Woman in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., collects thousands of pieces of sea glass on Arctic beach
Helena Ekootak's collection of bits and bobs gathered on the shores of Queens Bay in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., could fill a museum — well, a small one.
Still, it's an impressive amount to have amassed over a relatively short time. Her rough guess? More than 2,000 pieces collected over four years, mostly sea glass and pottery shards.
Ekootak says her favourite pieces are those with primary colours and with designs. (Submitted by Helena Ekootak)
Ekootak started combing the beach in 2020 after a personal tragedy. She'd listen to the water, and scour the shore for tiny treasures.
"I was trying to come off some very heavy medication that I was put on after my mother, surprisingly, passed away in my arms," she said.
"I used the land to help me get off this medication and heal."
Most of her finds are one-off fragments, but she's also collected a dozen or so pieces of what looks like a single plate.
Pieces of what seem to be the same plate have been washing up for years on the beach in Ulukhaktok. (Submitted by Helena Ekootak)
"I actually do a little dance and a little happy sigh once I find a piece of this … maybe a plate, maybe a bowl. I'm not sure what it could be," she said.
Ekootak said she expects most of her findings come from a previous settlement at Kings Bay, which is just a 15-minute walk from her home.
Greg Crawford, an oceanographer at Ontario Tech University, agrees that's the most likely source.
"Glass and ceramic are generally a bit denser than seawater, so they tend to sink," he said.
So the bottles, plates, and other detritus from the settlement likely sank into the shore sediment, he added.
"There's a better chance that this broken material was carried along with near-shore sediments — but that depends on the sediment transport in that area," he said.
Most of Ekootak's collection is sea glass and pottery, but it also has some more unique items. (Submitted by Helena Ekootak)
While the ocean hasn't yet frozen, several centimetres of snow are bringing Ekootak's beachcombing season to a close for this year.
After years of stockpiling, now she's considering taking her collection in a new direction by making ornaments, jewelry or collages — "crafty stuff like that," she said.
