Inuit Art Quarterly - Earth: Holding Ground

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CONTENTS

32.4

Inuit Art Quarterly Earth

Front

Features

Back

04 Contributors

26 The Speed of Imagination:

The Ceramic Artists of Kangiqliniq

54 Ukkusisaqtarviq:

The Places Where We Find Stone

LEGACY

05 From the Editor 06 Message from

the Executive Director 07 Impact Update 5 WORKS

14 On the Water HIGHLIGHTS

16 A sneak peek at some

current and upcoming exhibitions and projects.

CHOICE

18 Gukki Nuka Møller

by Nauja Bianco CHOICE

20 Carola Grahn

by Maria Ragnestam PROFILE

22 Bronson Jacque

by Evan Pavka

Page 26 John Kurok and Shary Boyle Sugluk 2016 COURTESY ESKER FOUNDATION PHOTO M.N. HUTCHINSON

Since the 1960s, ceramics have been a signature medium in Kangiqliniq (Rankin Inlet), NU, yet sporadic access to materials and kilns and a freestyling collaborative style have challenged the expectations of southern collectors.

In this Feature, artist Shary Boyle recounts a residency she organized with some of Kangiqliniq’s principal creators, and celebrates a history of innovating with clay.

by Shary Boyle 34 Forging Narratives:

An Interview with Mathew Nuqingaq

Jewellery making has slowly become one of the most practiced and soughtafter art forms in Nunavut. Despite limited access to some mainstay supplies, northern jewellers have developed a unique visual and design language, crafting mesmerizing pieces with ingenuity, forms, minerals and materials specific to the North, including antler, horn and ivory. In this interview an emerging jeweller interviews an established one to learn about his career, with an eye to mentoring the next generation of Inuit creators.

by Ashley Kilabuk-Savard

Every Inuk has the right to quarry stone for carving without a permit, but after 60 years of prolific sculpting, proper management of the non-renew­able resource is becoming tantamount. Stone quarrying in Nunavut faces rapid changes and potentially in­creased industrialization that will undoubtedly affect artists.

by Elaine Anselmi CURATORIAL NOTES

58 Àbadakone | Continuous Fire |

Feu continuel

by Rachelle Dickenson and Greg A. Hill REVIEW

62 Mark Igloliorte

Bonavista Biennale

by Mireille Eagan REVIEW

64

Billy Gauthier: Saunituinnaulungitotluni | Beyond Bone The Rooms

by Hannah Morgan TRIBUTE

66 Etulu Etidloie

Andrea Flowers

Pavinak Petaulassie

PORTFOLIO

40 What Nuna Provides:

10 Contemporary Carvers

For many, stone carving has come to typify Inuit art. But as an art form it has evolved significantly since it first became commercially available in the late 1940s. Bringing together a unique collection, this Portfolio features work by contemporary carvers working across the Arctic in a wide range of materials, from serpentinite and marble to bone and wood, revealing the enduring search to find new forms and subjects.

68 News LAST LOOK

72 Shuvinai Ashoona

ON THE COVER

Niap (b. 1986 Kuujjuaq/Montreal) — Uncategory 13 Land (detail) 2019 Collaboration with Robert Fréchette Archival pigment print and acrylic 61 × 91 cm COURTESY MARION SCOTT GALLERY

Earth

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Front

COUZYN VAN HEUVELEN

BAIT Curated by Ryan Rice

Artspace

S ep t e mb e r 13 t o O c t o b er 19, 2 019

Opening September 13 at 7pm 378 Aylmer Street N, Peterborough, ON

grunt gallery

J anu a r y 10 t o Feb rua r y 2 2 , 2 0 2 0

Opening January 9 at 7 pm 350 E 2nd Ave, Vancouver, BC

SBC galerie d’art contemporain | SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art Ma rch 21 - Ma y 23 , 2 0 2 0

372 Saint-Catherine St W, Montreal, QC

Owens Art Gallery

Au gu st 1 t o Se pt em b er 3 0 , 2 0 2 0

Mount Allison University 61 York Street, Sackville, NB Organized and circulated by Artspace This project is supported by the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts

an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario

textile museum OF CANADA

MASTHEAD

CONTRIBUTORS

PUBLISHER

EDITORIAL

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Inuit Art Quarterly is published by the Inuit Art Foundation.

