The Matchbox Gallery, Rankin Inlet

While I was out wandering around Rankin Inlet today, I happened on a little place called the Matchbox Gallery.  I wish I had taken a picture of the exterior, because its non-assuming, and in fact some might say  in need of a paint job. This is the last place I expected to find what I found,  however once I was inside I was completely blown away. 

The Matchbox Gallery began in 1987 and has turned into one of Nunavut's most innovative and internationally known creative centres.  The founders are Jim and Sue Shirley who came to Rankin Inlet in 1979. 

Since 1990, the Shirley's have worked closely with community-based artists in a ceramics program which is unique to Nunavut and the world at large. 

The work has been exhibited in shows and in institutional and commercial galleries throughout Canada, United States and Europe.   Some of the major exhibitions include shows at the Nunavut Legislative Assembly, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Prince of Wales Northern Hertiage Centre, The Museum of Inuit Art in Toronto, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Cerny Collection of Inuit Art in Bern Switzerland and the National Art Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.  In fact many of these places have permanent collections from the Matchbox Gallery in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. 

The detail of the art work is amazing.  Sandy who looks after the Gallery in the summer months while the owners are all over the world at Art Exibitions, gave me a tour of the whole building. (Sandy is in the picture below) There are 2 kilyns where all the firing of the ceramic takes place on site.  There are many displays that are not for sale.  They are being kept for exhibitions and shows like the big show that will take place in Europe next month. 

The artist have also participated in hand-building demonstrations in Canada, the U.S, Iceland and Greenland.  The prices for the art work very from a hundred dollars or so to multi thousands of dollars. As an example the small ceramic faces below cost approx. $125.00

And some of the smaller urns that are on the shelves below are around $100. 

Below is a picture of many of the artists that work at the Matchbox Gallery. 

Sandy gave me a pamphlet that talks about all of the artists and their accomplishments, which are many.  I was amazed and delighted that I stumbled onto the Matchbox. Gallery in Rankin Inlet.  If you would like to find out more, you can go to their website at www.MATCHBOXGALLERY.com 

Hike to Tarr Inlet

On Labour Day Jacquie, 2 friends and I along with the dogs walked to Tarr Inlet.  The walk was far enough from Iqaluit (8-10 KM) that we didn't feel comfortable without a rifle for protection.  We borrowed our friends 273 Rifle just in case we ran into some unfriendly wildlife.

Our friends Lloyd and Monique

We left at approx. 10:30AM and started walking along the eastern side of Frobisher Bay from Apex.  We started by going up into the hills along the side of the bay.  The first hill was quite steep, however once up on top, we were able to walk along the plateau going up and down many hills.  There were beautiful red flowers all along the walk, that looked a lot like a hard wood forest down south.

Near the beginning of our trek we saw a huge fox.  It may have been an arctic fox, however it had the normal red colours with the big bushy tail.  Only it was huge, as far as a fox goes, double the size of any fox I've seen down south. 

The dogs were haveing a great time on the walk and considering they are 13.5 and 9.5 years old and the walk was on very uneven ground, they did a great job.



We walked for about 1.5 hours to the end of Tarr Inlet and then stopped for lunch.  Being my birthday, Monique brought a chocolate cupcake and they put a grape in it to simulate a candle.  It was great.  Jacquie, Lloyd and Monique sang happy birthday - they're amazing singers.  (scared the dogs a little - just saying)

As we headed out on our walk the tide was in and as time went on, the tide receded and we thought we would walk across the tidal flats over to the other side and climb the large hill towards the main part of the Bay.  Because the tide had just receded, the flats hadn't had time to drain.  There were areas that still had a foot or two of water.  We tried many different routes, jumping accross little streams and trying to get across the flats.  After a half hour or so, we decided the only way for us to get across would be to get very wet.  Since it was only about 7C and very windy, we abandoned the idea of crossing the flats, however walked along the eastern side of the flats all the way back to Apex.

While we were trying to find our way across the tidal flats, we found a caribou horn and had a little fun with it. 


The walk back to Apex took about 2 hours.  The wind was blowing at 50km per hour with gusts to 70 km per hour.  It was also quite cool.  The good news is we didn't see any polar bears, although we saw a large number of baby shrimp.  The little pools on the title flats were filled with baby shrimp. 

When we were almost back to Apex, we saw a large block of ice, which the dogs took to licking furiously.  We decided to have a little rest at the block of ice.  I didn't realize until afterwards that I got a pretty wet butt.  It seemed too cold for the ice to melt, but I was wrong. 

The opportunity to trek out to Tarr Inlet was amazing.  The views were simply beautiful!!