Carving in Kinngait (Cape Dorset) had expanded and by the 1970s sculptures had become large and imposing, supplying a market that seemingly knew no bounds. When the recession hit in the early 1980s, it necessitated a reduction in expectations and prices for artists across the arctic. This gave younger artists such as Adamie Alariaq the opportunity to create and market works on a more modest scale, and perhaps even wield some degree of influence.

A sales exhibition of Inuit carvings at the Montreal-based Canadian Handicrafts Guild in November 1949 is widely recognized as marking the beginning of an artistic industry that was to transform the lives of many Inuit. The use of stone to create carvings for export to southern markets began with a test purchase by the Guild in 1949 in the Inukjuak area of Nunavik.
In the early 1950s, the procurement of carving stone was largely a matter of gathering it from the ground, especially beaches. As demand for stone carvings increased, so did the search for more attractive carving stones. For many people, “carving stone” is synonymous with “soapstone,” but this is a com¬mon misconception. Soapstone is a specific type of rock called steatite. It contains a high proportion of the mineral talc, which gives the stone a waxy or soapy feel. Grey steatite stones have been mainly used by carvers from Baker Lake and Arviat, although a harder, dark-coloured peridotite stone from a quarry site at Jigging Point, at the east end of Baker Lake, has also been used by Baker Lake artists.
Many artists find steatite too soft for sculpting because it does not hold a good polish and will not allow intricate detail. The most desirable carving stones are serpentinite, and deposits of serpentinite have been located in most areas with carving activity. The stone can vary from a bright jade-green colour, as often associated with the sculpture from the community of Kinngait (Cape Dorset), to a nearly black colour mined by carvers from the Kitikmeot communities of Taloyoak, Gjoa Haven, and Kugaaruk. Currently, the main source of serpentinite on south Baffin Island is a large quarry site in Korok Inlet. Kitikmeot carvers mine their stone from a deposit near Murchison Lake.
Both serpentinite and steatite are types of igneous rocks that derive from molten material, such as volcanic magma. In a second main category are carving stones that derive from sedimentary rocks formed by the compression of layers of sediment. Marble and argillite are examples of such stones used by Inuit carvers. A large surface deposit of white marble stretches for miles north of Andrew Gordon Bay on south Baffin Island, but the hardness of this stone deters many carvers who do not have the necessary specialized tools. Argillite is a highly prized carving stone because it is soft enough to carve yet hard enough to produce a good polish. Its fine sedimentary layering lends a distinctive banded texture to carvings. Argillite is commonly used in sculpture from Sanikiluaq and Arctic Bay. In Sanikiluaq it occurs in varied shades of grey-green and in Arctic Bay the stone is a distinctive grey-ochre colour.
For more detailed information, see Susan Gustavison, Northern Rock: Contemporary Inuit Stone Sculpture. Kleinberg: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1999.