subject: Eskimo Stone Carvings [print this page] Many in the aboriginal Inuit communities have come to realize the value of entering a global world culture with its full vein of education , trade and technology. The northlands have been burst wide and fully open not only for its petroleum oil and diamond reserves but also for its strategic potential itself. Its people have not just lost heart and died. Being fully intelligent as well as most capable they have fully faced their problems directly in the wind and found many found both many vital as well as varied solutions. They have come to both accepted offers of help and have adopted the new ways. So be it to their greatest benefits and well being,
The world at large has over the last 40 years has basically just begun to appreciate and admire that the Inuit Aboriginal "First Nations" people are creative artists of such considerable and great , unique talent. Toggles were carved to resemble the heads of seals. Polar ( the northern arctic white bears that you might see on display at the Winnipeg zoo), were also represented since these were the prey animals sought after by the hunter and hunters to provide nutrition and nutrients with which to sustain his family and core tribal group.
In talking and communicating of the art and art forms of the culture and historical record of the Inuit we are struck with the essence of their lives and historical records themselves. For these items were part of their daily lives , routine and indeed survival itself in among the harshest climes of the globe. Life was not an easy task for the "People". A "snow knife" or a bow drill was to be used and utilized on a frequent , if not daily basis as a vital tool and utensil of life and survival. Although some of the time , a snow drill might be decorated and enhanced with ornamentation , a flowery form so to speak, that tool remained first and foremost one of function. It might be enhancements to add luck for yet another day , another hunt. Yet it all came down to function and perhaps thanks to the creator - for being permitted to hunt and live yet for another short time span on this earth. Beautiful in themselves , yet functional to the hilt.
This was neither a geography nor climate which allowed for luxury and luxuries. It was live off the land or perish. The Inuit now stand at a most vital cross-roads of their culture and communities. The know well that their ancestral ways are in a flux. On top of that add in the effects of global warming and the reduction of the polar ice cap and increase in mean temperatures to their environment to the mix. Global warming and its effects to their communities and way of life are not simple theory to them. The impact to their lives , culture and community of the global warming trend is a deep threat to their whole vibrant culture and historical living record.
For the figures , creatures and people folk which are preserved and detailed are the images of a supernatural world where gods are demons are indeed forever and yet always present and in the realm. A market has opened up worldwide for the sale of "Inuit Carvings", along with marketing experts and expertise to explain and instruct these simple people how to expand their simple graphic art into the production of beautiful lithographic prints and printings. Thus the natural ability and abilities of the "People" has made possible a new source of income and provided for community incomes and supports. Not all Eskimo First Nations people have the time or the inclination to make such works of art , and contribute to the art forms. Thus this new phenomenon has arisen in their very culture and and locales.
By understanding their world - This may of been because the worker or hunter first and foremost concern and concerns were in making a tool that was of merit and function to his immediate community. While the decoration may of been an add on - an after-thought it was all made without much in the way of fan fare or any self-consciousness - whether we reside on the globe - whether in modern day Manhattan, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Moscow, Lima, Hong Kong, Seoul or Tokyo can all discover the full significance as well as vibrancy of traditional Inuit art forms and art and can thus increase our appreciation and enjoyment of traditional Inuit art today in this year of 2010.
