NWT Arts

Ernest made jewelry from stone and bone and did woodcarvings. His grandfather began teaching him when he was nine years old. When Ernest asked his grandfather for money, his grandfather would give him a piece of stone and say, “Make your money.” Ernest sold his first piece for $175—and from then on, he continued carving. Over time, he learned from people around him and did the best that he could.

He looked at each rock and was inspired by what he could create from it—a sea animal, land animal, or bird. Sometimes his ideas depended on the type of rock or the colour of the stone. He searched for unusual shapes and tried to work with the entire block. He also loved looking at the finished product and saying to himself, “Wow, I made that out of a piece of rock.”

He took pictures of the stone before carving it so others could see what he started with. If he recognized an image in the rock beforehand, he shared what he saw. Even before the piece was finished, he knew what it would become, and that always amazed him.