The artist whose work is featured on Northwestel’s new Nunavut directory cover was celebrated at today’s opening of a new exhibit at the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit.

The exhibit features nine pieces of art from Northwestel’s corporate art collection, all created by Nunavut artists and featured on Nunavut directory covers through the years. Northwestel has also created two other exhibits, one each in Yellowknife and Whitehorse. The exhibit in each city showcases art from that region. The Iqaluit exhibit opens today and continues until June 7th. It can be viewed whenever the museum is open, Tuesday through Sunday 1 to 5 pm.

“Northwestel is very proud of our collection of magnificent northern artwork, collected over the past two and a half decades,” said Paul Flaherty, Northwestel President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are delighted to be able to share some of it with northerners through these exhibits. We hope many local residents and visitors have the chance to visit this exhibit and enjoy the work displayed here, which includes the work selected for this year’s directory cover.”

Northwestel’s corporate art collection got its start in 1983, when the company decided to feature original northern artwork on its directory covers. After 1992, when Northwestel assumed Bell Canada’s operations in the Eastern Arctic, artwork from the Eastern Arctic began to be featured on the covers of NWT directories. When Nunavut was created in 1999, Northwestel began providing the new territory with a directory of its own. The first Nunavut directory cover featured photos of the territory’s children, to celebrate the formation of Nunavut. In 2001, the first Nunavut artwork was featured on the cover of a Nunavut directory. It was Purple Saxifrage, a water colour painting of the Nunavut floral emblem, by Iqaluit artist Janet Ripley Armstrong, which is included in the exhibit.

The 2009-2010 Nunavut directory cover features a photograph of a poncho fabricated of ring seal, beaver, raccoon and red fox fur. Five Star Poncho was created by Iqaluit artist Rosalind Machmer.

“Hunting and fishing are important parts of my life that I enjoy very much,” said Machmer. “I am proud that I was able to use many parts of the animals for this poncho, including the nose, legs and tail, which are often thrown away.”

Machmer learned to sew from her mother-in-law and then enrolled in the Fur Production and Design Program at Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit. While studying there, she designed this cape, which was selected as a winner in the Fur Council of Canada’s Student Contest and showcased at the 2008 North American Fur and Fashion Exposition in Montreal. Machmer is now a student in the Jewellery and Metalwork Program at Nunavut Arctic College.

“The five stars in the poncho represent members of my family… my three children, my husband and myself,” added Machmer. “For me, the stars are a symbol of the light that each human being brings to the world.”   

Born in Pangnirtung, Machmer has also lived in Arctic Bay, Pond Inlet and Iqaluit. Her energy and interest in the arts has given her a diverse career path, which has included working in theatre, television, the military and as a Northwestel operator.

Northwestel provides complete telecommunications solutions and entertainment services in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon, northern British Columbia and High Level, Alberta. The company’s operations span nearly 4 million square kilometres of the most remote and rugged areas of Canada.