(Digitized catalogue below) Extensive travel is integral to the role of a photojournalist, and throughout his brilliant career, John de Visser has enjoyed unique opportunities in his quest to document people and places. Raised with an appreciation of the visual arts, de Visser became a photographer in the early 1950s after arriving in Toronto from his native Holland. In 1958, … Read More
Windows on Kinngait: The Drawings of Napachie Pootoogook and Annie Pootoogook
(Digitized catalogue below) Napachie Pootoogook This exhibition presents a very special body of work by the Cape Dorset graphic artist, Napachie Pootoogook (1938 — 2002). Late in her life, and motivated in part by her failing health, Napachie decided to tell the stories of her life and times: her local history, her personal experience and the stories of other people … Read More
Precious Nature: Repulse Bay Sculpture
The small hamlet of Repulse Bay holds the distinction of being the only Inuit community located directly along the Arctic Circle. Named “Repulse Bay’ in the 1740s by Captain Christopher Middleton during his fruitless quest for the North West Passage, the area is also called “Naujat” by the Inuit, a reference to nearby cliffs where seagulls nest each year. Remote … Read More
Gloria Inugaq Putumiraqtuq: Ancient Rhythms
Gloria Inugaq Putumiraqtuq is a young woman carrying on tan ancient tradition through modern materials. Inuit textile arts evolved out of the historical need for carefully fashioned skin clothing and camp equipment sewn by women. Since the 1960s the women of Baker Lake have translated these ancient skills into works of art, applying decorative felt forms and surface stitching to … Read More
Kenojuak and Onward
(Digitized catalogue below) Generations Series The very existence of our recurring ‘Generations’ series suggests a profound trend toward the artistic within Inuit families. Questions are tantalizing: Does artistic talent run in the blood, or is it culturally or socially determined? Why are there so many artists in a relatively small community such as Cape Dorset? Are there connecting threads between … Read More
Sanaasimasiatok
(Digitized catalogue below) Cape Dorset is a centre of artistic excellence, internationally renowned for finely finished sculpture and confident graphics. It is not the sheer quantity of art produced in Dorset, but the quality which is legendary. Hold your breath while handling a fragile loon by Sheokjuk Oqutaq or a spirit composition by Tukiki Manomie. Admire the Audubon-like realism of … Read More
Pitseolak Ashoona: The Pictures
The occasion of the book launch for the revised edition of Pitseolak: Pictures Out of My Life provides the perfect opportunity to revisit the oeuvre of one of the most talented, and beloved, of contemporary Inuit artists. Born in 1907/8, Pitseolak Ashoona’s experience of life was similar to many of those of her generation. Her earlier lifestyle in the traditional … Read More
Catching the Eye: Sculpture by Isaci Etidloie
My Father told me when I started carving that I should make things very unique – make things that catch the eye. I’m going to try to keep on doing traditional things in my carving because some kids are forgetting about the traditions and the carvings would probably help them. Our traditions are still important; we need to keep our … Read More
Moving Forward: Works on Paper by Annie Pootoogook
Feheley Fine Arts is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of works on paper by Annie Pootoogook. Born in 1969, Annie is an emerging artist who only began drawing in 1997. She is inspired by the detailed graphics of her uncle, Kananginak Pootoogook, and remembers fondly her grandmother, Pitseolak Ashoona. Her mother, Napachie Pootoogook, was another strong artistic influence, … Read More
Second Nature: Janet Kingusiuq
(Digitized catalogue below) To behold these recent works on paper by Janet Kigusiuq is to be seduced by colour and delighted by form. Kigusiuq was born in 1926 to Jessie Oonark, the first and brightest star in the Baker Lake firmament. Oonark taught her eldest daughter resilience and self-reliance during the difficult years on the Barren Lands through the 1940s … Read More
Toonoo’s Legacy
(Digitized catalogue below) Sometimes one moment can become the axis around which a whole universe spins. The world remembers 1969 as the year of Woodstock’s quest for harmony and the first moon walk that became a celebration of man’s technological advancements. Meanwhile, in the Arctic the I were making their own advances, navigating the treacherous journey from traditional camps to … Read More
Contemporary Coral Harbour
Coral Harbour, or Salliq, is located on Southampton Island in northwest Hudson’s Bay. In 1902, all of the original population of the area, the Sallirmuit, died from disease brought by European whalers. Since that time, the Coral Harbour area has gradually been settled by Inuit from Baffin Island, Arctic Quebec and mainland Keewatin. This migration created a community whose fabric … Read More