By Immanuel Matthews

While homemade jewelry and ink-based artworks might not be an unheard as

a business idea, not many can say that their orders are flown out of Quebec’s

most northern Cree community.

Saige Mukash, a 20-year-old Cree woman, calls her business Nalakwsis – her

Abenaki Grandmother’s nickname to her in her native language, Cree.

Nalakwsis is made up of many products – ink drawings, digital artwork,

beaded jewelry, and embroidered works, all handmade by Mukash herself.

While Mukash, a creative girl by nature, always enjoyed creating pieces of

artwork with her hands, she has only recently chosen a more organized,

business-oriented path.

“I chose ‘Nalakwsis’, which is my middle name, as my official business title

about a year ago, but I’ve been serious in my work for the past two years

now,” Mukash explained.

Though, what is now a money-making business, first started out as a

passion-filled hobby.

Mukash attended a fine arts school in the heart of Montreal’s downtown,

where she was able to exercise her artistic abilities and express herself

through various mediums, multiple times per week in an organized art class.

Though, it was returning back to her Cree community up North that had the

biggest effect on her. “My art really blossomed when I came to

Whapmagoostui to reconnect with my cree culture,” she explained.

Not long after, Mukash created a Facebook page, where she could publicly

display each of her art pieces, with photos and descriptions; a sort of

headquarters for all of her self-made works.

As paid interest for her art pieces began showering in, Mukash realized that

the next step in formulating her business had to be made. She established

two online shops, where anyone in Canada with access to a credit card could

purchase one of her artworks.

It was then that Mukash knew she was in business.

While she still lives at home with her parents and two siblings, Mukash still

found a way to create her own sufficient workspace, in her spatially limited

environment.

She has a small studio space in her home, where she makes all of her crafts,

as well as dealing with the packaging and shipping of items.

In the past month alone, Mukash has made over $1000 in sales, and spends

an average of approximately $200 on supplies, per month.

Though, living a three hour plane ride north of Montreal, the location of her

supplies and most of her customers, is starting to become more and more of a

problem.

Because of her isolated location, Mukash must order all of her supplies online.

“It’s getting very hard to be able to buy supplies online. Shipping is getting

very expensive for my community, which is a fly-in only community,” she said.
Not only are all of Mukash’s supplies located hours away, but so are the

majority of her customers. Because of this, extra travel fees are added onto

every sale that she makes.

While these obstacles are present in the young artist’s day-to-day plans, she

is not letting them slow her down.

“I think my first long term goal for my business is owning a studio here in my

hometown,” Mukash explained. “It’s a struggle for anyone here to own their

own business, because everything is under the Band Office; you can’t just go

and sign a lease for an apartment.”

“My own studio space is what I’m saving up for. That’s what I’m aiming for.”

said the young artist.

Mukash titled this piece, For the missing and murdered.
For more information about Saige​ ​Mukash, visit her ​Facebook page​ or

website​.

Photos courtesy of Saige Mukash.

Link: ​http://theconcordian.com/2017/11/work-passion-gains-momentum/