Arctic Adventures: Tales from the Lives of Inuit Artists

About the Author
Raquel Rivera writes:

I was very excited to learn that Arctic Adventures was on the shortlist for Red Cedar this year.

For Valentine’s Day, publisher Groundwood Books asked their authors and illustrators to answer a question, but the answer could only consist of one word. The question: What do you love? The first thought that came to me was “my family”. But this answer was two words (and rather dull). So I gave it another moment and a new word came: Adventures!

Raquel loves to travel and meet people from different cultures and backgrounds. She’s lived in Malaysia, Singapore, Spain and the United States. She and her family now make their home in Montreal, Quebec. Raquel’s most recent trip was to the Nahanni region of the Northwest Territories. There she met people of many small communities, who generously shared with her their time, knowledge, food and homes.

Arctic Adventures was a complicated book to write. First I needed to choose which artists to write about, which meant a lot of reading and research. Once the stories were written, the editor and I worked on them to make sure they read as well as possible, without changing the facts; they may read like stories, but they are non-fiction. We had a great time choosing photos and artwork for the biographies of all the artists. Then we thought it would be good to add a map, showing the region where the artists lived. We just kept adding and the book kept getting bigger! This is why I wrote such a long acknowledgment in the back of the book--there were so many people who helped to make it a reality.

If you\'re ever stuck and can\'t get your idea out of your head onto paper, try what I do: just pretend you\'re telling the idea to a friend, and copy it down exactly as you tell it. I try not to get too caught up in making it perfect the first time--I can always rewrite to make it sound better.

Other Books by Raquel Rivera:
Tuk and the Whale
Orphan Ahwak

Contact Raquel Rivera at:
Email:raquel@sitedish.com

About the Illustrator
Jirina writes:

My mother discovered my “artistic” talent when I was three and I drew pictures on the freshly painted kitchen wall. Strangely enough, she did not preserve this early artistic expression of mine, but she screamed at me and even spanked me, and called a man to repaint the kitchen.

This did not traumatize me. Immediately I switched to other careers. I wanted to be a doctor, a teacher, or a Sioux Indian.

Instead of these dreams my first job was in a factory, then I was selling flowers, I was a cleaning lady, an aux pair girl, a painter who painted other painter’s paintings, a Depository Director in one of Prague’s Galleries, and lay-out artist at the Librairie Larousse in Paris.

Then one day, inspired by a friend, I got the idea to illustrate children’s books. It was the best idea I ever had in my life.

I am originally from the Czech Republic and so one might ask why did I illustrate Arctic Adventures: Tales from the Lives of Inuit Artists? At the beginning I had also my doubts. But I trusted my publisher thinking that they know better. And I think that they have been right. It is a very good book.

I had visited the North, doing research for another book. It unfortunately never went farther than the idea of it but at least I saw the north!

With each book it is the same. Before I start to do illustrations I do research for the story. I need to know the country where the story is happening and the customs and style of life of the people at the time the story happened. It gets me in the spirit of whatever book I am illustrating.

For this book I first did read tons of books about Arctic and the life there in 1950s. It is incredible how difficult life was at this time, the conditions people had to endure. I knew that it must have been difficult but had no idea how harsh it was.

After my research I start to paint. From each story I choose the most important part(s) to illustrate. For reference I use my photographs or am inspired by the pictures from books. I always do many more illustrations than I need. This way with the publisher we can choose the best ones.

I love my work because I do something I really love and while working I still learn new things. This is the best about it. And of course, if somebody likes my work, like the children choosing this book, it gives me nice feeling that my work is good.

Thanks to all the kids who choose Arctic Adventures

Other Books of Interest:
Lady Kaguya’s Secret

Contact Jirina Marton at:
Jmarton1@sympatico.ca