Executive Director and Publisher Alysa Procida

President Heather Igloliorte Montreal, QC

Editorial Director Britt Gallpen

Secretary-Treasurer Erica Lugt Inuvik, NT

Established in 1987, the Inuit Art Foundation is a not-for-profit charitable organization that provides support to Canada’s Inuit arts communities and is the sole national body mandated to promote Inuit artists and art within Canada and internationally.

This magazine relies on donations made to the Inuit Art Foundation, a registered charitable organization in Canada (BN #121033724RR0001) and the United States (#980140282).

The Inuit Art Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of the Government of Canada through contributions from the Reconciliation Secretariat at Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage, as well as the Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts and Ontario Creates.

Subscriptions subscribe@inuitartfoundation.org Canada: $33/yr. Excludes GST/HST. US: $44/yr. Elsewhere: $48/yr.

GST/HST #121033724RT0001.

The Inuit Art Quarterly is a member of Magazines Canada.

Publication date of this issue: December 5, 2019 ISSN 0831-6708 Publication Mail Agreement #40050252 Postmaster send address changes to Inuit Art Foundation.

Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Inuit Art Foundation 1655 Dupont Street Toronto, ON, M6P 3T1 (647) 498-7717 inuitartfoundation.org ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. THE INUIT ART QUARTERLY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR UNSOLICITED MATERIAL. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THE INUIT ART QUARTERLY ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE INUIT ART FOUNDATION. PRINTED IN CANADA. DISTRIBUTED BY MAGAZINES CANADA. FROM TIME TO TIME WE MAKE OUR SUBSCRIBERS’ NAMES AVAILABLE TO COMPANIES WHOSE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES WE FEEL MAY BE OF INTEREST TO YOU. TO BE EXCLUDED FROM THESE MAILINGS, PLEASE SEND YOUR REQUEST, ALONG WITH A COPY OF YOUR SUBSCRIPTION MAILING LABEL, TO THE ADDRESS ABOVE.

Senior Editor John Geoghegan Managing Editor Michael Stevens Online Editor Laura Stanley Contributing Editor Napatsi Folger Contributing Editor Emily Henderson Contributing Editor Taqralik Partridge Contributing Editor Evan Pavka

Eric Anoee Jr. Arviat, NU Reneltta Arluk Banff, AB Jamie Cameron Toronto, ON Patricia Feheley Toronto, ON Michael Massie Kippens, NL Ryan Rice Toronto, ON

Editorial Assistant Jessica MacDonald

Elaine Anselmi Elaine Anselmi is a freelance journalist based in Erin, Ontario, and often found farther north. She is a regular contributor to Nunatsiaq News and is the former Managing Editor of Up Here magazine in Yellowknife, NT. PAGE 54

Shary Boyle Shary Boyle works across diverse media, including sculpture, installation and drawing.

Highly crafted and deeply imaginative, her practice is activated through collaboration and mentorship. Shary Boyle is the recipient of the Hnatyshyn Foundation Award and the Gershon Iskowitz Prize. She represented Canada with her project Music for Silence at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. Her work will be featured at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto, ON, in a major solo exhibition opening January 2021. PAGE 26

Editorial Assistant Crystal Shi

Mathew Nuqingaq, CM

Copy Editor Lisa Frenette

Mathew Nuqingaq is an Iqaluit-based artist who works primarily in jewellery design.

Nuqingaq’s talent for working with metal and his desire to represent Inuit culture and traditions through his work result in unique, wearable pieces of art. His designs include Inuit tools and arctic animals, and draw on popular figures from Inuit stories. Nuqingaq is a co-founder of the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association and a former board member of the Inuit Art Foundation. He was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada in November 2016. Nuqingaq currently owns and works out of Aayuraa Studio in Iqaluit. PAGE 34

Art Director Matthew Hoffman Advertising Manager Nicholas Wattson Colour Gas Company Printing Interprovincial Group —

PROGRAMS Igloo Tag Coordinator Blandina Attaarjuaq Makkik

Programs Support Coordinator Serena Ypelaar

Igloo Tag Facilitator Bruce Uvilluq

Nunatsiavut Community Liaison Holly Andersen

Development Manager Christa Ouimet Administrative Assistant Brittany Holliss Archives Coordinator Joanna McMann Archival Research Officer Shamila Karunakaran Archival Research Officer Brenna Middleton

