Gjoa Haven has also been influenced by the Taloyoak style in the human and spirit expressions and distortion of faces and bodies. However, artists are eager to experiment with different media like whalebone, ivory, and musk-ox horn, and they have emerged as dominant in their own right.

The artists still use stone, of course. In the past, they imported a pale green stone, but they now use a local hard stone that ranges from dark green to black.

Kugaaruk and Repulse Bay are renowned for small, delicate works in stone, ivory, or antler. The tradition of creating miniatures goes back hundreds of years, when talented Inuit created them as gifts for missionaries and whalers.

Baker Lake * Arviat * Rankin Inlet

Baker Lake has two distinguishing characteristics:

* It's the only inland community in the Canadian Artic.
* It's famous for large, dynamic sculptures of hunters and animals carved from hard Keewatin stone.

Though the hunter and animal subjects are realistic, the artists portray them abstractly. You'll also see animal-human transformations depicted more often. On the other hand, female artists from this area favor a more delicate style, with domestic scenes like mothers and children.

Working with a hard, local steatite, Arviat artists employ little detail and economy of line with their sculptures. It's different from the elegant, flowing style of other communities, yet just as emotionally powerful.

In the Arviat area, family and maternal scenes are the most popular. However, artists here have experimented with antler carvings and produced a variety of whimsical birds and animals, as well as games and hunting scenes. The antler carvings have a folk art quality.

Rankin Inlet is like Iqaluit - a regional center with a wider variety of styles. The artists here work with the dark Keewatin stone, a harder grey stone, or ivory.

Kugluktuk * Holman

The Kugluktuk artists have created a realistic style that often depicts traditional camp life, but they incorporate wood, copper, whalebone, or antler material into their sculptures. Some sculptures are of igloos - with detachable tops. These more practical pieces have a descriptive and static feel, as opposed to pieces that feature action scenes. However, the Kugluktuk community also produces sculptures of animals, birds, and humans.