When Gabriel Gély left France in 1952, he was pursuing a boyhood dream to see the Canadian north. Since his introduction the following year to a remote settlement on Baffin Island, Gabriel lived the greater part of the ensuing thirty-five years in most high Arctic settlements.

     As a specialist in the field of arts and crafts, he contributed to the early development of Inuit cooperatives. Not surprisingly, the awesome land of his dreams with its endearing people inspired his own artworks. During these active years the port of Churchill served as the gateway to the Arctic for Gabriel, the artist-adventurer, who now resides in Selkirk, Manitoba.