Couzyn van Heuvelen Refashions Inuit Tools

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Couzyn van Heuvelen, "Avataq," 2016,

screenprinted mylar, ribbon, aluminum and helium, 16” x 30” (detail)

Balloons shaped like sealskin floats greet visitors to Vancouver’s Fazakas Gallery this month. Avataq is one of seven pieces from Inuit sculptor Couzyn van Heuvelen. “I make objects,” he says, referring to the utilitarian tools he has refashioned into intricate art pieces. “Figurative work – I don’t have much of an interest in it. It’s so direct. I like to have something where the meaning is a little less obvious.”

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Couzyn van Heuvelen, "Walrus Lure," 2015,

silver, fish hook, thread and brass, 6” x 1.5” x 48” (detail)

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Couzyn van Heuvelen, "Beaded Lure," 2015,

glass beads, fish hook, thread and brass, 6” x 1” x 48” (detail)

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Couzyn van Heuvelen, "Baleen Lure," 2015

baleen, fish hook, thread and brass, 6” x 1.3” x 48” (detail)

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Couzyn van Heuvelen, "Fishing Weights," 2015,

muskox horn, fish hook, thread and brass, 6” x 1” x 48” (detail)

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Four fishing lures, suspended from the ceiling, hang next to Avataq. In real life, anything handy and heavy would be tied to the fishing line to sink it, but with Muskox Lure van Heuvelen carved two small nuts out of muskox bone, replacing what would normally be an ordinary sinker with something delicate and refined. With Baleen Lure, the artist laser cut a spinner out of whalebone and etched it with an abstract pattern. Beaded Lure, comprised of red, black and white beads, emphasizes a random linear pattern and with Walrus Lure, the sinker is a tiny silver walrus skull that van Heuvelen created with a 3D printer. Now adorned with animal bone and symbolism, these lures transcend purpose.

Couzyn van Heuvelen, "Harpoon," 2015,

Couzyn van Heuvelen, "Harpoon," 2015,

For Harpoon, on the other side of the room, van Heuvelen fused a small, bronze polar bear skull to the harpoon’s tip, representative, he says, of the object’s purpose. Again, he used a 3D printer. “I want to try every material and every process. I’m always drawn to that. What are the new ways of making things and then applying those to more traditional objects that have meaning to my culture?”

Born in Iqaluit, van Heuvelen earned his BFA at Toronto’s York University and his Master’s from NSCAD University in Halifax. He now lives in southern Ontario and returns to Nunavut every year to visit family.

He concedes his work could be construed as a melding of the old and the new. “It’s not something I consciously think about,” he says, noting that he follows the example of Inuit artist Annie Pootoogook and First Nations sculptor Brian Jungen, using form and materials to document the northern experience. “The Inuit tradition is to take any outside influence and to incorporate it and make it part of their culture,” he says. “I’m not trying to re-invent Inuit art. I’m just trying to continue in those traditions.”

The exhibition continues until February 25.