Behind the Scenes at Churchill’s Arctic Trading Company

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The Arctic Trading Company has been around for over thirty years in the community of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. They have brought in art from artists across northern Canada although some of their artwork is made on-site in the trading company from caribou hair. They also make leather mukluks, slippers and mitts in a room in the rear of the store.

Picture an old-fashioned trading post. Wood floors and a heavy-beamed ceiling. Leather goods and furs for sale. If you come at the right time you might even see a trapper selling his furs.

Stick candy and smoked arctic char sit near the till. Two large tables covered with red velvet hold an assortment of carvings made from soapstone, antler and ivory.

Josephine Saunders and Gertie Beardy are behind the store and are known for their fine art of sewing slippers and mukluks with their beaded patterns and fur linings. Jessie Wastasticoot and Helen Bussidor create beautiful caribou hair tufted arrangements, each with its own spirit from the land. Jessie as well as Lorraine Chapman and Sharon Nepton also create sculptings from caribou hair.

Various art forms — from carvings and slippers to jewelry and paintings have been developed from tufting and uses natural caribou hair to depict a variety of scenes of northern life: polar bears, birds, animals and a slice of Inuit life working with the land.

As with the tuftings, handmade pictures are framed in a classic wooden shadow box frame. Inuit wallhangings are generally made from duffle, 100% wool and are often a portrait of life or they will depict a story.

The above above photo is of a northern hunting scene: two Inuk hunters chasing Nanook (polar bear) and was designed and crafted by Jessie Wastasticoot.

Below I’m talking to Josie and she shares with us what its like behind the scenes at the Arctic Trading Company. In the back of the store, they make moccasins and they’re beautiful handcrafted. Check out the machinery that is used to make them from leather, scraps, embroidery, artisan work and rabbit fur.

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