Nunavik Community Liaison Nancy Saunders Nunavut Community Liaison Jesse Tungilik Southern Canada East Community Liaison Darcie Bernhardt

Ashley Kilabuk-Savard Ashley Kilabuk-Savard is an Inuk artist, storyteller and jewellery designer born and raised in Iqaluit, NU. Kilabuk-Savard studied acting at the Vancouver Film School and appeared in the film “Two Lovers and a Bear” (2016) and the television show “Qanurli” (2017), and is an emerging filmmaker.

She designs jewellery for her company Asli Savard Creative. PAGE 34

Southern Canada West Community Liaison Alberta Rose Williams

—

EDITORIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL Mary Dailey Desmarais Kim Latreille Samia Madwar Sarah Milroy Elizabeth Qulaut

Inuit Art Quarterly

4

Winter 2019

FROM THE EDITOR

ABOVE

Niap (b. 1986 Kuujjuaq/Montreal) — Uncategory 3 Land 2019 Collaboration with Robert Fréchette Archival pigment print and acrylic 61 × 91 cm COURTESY MARION SCOTT GALLERY

Three years ago, in the spring of 2016, the Inuit Art Quarterly launched its Climate issue—one we hoped would serve “to amplify a vital voice, that of artists, in [the] pressing global conversation” on place, climate and ecology. Since that time, the voices of artists have only become louder, the stakes higher and the urgency greater for those whose homelands would be irrevocably changed by a warming world.

This issue of the IAQ on Earth considers the environment in an expanded scope— thinking beyond the cyclical nature of ice and snow to time as it is captured in stone, metal and clay, to geologic time.

Our Features for this issue explore the materials the land provides, both on as well as under the earth’s surface. Clay, stone, bone, wood and metal are harnessed by artists from across the circumpolar world to give form to new creative visions. In “The Speed of Imagination” artist Shary Boyle recounts the incredible legacy and expansive future of ceramics in Kangiqliniq (Rankin Inlet), NU. Reflecting on her collaborative and generative relationships with some of the Matchbox Gallery’s most celebrated makers including Pierre Aupilardjuk, John Kurok and Leo Napayok, Boyle—a self-described ‘super fan’—shares what she finds so valuable about these innovative works in clay.

The artists featured in our Portfolio, “What Nuna Provides: 10 Contemporary Carvers,” are based across the Canadian Arctic and for each the materials they use, or combine as the case may be, inform fundamentally personal aesthetic decisions.

All, however, share the ability to “bring life to stone in unique detail,” wresting discrete worlds and narratives from often unrelenting materials. Some will be familiar to our readers while others are included in our pages for the first time.

Our Interview brings together two jewellers, one established, the other earlycareer, to discuss how rapidly the landscape for Inuit-made fine jewellery has shifted.

The result has been an explosion of talent that has found its catalyst in Mathew Nuqingaq’s Aayuraa Studio in Iqaluit, NU, and beyond. Finally, our Legacy by Elaine Anselmi looks to the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement’s commitment that every Inuk has the right to quarry stone for carving.

More than 25 years on, however, the truthfulness of that promise depends largely on location, access and mobility.

Throughout this issue, a deep narrative vein emerges: one of articulating one’s relationship to the land. This is perhaps most directly communicated in the works of Niap that grace our cover and this page. Her series Reclamation and De-Categorization performatively reimagines the starkly photographed Nunavik landscapes captured by southerner Robert Fréchette that would otherwise suggest a rugged, uninhabited space. Her brush strokes and electric palette— alongside the mixing of materials of the ceramicists, carvers and jewellers in this issue—illustrate the vibrant and generative partnerships with the land, and all that entails, in each artist’s creative endeavour.

Britt Gallpen Editorial Director

CORRECTION

We regret the following footnote was dropped from the Feature “What Gets Lost: The Canadian Eskimo Arts Council’s Rejected Prints” and apologize for any confusion caused by the unattributed quotes in the introduction to the piece.

