For Arviat artists, Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok and Mary Ayaq Anowtalik, many decades of sculpting culminated in a reputation of excellence in carving. Several years ago, both artists undertook a new medium – drawing. They have now emerged as important graphic artists. The works of art in this exhibition build on the collection of experimental drawings that first introduced the artists’ … Read More
Breaking Ground: New Oil Stick Drawings from Cape Dorset
This exhibition “breaks ground” in a number of ways. First, the medium of oil stick is still a very recent innovation for Inuit artists. It was introduced in Cape Dorset in the late 1990s by Montreal-based artist Ludmilla (Mewa) Armata, who coaxed some remarkable work from senior artists such as Mayureak Ashoona and Sheojuk Etidlooie. The materials remained in the … Read More
3 Cousins: Annie Pootoogook, Shuvinai Ashoona, Siassie Kenneally
(Digitized catalogue below) Three artists share their view of the world through original drawings of land, food, dwellings, family, friends and celebrations. They find inspiration in their own experiences and environments, be it the North and their home community of Cape Dorset on Baffin Island, or travelling abroad and documenting the adventure. Annie Pootoogook, Shuvinai Ashoona, and Siassie Kenneally come … 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
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
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
The Discrete Collector
(Digitized catalogue below) The Art of Collecting Over the past decade, Feheley Fine Arts has been proud to feature several exhibitions of Inuit art from significant private collections, including the Klamer Family, Jack Butler and Sheila Butler, and Terry Ryan. However — for a multitude of personal reasons — sometimes collectors prefer to remain anonymous. While we work diligently to … Read More
Art by Women
(Digitized catalogue below) Foreword At the dawn of the twenty-first century, some people might question the necessity of another exhibition devoted to the artistic expression of Inuit women. Surely, they would say, the point has been well made in over twenty group exhibitions (and even more solo exhibitions) of Inuit women’s art since the mid-1970s in galleries across North America. … Read More
Spirit of the Walrus
The walrus is among the most popular and recognizable subjects of Inuit art. In realistic depictions or mythological compositions, the walrus is a recurrent and powerful spirit. Walruses are massive mammals, larger than the polar bear, living on the ice across the eastern Canadian Arctic. The name, walrus, is from the Danish hvalros (sea cow). For centuries, the Inuit have … Read More