Perhaps because of Cape Dorset's long history in the Inuit art world, the style is more showy and dramatic than other settlements. Artists like to work the stone - which ranges from green shades to white dolomite - until it's highly finished. They also take pride in creating pieces that are impossibly thin or delicately balanced.

Like Cape Dorset, Kimmirut artists use a variety of stone. Art collectors particularly prize the apple-green or cream-colored shades. While the animal subjects are depicted with a naturalistic style, the smooth, flowing lines and highly polished stone create an elegant effect.

Iqaluit * Pangnirtung * Qikiqtarjuaq

What's different about the sculptures from the Iqaluit settlement is that animal subjects - bear, caribou, and musk-oxen - are often in unusual or action poses. And these pieces are even more eye-catching because of their exaggerated proportions. However, Iqaluit does share Cape Dorset's love of elegant lines and dramatic presentation.

Because this area was the administrative center of the former Northwest Territories and because it attracts Inuit from all over the Baffin region, the style is more varied than other settlements.

The Pangnirtung artists also favor a dramatic style, though this usually emerges in the larger sizes of the pieces and the subject matter of mythological or shamanic images. Whalebone is a popular medium.

Pangnirtung artists have moved to Qikiqtarjuaq and vice versa, so these two communities share a similar style. Qikiqtarjuaq artists also use whalebone, as well as a stone that ranges from light green to dark green or black.

Clyde River * Igloolik * Hall Beach

The Clyde River area is famous as the center of whalebone carving in the Artic - and also for the touch of humor and whimsy artists employ in their sculptures. Subject matter can range from dancing walruses to simple domestic and hunting scenes.

The Igloolik style is more similar to Pangnirtung than Clyde River. Artists here use a larger scale in sizes and emotional intensity. However, the stone - which is dynamically carved - isn't highly polished, so the end result is more realistic and natural. Occasionally, artists use a light green stone from northern Baffin.

Hall Beach also produces powerful, moving works similar to Igloolik, though some artists are known for a softer-edged style that's similar to Clyde River.

Taloyoak * Gjoa Haven * Kugaaruk * Repulse Bay

Taloyoak is another community that uses the whalebone medium - with large, spectacular results. For a long time, work from this area was dominated and influenced by the artist Karoo Ashevak. His work has a dreamlike quality that's also quirky - haunting, but amusing. But as artists began using an assortment of stone and concentrated on developing their own particular styles, a wider variety of styles have emerged.