1. Virginia J. Watt, The Role of the Canadian Eskimo Arts Council (Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1987), 1. All other quotations taken from CEAC meeting minutes and annual reports, recently digitized as part of Library and Archives Canada “We Are Here: Sharing Stories” initiative.

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Front

THANK YOU

The Inuit Art Foundation is your home for Inuit art We are the only nationally mandated organization dedicated to supporting all Inuit artists working across the North and beyond.

MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Opening Doors

Inuit Art Quarterly

The Inuit Art Foundation strives to connect artists with opportunities, and these past three months have been no exception thanks to our incredible supporters.

Artists Lavinia van Heuvelen and Caroline Blechert have participated in international residencies. Darcie Bernhardt, Lindsay McIntyre and Kablusiak’s work was presented for the first time at Art Toronto—to more than 20,000 people! Inuit artists continue to be more visible on the international stage with support from IAF donors.

On behalf of the entire IAF, I would also like to extend sincere thanks to departing, long-standing board members Mathew 6

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Helen Kalvak (1901–1984 Ulukhaktok) — Under the Stars 1968 Stonecut 45.7 × 64.8 cm COURTESY GALERIE ELCA LONDON

Nuqingaq, CM and Sammy Kudluk, who have helped lead the IAF for decades. They have been so important to the IAF’s success, and we will miss them greatly.

We are happy to welcome new members Reneltta Arluk and Eric Anoee Jr. to the IAF’s Board of Directors.

Our community is small but special, and incredibly committed to supporting artists.

Without you, IAF donors and supporters, none of this would be possible. You are amazing.

Thank you!

Alysa Procida Executive Director, Inuit Art Foundation Winter 2019

THANK YOU

Monthly gift supporter Endowment fund supporter Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award supporter Publications fund supporter IAQ Profiles fund supporter

Sustainers $100,000 RBC Foundation $10,000–$25,000 First Arts Herb and Cece Schreiber Foundation John and Joyce Price K. Richardson $5,000–$9,999 Rene Balcer Susan Carter Andrew Chodos, in memory of Ted and Toni Chodos Hugh Hall Joram Piatigorsky and one anonymous donor $2,500–$4,999 Christopher Bredt and Jamie Cameron David & Liz Macdonald The Michael And Sonja Koerner Charitable Foundation The Radlett Foundation $1,000–$2,499 Adventure Canada Paul and Ellen Alkon Blair Assaly Shary Boyle Yvonne C. Condell Donald and Pat Dodds Marian Dodds, in honour of Dedie Dodds Eleanor Erikson Fath Group/O'Hanlon Paving Patricia Feheley Harald Finkler and Nadine Nickner Janice Gonsalves Goring Family Foundation Inuit Art Society Monty Kehl and Craig Wilbanks Charles Kingsley Katarina Kupca Christie MacInnes Heather McNab Earth

Thank you for giving generously to the Inuit Art Foundation!

You and your generous support ensure the Inuit Art Foundation can do its work. You support artists. You encourage and nurture artistic expression. You connect artists and audiences.

Thank you so much.

The IAF is pleased to recognize those who have contributed between September 2018 and September 2019.

Kathryn Minard Westchester Community Foundation, Bell-Jacoby Fund Susan A. Ollila Constance Pathy PCL Constructors Canada Inc Ann Posen, in honour of David Braidberg Alysa Procida and Kevin Stewart Shirley Richardson Celine Saucier Harriet Stairs David Forrest Barbara J Turner Jaan Whitehead

Paul Pizzolante Mark Richardson Meridian Credit Union Michael and Melanie Southern David Sproule, in honour of Jean Katherine Sproule Ellen Taubman The Power Foundation Marie-Josée Therrien Gail Vanstone Nicholas Wattson Catherine Wilkes, in honour of David Wilkes Norman Zepp and Judith Varga and one anonymous donor

$250–$499 James Abel, in honour of Xanthipi Abel Nak Alariaq John & Sylvia Aldrich Alphabet Shelley Ambrose Sandra Barz Susan Baum Matthew Bradley-Swan Stephen Bulger Aaron Cain Catherine Campbell Mary F. Campbell, in honour of Billy Gauthier Jeffrey Cobb, in memory of Justin Lyman Cobb, III Jane Coppenrath Rob Craigie CarData Kate Doorly Sophie Dorais Alana Faber Yvonne and David Fleck Alain Fournier Susan Gallpen Peter Gardner The Gas Company Paul Gemmiti Andrew Gotowiec Gillian Graham Mark Gustafson Erik Haites Ian Harvey Shawn Hassell Carol Heppenstall

