Meet some of the talent at the 2025 Great Northern Arts Festival

The Great Northern Arts Festival draws artists from across Canada to showcase their skills and art in Inuvik.

The 2025 festival featured a variety of artwork from knitwear and dolls to carvings and jewelry.

Cabin Radio caught up with some of this year’s artists to learn more about their work and what inspires them to create.

Noah Bennell is a Métis artist who was born and raised in Ottawa.

Bennell said he started carving around two-and-a-half years ago when he was working as a mentor at his local alternative high school for Indigenous youth.

He told Cabin Radio that he first began carving to bond with an Inuk student who enjoyed soap-carving in Nunavut.

Bennell ran a workshop in Inuvik on Saturday teaching others how to make rings from deer and elk antlers.

“I’ve had a lot of mentors in my life share different tips and tricks with crafts. So I figured if I can start sharing my knowledge, that’d be pretty cool,” he said.

“You don’t really need too many tools to do it,” Bennell explained. “You just need a drill, a little Dremel rotary tool helps, and a bunch of sandpaper. So it’s really something you can do at home.”

Tanis Simpson is an Inuvialuit and Gwich’in artist, originally fromSachs Harbour and Inuvik.

She is the co-owner of Qiviut Inc fiber mill in Nisku, Alberta. The company produces qiviut yarn, knitwear, jewelry and hand warmers.

“With the yarn, the production of it is very long and tedious, but I still really enjoy all aspects of it,” said Simpson.

“Actually, my favourite part would definitely be knitting it and seeing how it comes together after all the processing that has happened.”

Simpson said she was happy to be returning to the festival in Inuvik this year

Molly Huntington is a 23-year-old entrepreneur from Kahnawake, a community just outside of Montreal.

Last March, Huntington launched her buisness Roots and Patters, which produces custom wallpaper, prints and designs inspired by Indigenous art and Mohawk culture.

Huntington told Cabin Radio that a lot of her work is inspired by her grandparents, her great-grandmother, and her mother.

“It’s my first time up North this far,” said Huntington.

“It’s amazing, it’s life changing. It’s eye opening realizing how big the world actually is outside my little rez.”

Sharan Green is an artist from Sachs Harbour who has been making dolls for the past 30 years.

Green told Cabin Radio that she was invited to run a workshop on making traditional dolls at this year’s festival in Inuvik.

She made it easy for first-time doll makers by pre-cutting the material and having pre-set patterns.

While the workshop is two-days long, Green said it usually takes her “about a half a day” to make a doll from scratch.

“I like it, it keeps me grounded,” said Green. “I guess just from sewing. You do it so many times over the year, it calms you down.”

Celtie Ferguson is a geographic information system technician at Aurora Research Institue in Inuvik, who creates linocut printings of Inuvik landmarks in her spare time.

Linocut printing involves carving designs out of rubber and then stamping them in sequence to create different designs.

Ferguson told Cabin Radio that her passion for linocut printing started before she moved to Inuvik seven years ago.

She said that passion continues to be inspired by the North while her other muses are her two dogs.

I like to make stuff that I like, and then if I can also share that with other people then it’s a bonus for me,” said Ferguson.

“It’s really fantastic. It’s cool to see such a vibrant arts community from across the territory.”

Derian Blake is a stone carver, originally from Fort Smith, who now lives in Vancouver.

Blake has been stone carving for the last eight years.

Blake hand carves both traditional animal forms and non-traditional abstract forms, such as a pickup truck, from a mixture of different stones, including soapstone, chlorite, wonderstone and alabaster.

“You can take your inspiration from the stone or set an idea from the beginning,” said Blake. “Reductive sculpture, I find meditative, relaxing, and it evolves as it goes on.”

Blake told Cabin Radio that he was “super happy and grateful” to be able to bring his work to Inuvik’s festival for the first time.

Robyn Scott is an artist from Yellowknife who specializes in wildlife realism, bringing animals to life in her paintings.

This is her second time attending the Great Northern Arts Festival.

“In many ways, it feels like going to summer camp,” said Scott. “There’s tons of activities, I know many of the people here. They feed us great snacks and I’m having an amazing time.”

Scott ran a beginner acrylic painting workshop at the festival for people looking to get back into painting as well as people who have never tried it before.

Scott told Cabin Radio that her workshop would provide attendees “some fundamental skills and knowledge about how acrylic paint works,” while allowing them to create their own paintings.

“Watching everybody sort of laugh, and be relaxed, and feel empowered is really fun,” said Scott. “We as adults need to make more time for creative expression in our lives, and I get to be a small part of that.”

“One of my favourite things about the Great Northern Arts Festival is being able to meet artists from all over the Circle Polar North. I fully intend to apply to come back next year.”