My name is Darrell Chocolate, I’m a Dene artist from the Northwest Territories, Canada. I am originally from a small isolated community called Gameti from the Tlicho region, just north of Yellowknife. I reside in Yellowknife and have made it my permanent residence since 2005, but I still consider Gameti my hometown.

 

From as earliest as I can remember growing up in Gameti, I was always fascinated with art whether it was sketching, coloring or even a little craft activity that would spark my interest in art. I was always intrigued how the older kids in school would draw animal sketches and be creative with just a pencil and a paper. Even my older brother who is an artist himself would draw animals and landscape sketches that would captivate my young mind at the time would inspire me to draw just as he did.

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I attended Chief Jimmy Bruneau Regional High School in Rae-Edzo, NT. During high school is when I really honed my skill as an artist drawing NHL players and NBA players alike from magazine photos and having a sketchbook to buildup my small portfolio. I still have these sketches and hold on to them for my own personal memorabilia. My art teacher at the time said that all the kids in school came to know me simply as “Artist” when referring to my name Darrell Chocolate and my work as an artist. During my senior year in high school in 2003 my art teacher commissioned me to do an oil painting from a photograph she took on a canoe trip she participated in. She organised an art exhibition for all the students artwork and showcased it during the end of our high school year, she specifically reserved a classroom wall with all my artwork on display and had a newspaper reporter interview me about the artwork she commissioned me on and that was my first appearance to the media.