Of all the various goose species that frequent the Belcher Islands, the Canada Goose is the only species which nests there. It should come as no surprise therefore that the local Inuit have a decidedly intimate knowledge of the species. This wonderful gaggle of Canada Geese dates to the very early 1950s when the local Inuit population was still spread out in camps across the islands, and so predates the more commercial Sanikiluaq carvings by at least a decade. We love how the birds are carved and incised with such great sensitivity and how even the base is artfully rendered.

References: For very similar works see Cheryl Kramer & Lillian R. Shafer ed., Of the People: Inuit Sculpture from the Collection of Mary and Fred Widding, (Ithaca, NY: Handwerker Gallery, Ithaca College, 2008), cats. 1a-e, pp. 22-23. See also Ingo Hessel, Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / Phoenix: Heard Museum, 2006), cat. 76, p. 87.