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Market Road Antique Treasures: Shuqslak

Posted: January 10, 2021

Joseph Shuqslak Soapstone

Joseph Shuqslak was born September 4, 1958 and resides in Gjoa Haven, an Inuit hamlet and the only settlement on King William Island in Nunavut. Joseph comes from a family of carvers. He is the son of Joata Shuqslak, a late Gjoa carver, and Lana Qiyuk Shuqslak, a carver and crafts artist. Joseph’s Grandfather and uncles where also carvers as is his brother Moses Pameogarrak.

“I do mostly soapstone. Some whalebone, not too much. That’s about it, except when I go down south to try other types of stone, like marble. About two years ago I was awarded a scholarship by the Inuit Art Foundation to go to Vermont where I did some work with pneumatic tools. I’ve never used them before; it was good.”

“I’ve been an artist for more than 20 years. When I was 15 or 16 years old I had a job but noticed that people were making money from carving. I tried it and found that just about anything I carved I could sell. So I just kept on doing it. Not seriously at first. It was only about eight years ago that I started really carving.”

“My grandfather and my uncle carved. My grandfather’s brothers used to carve. I watched and learned. Also, when I was very young, maybe six or seven years old, I found a piece of soapstone out on the land in a tent. I filed it down to a fine finish and when I showed it to my grandfather he told me I was a very good carver. He paid me for all the hard work I did. I thought it was pretty good, so I just kept on going.”

 “Our main problem now is getting soapstone. We used to be able to just go to the quarry and pick stone up off the ground. The stone was all on top. For many years now, the loose stone has been gone and we dig out of the ground and you can’t really do that until summer time. We can’t reach it by boat or by anything else in summer. The only time we can reach it at all is in the winter time, by skidoo and sleds. Our main problem is getting an airplane to fly up there and dig it out for the winter. We can’t even get it back to the community when we dig out in the summer because it’s too heavy. We need some money to get a quarry so we can dig stone out in the summer with a few guys. We’d leave them out there for a while to dig it out like they did two years ago. That soapstone lasted for about two seasons but this spring it’s all gone.”

Filed Under: Featured, Market Road Antiques Tagged With: antiques, treasures

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LOCATIONS

Farmers’ Market
878 Weber St. N
(519) 747-1830
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Market Road Antiques
845 Weber St. N
(519) 746-1999
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25 Benjamin Road E.
(519) 747-1830
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LOCATIONS

Farmers’ Market
878 Weber St. N
(519) 747-1830
icon icon icon icon

Market Road Antiques
845 Weber St. N
(519) 746-1999
icon icon icon

St. Jacobs Outlets
25 Benjamin Road E.
(519) 747-1830
icon icon

MARKET DISTRICT

The Market Blog
Recipes
In The Media
Become A Vendor

FARMERS’ MARKET

Vendor Directory

MARKET ROAD ANTIQUES

Antique Promotions

FARMERS’ MARKET​

Shops Directory
Outlet Promotions
Toy Building Zone

HOURS OF OPERATION​

Farmers’ Market:
Thu and Sat – 7am to 3:30pm

Outlet Mall:
Mon – Fri  – 10am to 7pm
Sat – 9am to 6pm
Sun – 11am to 6pm

Antique Store:
Sun – Sat – 10am to 6pm