Mary Nanooklook Jewell is a textile artist who works in sealskin sewing, crochet and jewellery making. She has roots in Uqsuqtuuq (Gjoa Haven), NU, and is currently based in northern Alberta, though she works a rotational job as an office administrator for North Warning System in Iqaluktuuttiaq (Cambridge Bay), NU.
Raised in Winnipeg, MB, Jewell connected with her Inuit identity as a teenager when she moved to Uqsuqtuuq and later when she travelled the Arctic working as an optician. Along the way, artists and Elders welcomed her into their homes, sharing clothing patterns and advice that shaped her practice. “It was really awesome to have, especially the elderly women, come and sit with me and give me tips on how to better sew and what to do first and how to troubleshoot this problem,” [1] shares Jewell. From her grandmother, who made clothing from animal skins, to her mother teaching her to sew with sealskin to make kamiit and mitts, Jewell learned early that art was first functional then expressive.
Jewell often gifts her work to family and friends and shares it on social media and through word of mouth to buyers, which reflects her view of art as connection, cultural continuity and care for her community. She sews sealskin mitts, kamiit and parkas; sews fur-trimmed leather mitts with Inuit tattoo appliques; crochets tight-stitch windproof hats that she often embroiders with floral motifs; and makes beaded and antler earrings, sometimes using dried flowers in clear resin.
Over the years, Jewell has created an extensive library of mitt patterns, many of which she’s adapted to fit a range of hand shapes. She embraces the forgiving nature of Inuit artmaking, where variation becomes part of the design. “I have a lot of shared knowledge that I can kind of thumb through in my mind and give it space to figure it out. Whereas when I first started, it was really hard because I thought things had to be done a certain way. But with Inuit art, it’s very forgiving,” Jewell says. “For Inuit, it’s like, nope, this is fine, and work with it. And it’s a really beautiful way to do art.”
Jewell is currently working on deepening her skills and sharing them with others, especially artists who are in the early stages of their careers. “I love encouraging and sharing with newbies. Traditional sewing is soul medicine and it’s part of who we are as Inuit.” [2] She hopes to teach mitt-making workshops and to continue refining her antler and resin techniques, including using UV resin. Another goal she has is to learn how to machine-sew parkas so she can make annual winter parkas for her granddaughter.