Some are rooted in a love of naturalism and an interest in both wildlife and the spirit world, often fashioned into almost impossibly thin shapes or delicately balanced works. Some incorporate a love of the flamboyant, the dramatic and the decorative. The stone ranges from many beautiful shades of green to white dolomite and varicoloured marble. Yet other sculptures exhibit a certain heroic realism in animal and human subjects, working on a large scale in portrayals of dramatic and emotionally charged shamanic or mythological images. From one community the sense of humour and whimsy results in images such as dancing walruses of bone.
Sculptures have soft, undulating outlines and are highly finished.
Some whalebone and stone sculptures are large and rather fantastic in conception, combining the surreal and the whimsical. Yet others depict the drama of the hunt. Some communities are best known for their ivory miniatures which were encouraged by local missionaries. Animals or genre scenes, with an unpretentious folk art flavour, are the most common subjects. From the central Arctic, Keewatin steatite stone is grey to black in colour and very hard.