$500–$999 James Bader Vincent and Barbara Barresi Jurg and Christel Bieri Patricia Bovey Woody Brown and Christa Ouimet, in memory of Susan Oster Kaaren and Julian Brown Tobi Bruce Cowley Abbott Canadian Fine Art K+D (Kalaman + Demetriou) Neil Devitt Peter and Irena Dixon, in memory of Philip Igloliorte Arthur Drache and Judy Young Jon and Val Eliassen Lyyli Elliott Leah Erickson, in honour of all Inuit artists Britt Gallpen and Travis Vakenti Molly K. Heines & Thomas J. Moloney Carola Kaegi Alex Krawczyk Simon Lappi Ann & Michael Lesk Mary Kostman, in honour of Jennifer Kilabuk P. McKeown Allan Newell Danielle Ouimet, in memory of Trista Wong Smye Louisa Pauyungie Sr 7

Charles Hilton Chuck Hudson Heather Igloliorte and Matthew Brulotte Lou Jungheim and Thalia Nicas, in memory of Francine Rosenberg Joyce Keltie Nancy Keppelman and Michael Smerza Rawlson O'Neil King Luigi Ruffolo Ellen Lehman and Charles Kennel Val K. Lem Linda Lewis Lois Loewen Michael Martens, in memory of Miriam Bordofsky Paul Mayer Nancy Moore Scott Mullin Michael J. Noone Suzanne O'Hara Maria Parsons Robin and David Procida Ryan Rice Sandy Riley Bruce Roberts Joseph Salkowitz, DMD Paula Santrach Ron Senungetuk Mari Shantz Elizabeth Steinbrueck Colleen Suche Cedar Bradley-Swan Jacek Szulc Peter Tassia and Maija Lutz Charles and Carol Tator The Pemsel Case Foundation, in honour of Jamie Cameron Hunter and Valerie Thompson Jay and Deborah Thomson Carol Thrun, MD Robert C and Judith Toll Ann Tompkins James and Louise Vesper Galerie d'art Vincent William Webster Mark and Margie Zivin and two anonymous donors [2 ,1 unrestricted] Front

THANK YOU

$100–$249 Amy Adams Manasiah Paniloo Akpaliapik Lea Algar-Moscoe Eleanor Allgood Mary Anglim Sarah Ashton, in honour of Sharon Allen Anne-Claude Bacon Don and Anne Badke Catherine Badke Eric Barnum Pamella & Charles Binder, in honour of C Alan Hudson III Catherine Birt Terry & Donna Bladholm Francois Boucher, in memory of Peter Pitseolak Shirley Brown, in honour of Christa Ouimet Freda and Irwin Browns Lisa-Margaret S. Bryan David Burns Shelley Chochinov Nancy Cleman Linda Cleman Carol Cole, in honour of Billy Gauthier Raymond F. Currie Fred and Mary Cutler Brian Davies Celia Denov Urmi Desai Nadine Di Monte François Dumaine Hélène Dussault and Louis Hanrahan Leslie E. Eisenberg Melanie Egan Pat English Lynne and John Eramo Keith Evans Lynn Feasey Shirley Finfrock Barbara Fischer Ellen Fraser Ed Friedman John Geoghegan Anik Glaude Carole Gobeil Claire S. Gold Peter Gold and Athalie Joy Deborah D. Gordon Nelson Graburn, in memory of Taiara and Ituvik from Salluit Carol Gray Linda Grussani Susan and Victor Gustavison Barbara Hale Andrea Hamilton John A. Hanjian James M. Harris Dianne Hayman Janet Heagle Ingo Hessel David Wilson and Patricia Hinton Inuit Art Quarterly

