and killer varieties. As a unique and
identifiing
feature, polished surfaces of ivory show a pattern of light and
dark
diamond-shaped areas like an elongated checkerboard.
Horn
Muskox horn carvings have a soft, rippled texture, shading from
cream
to warm brown. The shape of the horn itself is not usually
recognizable
as artists freely use their imagination to evoke the aniinal and
human
subjects the material suggests to them.
Evolution of an Inuit Stone Carving
The carver chooses the stone and looks at the hidden creation in
its
shape. He begins by sawing the stone into a block. With the
introduction of more modern tools, electric saws are also used.
The
rough image is then hacked out by hand tools.
Using a large file, defining details are delineated. Reindear
antler is
often affixed to the handle of the file for comfort. A smaller
file is used
for the finer details. Electrical tools, such as flexible shafts,
are also
used. To smooth the carving, the carver uses a strip of sandpaper
which he pulls under his thumb giving both control and
consistency to
the movement and quality of sanding.
The carving is then put into water, ready for flirther sanding
with wet
and dry sandpaper, commencing with a rough grade to a very fine
grade. The carver can tell by feel when the carving is ready for
polishing. This final stage varies with carvers, some preferring
a high
polish, others preferring to leave the carving in unpolished
form.
A wellnown Sisimiut artist often used to polish the carving with
candlewax
to give the carving a deep dark finish.
Imagery
and Styles
The Inuit population of about 55,000 is widely distributed across
Greenlands west and east coast, and the art-producing communities
has
developed its own favourite subjects and sculptural style.
Some communities like Thule are best known for their ivory
miniatures
while Sisimiut and the Mid-greenland Communities are best known
for
their soap stone carving. Now the people are more mixed, because
of
education etc. and the local traditions are moving with them.
That means more different kinds of art in a community like
Sisimiut,
and more inspiration for the artist.