Nothing, in fact, seems amiss at Polar North during a recent visit by Nunatsiaq News. Everyone at the shop, including a couple of the carvers' girlfriends, looks busy. They're carving, sanding or washing stone. A non-Inuk carver, Dave, also the company's driver, is filing down a small inukshuk, but Milrot says that he is just finishing off another carver's piece. Milrot's pet dog plays with a piece of soapstone on the floor.
Finished carvings are on display in the entrance-way.
But the fact that these works are come from a southern factory doesn't bother some buyers too much. London said that he has visited Polar North on many occasions and has never saw anything out of the ordinary. Quality, value suffering But Polar North's manner of operation is disturbing to other dealers like Duncan McLean, who works with the Inuit art department at Waddington's Ltd., one of Toronto's major auction houses. McLean has been buying and selling Inuit carvings for 20 years, and, over the past few years, he's seen the quality and value of Evaluardjuk's carvings suffer. Collectors know the difference between inspired and uninspired pieces, so volume-driven operations like Polar North probably end up damaging Inuit artists more than the art market.