Albert and Femmeke Holthuis Richard Horder Dale Horwitz Warren Howard Andrew Hubbertz Jacqueline Hynes indiGem Inc. in honour of Mathew Nuqingaq Phil Ivanoff Lynn Jackson, in honour of Paula Jackson Drs Laurence and Katherine Jacobs Amy Jenkins Joel and Evelyn Umlas Sharon Jorgens John and Johanna Kassenaar Randy Lazarus Patrick Beland Kenneth R. Lister Daryl Logan Louise Logan Dr. Marie A. Loyer Simone Ludlow Blandina Attaarjuaq Makkik and Greg Rogers Priya Mani George Marcus Elaine and Neil Margolis Susan Marrier William Mather Elizabeth McKeown McKinnon Household Tess McLean, in memory of Christian Gunnar Saare Mary-Ann Metrick, in honour of Cécile Metrick Robert Michaud Stephen Morris, in memory of Aqjangayuk Shaa Margaret Morse Meredith Mozer Barbara Myslinski Gary Nelson Louisa L. O'Reilly Donna & Hal Olsen Carole Ouimet Louie Palu, in memory of Fiorina and Giuseppe Palu Kara Pearce Doreen Peever Ed Pien, in memory of Tim Pitsiulak and Jutai Toonoo Steve Potocny and Anne Milochik Prue Rains, in honour of Marybelle Mitchell Blaine Rapp, in honour of Helen Mary Rapp Bayard D. Rea Leslie Reid Timothy Reinig Jim Renner, in memory of Norah Renner Eva Riis-Culver Marcia Rioux Mark Rittenhouse

Michael L Foreman and Leslie Roden-Foreman Robert Rosenbaum Susan Rowley Judith Rycus Alexa Samuels Joanne Schmidt, in loving memory of Gail Schmidt Jeffrey Seidman Paul Shackel Mark Shiner Seiko Shirafuji Janet Shute Susan Simpson Liz Smeloff Carmine Starnino Phil Tinmouth & Brit Dewey Tundra North Tours Anne Vagi Teri Vakenti Peter Van Brunt Rod Wacowich, in memory of Lorraine Neill Mary Jo Watson Lowell Waxman Ann and Marshall Webb Claude M. Weil, in honour of Jim Shirley Peggy Weller Leslie Saxon West Scott White Judy Willson Judy Wolfe Bea Zizlavsky and 8 anonymous donors [3 , 1 ] Up to $99 Bea Alvarez Susan Anthony Judy Archer, in memory of Sarah Prince Archer Bruce Bauer Heather Beecroft Catherine Black Maegen Black Michael Boland Simon Brascoupé Claire Christopher Janna Hiemstra Barbara Dalziel Autumn Diaz Jean Dickinson Leanne Di Monte Janette Doering Lynn Enright Katharine W Fernstrom Karen and George Gorsline Susan Griswold Alissa Hamilton Kathryn Hanna Beatrice Hanson, in memory of Cesare Ansovini Mary Hanson Tekla Harms Clive Harvey Anne Hearn 8

Petra Holler Brittany Holliss Anna Holmes James Igloliorte Emily Jolliffe Melinda Josie Gwen Kerr, in honour of Germaine Arnaktauyok Peter Kovacik Nadia Kurd Benoit Labelle Carol Lampert Mary Lawrence Breinig David Lee Marion Lord Norma Lundberg Catherine Madsen Samia Madwar, in memory of Hazar Sawaf Michelle McGeough Verena Mereb Joanna Miazga Suzanne F. Nash Susan Newlove Kate Permut Marie Peron Marilyn Robinson Kerstin Roger Irene Rokaw and John Reese Anita Romaniuk Mark Rostrup, in honour of Paula Rostrup Lise Rousson-Morneau Kevin Rush Allan R. Sampson Nicholas Sappington Evelyn R. Savitzky Claude Schryer Kathryn Scott Patricia Scott Sharon Shafii Elika Shapiro Home & Away Gallery Scenery Slater Muriel Smith Charmaine Spencer Ann Sprayregen Gray and Margaret, in honour of Erik Haites Elizabeth P. Ball, in honour of Thomas G. Fowler Bertha K. Thompson Kitty Thorne Emilie Tremblay Darlene Tymn Charles M. Voirin Larysa Voss Nancy Walkling, in memory of Frank Walkling John Weber Sarah Whelchel Amanda Whitney Michael Wiles Catherine Wolf-Becker, in honour of Erik Haites and 6 anonymous donors [1 ] Winter 2019

THANK YOU

Your Impact Thank you for supporting the Inuit Art Foundation.

