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Arts and crafts embody the unique spirit of this land

Northern arts and crafts are available in just about every community of the Northwest Territories. These range from unique hand made items of clothing - mitts, hats, moccasins, kamiks and jackets, to art to hang on the wall. Moosehair tuftings and porcupine quill handwork on moosehide, and drawings and paintings by northern artists are true collectibles. You'll also find exceptional carvings by master craftspeople, some with an international clientele. In the larger communities, retail stores offer a wide selection of crafts as well as northern jewellery - and in Yellowknife, purchase Canadian Arctic Diamonds. In the smaller communities, craft shops feature hand made birchbark baskets, designer clothing with aboriginal flair, and in Fort McPherson, canvas products. Take the opportunity to visit a northern craft festival - several are held in the larger communities each year, and attract some of the best of northern artists.

Birchbark baskets
Carvings
Clothing and Footwear
Drums
Jewellery
Moosehair tuftings
Paintings and prints
Porcupine quillwork

Birchbark baskets

These traditional containers, made by Slavey women in Fort Liard, are justly famous for their restrained beauty and precision of craft. Baskets come in various sizes, for various purposes, from small to large. Every part is made by hand from natural materials: bark, hide and porcupine quills are the hallmarks of the makers.

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Carvings

from the Northwest Territories seem to burst with originality.

A muskox horn becomes a graceful crane, a human miniature stands on a platform of polished antler. Inuvialuit, Dene and Métis contribute images and motifs to the form, ranging from haunting human masks to shape-changing spirit figures. Carvers turn soapstone, marble, wood, bone and walrus ivory into figures of myth and legend.

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Clothing and Footwear

For a wonderful reminder of your visit to Canada's Northwest Territories, take home a pair of handsewn hide moccasins, gloves, or mukluks. Try on a fringed and beaded vest or jacket. The rich scent of woodsmoke will carry you back to your northern adventure. Hides are still tanned by hand, using techniques as old as history itself. Then they are decorated with beads, embroidery or tuftings in patterns handed down for generations.

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Drums

The drum is the heart of Aboriginal ceremony, beating insistently to propel the age-old steps of dancers. The technique of drum-making combines skill with science. Whether a drum is made in the Dene or Inuvialuit style, it is fashioned of caribou rawhide, stretched on a round willow frame and tempered over the fire to have maximum resonance when struck.Ê You can buy replicas and even full-sized drums in northern specialty shops and galleries.

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Jewellery

The metal-worker's craft has been polished to a high art by Dene and Inuvialuit artisans working with gold, silver, ivory, stone and bone. Of late, designers are also using high-quality Canadian diamonds to create distinctive jewellery.

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Moosehair tuftings

Tufting is a painstaking form of embroidery perfected by the women of Mackenzie Valley communities. Working with infinite patience, the craftswomen shape dyed moosehair into three-dimensional designs on a dark background. Symmetrical flowers are a favourite motif, but younger women are moving far afield with new and powerful subjects.

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Paintings and prints

Aboriginal painters are using this European form to express themes from their own traditions. Masters as disparate as Archie Beaulieu and Anton Mountain show work of unusual power, as do many younger artists. Limited-edition prints of their works are often available. Print-making is the forte of the famous Holman workshop, which issues distinctive new editions each year to rival the Inuit masters of Cape Dorset.

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Porcupine quillwork

This traditional craft was developed by Aboriginal women long before European materials like glass beads became available. Today, it's seen mostly in museum collections. But many women in Canada's Northwest Territories have preserved the old skills. Quills are coloured with natural dyes, flattened, and woven into intricate patterns on birchbark baskets and clothing. The result is a rare example of an ancient art-form.

For information about Northern arts festivals:

The Great Northern Arts Festival

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