(Digitized catalogue below) A Distinguished artist and a notable colourist, Janet Kigusiuq is renonwned for her graphic compositions, her tactile interpretations of Arctic landscape, and narratives that share her experience of living in the North. She often depicted the land around her as well as the stories she remembered hearing throughout her childhood. The late Kigusiuq established an important place … Read More
de Visser’s Vision: Sculpture from the John de Visser Collection
(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
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
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
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
Material Matters: The Media of Inuit Art
(Digitized catalogue below) Introduction Artists worldwide grapple with the materials they use to translate ideas into physical form and the Inuit are no exception. Some begin with the flat surface of a page on which to build up an image from inspired marks, while others work to free their subject from an existing substance such as stone. The materials chosen … Read More
The Butler Collection: Early Baker Lake Drawings
(Digitized catalogue below) Foreword Patricia Feheley The Formation of the new Canadian territory of Nunavut on April 1, 1999 marks the most significant event in a year filled with celebrations for the Inuit and for Inuit art. Feheley Fine Arts is pleased to join in the celebrations and to pay tribute to the artists of Baker Lake in presenting The … Read More
Sheojuk Etidlooie: Original Drawings
(Digitized catalogue below) Our perception of an artist is that technique can be learned but talent is latent, lying dormant until stirred by opportunity. Sheojuk’s opportunity came late in life. She did not begin to draw until she was in her mid-60’s, as the result of a chance occurrence. Barely six months later, the first of her distinctive images appeared … Read More
The Ryan Collection: Early Cape Dorset Sculpture
(Digitized catalogue below) Foreword The world is by now familiar with the art of Cape Dorset, but few know the man behind the scenes who has facilitated and furthered this international success. Forty years have passed since Terry Ryan’s first visit to Cape Dorset in 1958. His arrival in the north coincided with a period of dramatic change in the … Read More