NWT Arts

Rory made traditional-style ulus and knives. His Elders and Ancestors would make ulus with materials available to them, including repurposed saw blade steel, which was what he preferred to use. He thought it was important to try and maintain that type of traditional Inuvialuit craft, where materials were repurposed to create useful tools.

He sourced his materials from wherever he could. He would get old steel blades locally when possible, but most of the time he bought them from farther south, where they were easier to find. Old blades were often hard enough to maintain an edge, while being soft enough to make them as dull or as sharp as the person using them needed them to be. He used moose antler and hardwood for the handles.

He admired other ulu makers and was inspired by people who maintained that craft and preserved the use of traditional materials and tools.

He used templates for his work, but each piece was an individual creation. He loved to keep his creative process open, which meant that each piece was unique. He visualized how things might look in the end, but they didn’t always turn out that way. To him, that was art.

He had always had a creative spirit. He was always doing something or creating things. Growing up, he would see Elders making ulus outside their houses in Tuktoyaktuk. He had always been fascinated by it, so he would slow down while passing them, or stand and watch. He had always wanted to do what they did. He started making ulus in 2015, but it felt like that creativity had been in him much longer than that.

He felt that his drive and passion to create were part of his spirit. He created art because it was who he was. Creating ulus was just one part of what he did—he was a creative person who could make anything, from a toboggan to a cabin. His children were also creative, and he was always there to teach and support them.

Rory was Inuvialuit. He grew up in Tuktoyaktuk, where there was an ulu in every home. He saw people using these tools, whether in the kitchen cutting meat, or on the beach cutting dried fish and whale. These tools were valuable and an important part of who they were. He liked to think about how these tools were created and used in everyday life. He felt strongly about maintaining that traditional craft. What drove him most was when Inuvialuit people wanted to buy his work to use it in a traditional way today.