The NWT was well represented at the recent Toronto Outdoor Art Fair.

The event ran from July 12-14 at the city's Nathan Phillips Square. Seven artists from the territory were able to attend thanks to funding provided the NWT Arts program, administered by the GNWT's Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. 

From the sounds of it, the artists' work was well received by the thousands of art enthusiasts that visited the event over the course of the weekend.

"I got a lot of good feedback," said Yellowknife-based painter Darrell Chocolate, who brought a stack of paintings of the natural world to the fair. "I've got [a painting] of an Arctic wolf that's howling, that's got the Northern lights in the background, and you can see the breath showing from the howl, because it's a cool night.

"I had a guy that came back a second time just to look at the wolf painting. He was talking to me and said, 'I've got to come back just take a second look at this wall.' He was just so amazed at the detail of the work and he had to come back for a second glimpse."

Colville Lake's Isabel Orlias, who was selling beaded earrings and card-holders, among other things, received similar praise for her work. 

"A lot of people stopped by and said they loved my beadwork," she said. "Some even asked if I do custom work, so I told them to reach out to me." 

NWT Arts regularly brings the territory's artists to events like the Toronto fair, but it was Chocolate's first time travelling with the organization. 

The same was true for Orlias, who was also visiting Toronto for the first time.

Both agreed the trip was very beneficial for their art careers. 

"I just recently quit my full-time job at the diamond mine to become a full-time artist," said Chocolate, who started drawing and painting when he was a child. "It's important to have NWT artists come to the events, because a lot of our art can be exposed this way."

Both participants appreciated the opportunity to draw some attention to the wealth of artistic talent that exists in the North, and to share a piece of their Indigenous culture with the people of Toronto.

"My grandmother showed me how to bead for the first time, and slowly I started branching out and making different kinds of traditional crafts," said Orlias. "My grandmother is the one person I would always go to for help to complete and finish a craft if I didn't know how to do it on my own.

"[My art] is a way to carry on our traditions and culture." 

Chocolate, Orlias, and the other NWT artists made the trip home from Toronto on July 15 and 16. While they will need some time to replenish the pieces they sold in Toronto, both Orlias and Chocolate are hoping to partake in other trips with NWT Arts in the future. 

Chocolate has already been accepted as a participant in the organization's upcoming trip to New Mexico for the prestigious Santa Fe Indian Art Market, set for Aug. 16-17. 

Orlias hasn't applied for any other NWT Arts trips yet, but said she "would love to" travel with the organization again in the near future.