This tusk is covered from all angles with a menagerie of Arctic animals, including a hare, a fox, a plethora of geese, an owl, and even an ermine, all carved in bas relief and punctuated with four human faces that peer from between them. With an eye for detail and fine finishing, Karlik’s work has been seen as some of the most popular and influential to come from his community of Rankin Inlet. While his colleagues John Kavik and John Tiktak have greater reputations in the South, Karlik made a good living selling his more realistic sculptures to mostly a local market of resident and visiting qallunaat. Born in Chesterfield Inlet, Karlik spent five years in hospital there recovering from polio, and likely began to carve during that time before his move to Rankin Inlet in 1961.