The quiet power of reflection: Robyn Clarke's 'The Ponder'
Robyn Clarke pauses in brief silence as she considers a difficult question: which living or deceased artist would you most want to have dinner with?
“Honestly, this is the hardest question,” Robyn says during her interview with Northwestel, following the announcement that she was named Nunavut’s winner of the 2026 Directory Art Contest.
After a moment of reflection, Robyn says she would choose to share a meal with celebrated French Impressionist painter Claude Monet, in the renowned garden outside his home near Paris.
“I’d love to sit in his garden, where he drew so much inspiration for his work, and have lunch with him on a nice day,” she says. “With some French wine and charcuterie.”
It is a thoughtful answer from a thoughtful artist, one that evokes calm, stillness, and a connection to the natural world. These same qualities are evident in the Cambridge Bay resident’s winning piece, ‘The Ponder,’ a pastel work depicting a grizzly bear in a quiet, reflective pose.
Cambridge Bay is located along the shores of the Queen Maud Gulf on the southeast coast of Victoria Island and serves as the regional centre for the Kitikmeot Region. In Inuinnaqtun, the community is known as Iqaluktuuttiaq, meaning “one with plenty of fish” or “a good fishing place,” reflecting the area’s rich Inuit fishing traditions and cultural significance.
The image depicts a realistic, textured portrayal of a bear's snout, emphasizing the rough fur and drooling effect.
The Ponder | Pastel painting | 8.5” x 11”
The making of ‘The Ponder’
‘The Ponder’ was created over roughly 12 to 15 hours using pastel pencils and Pan Pastels on Pastelmat paper. Robyn began with an underpainting of pastel to establish colour and mood, then slowly built detail using pastel pencils. The grizzly bear at the centre of the piece was inspired by a photograph shared in an artist reference group on social media, generously made available by photographer Lacey Steward with permission to recreate.
While the bear itself is realistic, in a figurative art style, Robyn took artistic licence with the background, shaping the atmosphere to reflect her own interpretation rather than replicating the original scene.
“I loved the way the bear looked, like it was just thinking for a while,” she says. “Even the fiercest animals need time to reflect.”
That idea – strength paired with calm – became central to the work. Though Robyn has painted many dog portraits, ‘The Ponder’ marked her first grizzly bear and her first iconic northern animal. She hopes it is the beginning of what will become a broader northern wildlife series. Future subjects may include polar bears, snowy owls, Arctic hare, caribou, and muskox.
Pup portraits by Robyn Clarke
Shaped by solitude, support, and curiosity
Robyn’s artistic journey began early, shaped by both quiet solitude and steady encouragement. An only child who grew up just outside of town in Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, she spent much of her youth immersed in drawing with little more than paper and pencil crayons.
“I spent a ton of time alone,” she says. “That afforded me the space and the time to explore my creative side.”
Looking back, Robyn sees that solitude as foundational to her creativity, giving her room to observe, imagine, and experiment. That way of seeing the world never faded. Even today, she says she moves through her surroundings with an artist’s eye, frequently pausing at everyday scenes and thinking, that would make a good painting.
Alongside that independence was the unwavering support of her Nana, whom Robyn credits as one of her earliest and most influential champions. As a child, her Nana made sure there was always a ready supply of paper and pencils waiting for her, and the two spent a great deal of time together.
When Robyn was 12, her Nana enrolled her in a series of watercolour classes. It was an adult course, and the instructor agreed to let Robyn attend only if her Nana joined every class alongside her. Robyn says her Nana happily bought all the supplies, went with her each week, and helped nurture a love of painting that still resonates today.
That support continues into adulthood. Robyn says her husband is deeply supportive of her work and patient when she spends long stretches in art supply stores while visiting Edmonton. Robyn also notes that her mom has been her biggest cheerleader in both life and art.
Those early experiences, solitude balanced by encouragement, now inform Robyn’s contemplative approach to artmaking. She carefully considers composition, lighting, texture, colour, and the most appropriate medium for each piece. While she works in watercolour, acrylic, and coloured pencil, she is especially drawn to pastel pencils for their expressive range.
“They let me really focus on detail,” she explains, noting that pastel allows her to build softness and depth while still maintaining precision.
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Robyn signing her prints
Finding inspiration in Cambridge Bay
For much of the past decade, Robyn has lived in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, where she works in health leadership with the territorial government.
She first moved Cambridge Bay in 2012 and remained in the community until 2016, when she returned to Vancouver Island for a few years. She moved back to Cambridge Bay in 2019. It is the only northern community she has lived in, and one that has deeply shaped both her adult life and her creative practice.
In the summer months, Robyn finds inspiration in the land itself – the flood of colour during July’s flower bloom, the colossal bird migrations, and the peacefulness of time spent out on the land.
“The summertime is absolutely beautiful! The peaceful tranquility of being out on the land feels incredibly welcoming,” she says “I love going out on the ATV, turning everything off, and just sitting there. Everything looks like a painting.”
Winter brings a different rhythm. While the season is harsh, Robyn describes the dark, clear nights as perfect for viewing the stunning aurora displays that the North is so famous for. Winter is also when she retreats inward, both physically and creatively.
“The summertime gives me inspiration because of the colour that is out there, but in the winter, that’s when I hibernate,” she says. “That’s when I really sit down and work.”
Robyn poses with her art beneath the sign welcoming visitors to Cambridge Bay
A moment of surprise and encouragement
Entering the Northwestel Directory Art Contest was not something Robyn had planned. She had long admired the artwork featured on phone book covers, including the work of a former colleague who had won years earlier, but never imagined her own art might be selected.
Then, one evening, she saw a contest reminder on Facebook. Her grizzly painting was sitting on a shelf nearby.
“I thought, why not?” she says. “It didn’t look overly difficult to enter, so I just went for it. But I wasn’t really expecting anything to come of it.”
When the call came, Robyn was stunned.
“I was completely shocked,” she says. “It felt surreal.”
Having her work featured on the cover of the Nunavut directory – and distributed to homes and businesses across the territory – is something Robyn describes as both an honour and a confidence boost.
“I’ve never had my work showcased for such an audience before,” she says. “It’s encouraged me to keep going and maybe even turn this into a small business one day.”
For now, though, Robyn continues to balance her art practice with a demanding career in health leadership. Art remains a deeply personal pursuit, shaped by quiet focus, careful observation, and a freedom to explore without pressure. With ‘The Ponder,’ Robyn extends that same invitation to viewers, asking them to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the stillness and scale of the northern landscape she calls home.
As the winner of the Northwestel Directory Art Contest, Robyn Clarke receives a $5,000 prize from Northwestel. Her winning artwork, ‘The Ponder,’ is a pastel depiction of a grizzly bear in a quiet, reflective pose. The piece captures a sense of calm, strength, and introspection, inviting viewers to pause and reflect, much like the northern landscape that inspires Clarke’s work and life in Cambridge Bay.
For 47 years, Northwestel has proudly featured northern art on the covers of our directories. Inspired by the land and lived experiences of the North, these works celebrate the creativity and connections that define the people and places we call home.
Thinking about submitting your artwork for next year's Directory Art Contest? Visit our Directory Art page and keep an eye out for the 2027 contest, opening in September.
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Photography by Icepik Media