By giving, you allow both emerging and established artists to share their work while ensuring that Inuit voices are amplified and lead discussions of Inuit art.

Below is one demonstration of your impact, of many.

How You Help

A giant thank you to donors! Travelling to Nuuk, Greenland and being able to exhibit our work there was just amazing. Thank you for giving me this experience.

With your donation, you’re helping an artist develop their practice, at any stage in their career. You’re helping people put money back into their communities. I think when Inuit artists see other Inuit artists succeed, it drives us. It’s so much more than just a donation.”

LAVINIA VAN HEUVELEN

How You Help

“Quyanaq to all who have supported us. I am honoured to have represented Canada as an Inuit artist in Nuuk.

It was such a pleasure learning from and exchanging with all the artists featured at the Nuuk Nordisk Kulturfestival and exhibiting alongside them at the Nuuk Art Museum. Being able to bring cultures together from all over the Arctic feels incredibly uniting.

I am so thankful to have been given this opportunity to connect with the land and the community. This is truly what home feels like.”

CAROLINE BLECHERT

IAF Supporter’s Circle The Supporter’s Circle is a special group of donors who give monthly to sustain the IAF and create opportunities for artists.

Thank you Supporter’s Circle members for your essential year-round support!

Manasiah Paniloo Akpaliapik Mary Anglim Vincent and Barbara Barresi Tobi Bruce Christopher Bredt and Jamie Cameron Catherine Campbell Claudia Christian Celia Denov Donald and Pat Dodds Kate Doorly Sophie Dorais Melanie Egan Lynn Feasey Britt Gallpen and Travis Vakenti Anik Glaude Dr. Andrew Gotowiec Barbara Hale Shawn Hassell Brittany Holliss Amy Jenkins Katarina Kupca Samia Madwar, in honour of Hazar Shawaf Michael Martens, in memory of Miriam Bordofsky Stephen Morris, in memory of Aqjangayuk Shaa Ann Posen, in honour of David Braidberg Alysa Procida and Kevin Stewart Robin and David Procida Michael and Melanie Southern Nicholas Wattson Gord and Laurie Webster Claude M. Weil, in honour of Jim Shirley Leslie Saxon West And two anonymous donors Welcome to the following new members to the Supporter’s Circle, between June 2019 and October 2019!

Dianne Hayman Eva Riis-Culver Kara Pearce Joanne Schmidt Jacek Szluc

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THANK YOU

Without you, there would be no IAQ The Inuit Art Quarterly helps to bring untold stories to light, and helps artists gain new visibility. One of the most basic ways for artists to access opportunities is by maintaining complete, professional biographies of their career accomplishments. However, Inuit artists have long been discouraged from maintaining their own biographies: of the 13,000 Inuit artists working today, only 4% have up-to-date, complete biographies. With your donations, the IAQ Profiles is helping to fill this gap.

Because of the incredible donors below, 117 new artists will have up-to-date, complete biographies in the coming months. Thank you to First Arts for supporting this campaign with matching funds, and to all the generous donors listed below. Thank you!

Paul and Ellen Alkon James Bader Susan Baum Michael Boland Woody Brown and Christa Ouimet Kaaren and Julian Brown Lisa-Margaret S. Bryan Stephen Bulger Jeffrey Cobb, in memory of Justin Cobb III Jane Coppenrath Rob Craigie Brian Davies Leanne Di Monte Nadine Di Monte Donald and Pat Dodds

Sophie Dorais CarData Hélène Dussault and Louise Hanrahan Jon and Val Eliassen Lyyli Elliott Keith Evans Patricia Feheley Ellen Fraser The Gas Company The Goring Family Foundation Erik Haites First Arts John A. Hanjian Kathryn Hanna Ian Harvey

Dianne Hayman Molly K. Heines and Thomas J. Moloney Charles Hilton Richard Horder Phil Ivanoff Louis Jungheim and Thalia Nicas, in honour of Francine Rosenberg Charles Kingsley Katarina Kupca Daryl Logan George Marcus Elaine and Neil Margolis William Mather Kathryn Minard

Louisa L. O'Reilly Kara Pearce Ed Pien, in memory of Tim Pitsiulak and Jutai Toonoo John and Joyce Price Jim Renner, in honour of Nora Renner Joanne Schmidt, in loving memory of Gail Schmidt Patricia Scott Robert C. and Judith Toll Peter Tassia and Maija Lutz Marie-Josée Therrien Ann Tompkins Emilie Tremblay James and Louise Vesper

Artists today are working in different mediums and exploring different topics in their work. I’m excited to join the IAF Board of Directors and work with other members of the Inuit art community to help artists.

