This has been a very productive year for Ningeokuluk Teevee. She expanded her creative pursuits, writing and illustrating her first children’s book, Alego. This is a beautiful story that invites readers to join Alego, a young Inuit girl, on her adventures. This publication is already receiving praise and Teevee is nominated for the 2009 Governor General’s Literary award in the … Read More
Samonie Toonoo: Scream
Edvard Munch’s well-known—and much written about— painting, The Scream, was created in 1893, and is widely considered to represent the universal anxiety of modern man. It depicts a screaming figure with a skull-like face, who appears to be in the throes of an unknown emotional crisis. This image is now one of the most familiar in art history, having been … Read More
First Solo Show: Tim Pitsiulak
Tim Pitsiulak proudly identifies himself as a hunter and an artist. This same combination has informed works of art by generations of Inuit artists. However, as all aspects of life in the Arctic, the face of both of these activities has changed greatly in recent times. Modern boats and motors, rifles, and skidoos are a part of today’s hunting life. … 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
Qavavau Manumie: A Dialogue with the Artist
I first encountered the work of Cape Dorset artist, Qavavau Manumie, in the early 1990s when I saw a remarkable image entitled, NASA Graveyard. This drawing, done in 1989, was the first truly contemporary Inuit work I had seen in that it depicted the televised launch (and subsequent crash) of the Challenger at Kennedy Space Center. The concept of an … 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
Shuvinai Ashoona: Time Interrupted
(Digitized catalogue below) Shuvinai Ashoona is not an emerging artist; her detailed ink drawings of dense landscapes have intrigued viewers for many years. In earlier works, domestic items and interwoven topographical elements lived side by side in a relationship of rich detail made possible through ink stippling and cross-hatching. Today, Shuvinai continues to work with an intense attention to detail, … 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
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