Inuit ice sculptors create 'The Happy Dance' for Winterlude

Inuvialuit artists Eli Nasogaluak and Derrald Taylor are attending Winterlude this year to celebrate their culture with an ice sculpture called 'The Happy Dance.'

It depicts a drum dancer surrounded by playful arctic animals. Taylor explained that the dancer is giving thanks for the land and its animals through their performance.

"In the culture of Inuit, we always give thanks to animals by dancing, praying," Taylor said.

"We as Inuit are ... hunters, we live off animals, so I'm trying to show the polar bear, the walrus, the seal, the beluga and the narwhal. That's the main diet of the Inuit."

Nasogaluak and Taylor are originally from Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., and now live in Yellowknife where they run the Frozen Rock Studio, a gallery showcasing the work of local artists. Nasogaluak said he and Taylor began as soapstone carvers.

But not all their tools could make the trip south from their studio, and Taylor said the work at Winterlude has been a little slow as a result.

"If I had the right tools, this would probably take me about half a day," he said.

"It's just basic tools for us — we've come a long ways and we could [only] bring so much. So we're trying to share tools with the other artists."

But Taylor said the weather in Ottawa has been just right to work in. Compared to back home, he said, Ottawa's weather has been "warm."

"Up north it's so cold that there are a lot of fractures on the ice and it breaks up, so we just gotta be more careful," he said.

Of course, the temperature could be too warm. 

"I've talked with the other artists and they said that in years before it really melted as they were carving, but now it's staying together good," Taylor said.

Nasogaluak has attended Winterlude in past years, but this year is Taylor's first. He plans to take advantage of the opportunity.

"We've got a couple days in town to tour around, so we're gonna look at galleries, and Rideau Hall, Rideau Canal, just look around, be tourists," he said.