I was supported early in my career through Inuit Art Foundation programs and I would like to thank the IAF for the years of support they have given to me.

I look forward to working with them to support a new generation of artists. What is more important than keeping the culture alive through the arts?”

MICHAEL MASSIE, CM, RCA

Inuit Art Quarterly

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Winter 2019

THANK YOU

Join Us Help us support artists working across Inuit Nunangat and beyond by donating to the Inuit Art Foundation.

Celebrate the art you love, and become a part of our community today.

The Inuit Art Foundation — Your Home for Inuit Art

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Abraham Pov (1927–1994 Puvirnituq) — Building an Igloo 1960 Steatite 14.5 × 24.5 × 24.5 cm COURTESY LA GUILDE PHOTO CARLOS RIOBO

Donations are essential to the programs that promote and celebrate Inuit art and artists.

Please Consider Supporting the Future of Inuit Art To learn more about donating contact us at 647-498-7717 or visit us online at inuitartfoundation.org/support/give.

As a registered charitable organization in Canada (BN #121033724RR0001) and the United States (#980140282), the Inuit Art Foundation welcomes donations, sponsorships, legacy gifts and in-kind contributions.

ADDITIONAL 2018–2019 PROGRAM SUPPORT PROVIDED BY: PRIMARY SUPPORTER

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PROGRAM SUPPORT

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Without you

The Inuit Art Foundation is a registered charitable organization in Canada (BN #121033724RR0001) and the United States (#980140282).

there is no IAQ. Your donation matters. Please give today: inuitartfoundation.org/give

5 WORKS

On the Water IAF staff pick works that show how people cruise, chase and travel across oceans, rivers and dreams

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Tony Anguhalluq (b. 1970 Qamani’tuaq) — Three Inuit are going to go camping to hunt seal and fish in the middle of June 2007 Coloured pencil and graphite 61 × 48.2 cm COURTESY MARION SCOTT GALLERY

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Tony Anguhalluq

Three Inuit are going to go camping to hunt seal and fish in the middle of June (2007) Colour fills the page in Tony Anguhalluq’s Three Inuit are going to go camping to hunt seal and fish in the middle of June, which manages to be simultaneously bright and ominous. The landscape dominates the work, seen in an aerial view so that all of its massive features are flattened, only differentiated by colour. A tiny, minimalist depiction of a boat sits along a purple shore, with three Inuit hunters standing and staring at the sea. While the dark tones of the piece could signal peril, they look relaxed and prepared, ready to hunt. Anguhalluq’s use of scale makes the possibilities of their hunt feel broad and limitless, hidden just out of sight on the dark sea.

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Myra Kukiiyaut

Kayaks and Caribou (1969) Like many of Myra Kukiiyaut’s (1929–2006) drawings, Kayaks and Caribou takes a single, captivating moment and pauses it, stretching it out by pushing and prodding and collapsing a cast of characters into a highly orchestrated, dynamic scene. Here, the bodies of Kukiiyaut’s multicoloured caribou swirl and melt into the page. Alongside them, a fleet of kayaks and hunters surge upwards, cresting on invisible waves and pushing their targets ever forward. In the chaotic centre, however, a single kayaker is tossed

upside down, hinting at the inherent danger of the pursuit despite the artist’s cheerful palette and fluid line making. This work, like many of Kukiiyaut’s graphics, skillfully marries complex and personal narrative with pure visual pleasure, and like most of her drawings leaves us with more questions than answers—namely, did this figure eventually flip right side up? I certainly hope so.

BRITT GALLPEN

Editorial Director

ABOVE

OPPOSITE (LEFT)

OPPOSITE (ABOVE)

OPPOSITE (BELOW)

Myra Kukiiyaut (1929–2006 Qamani’tuaq) — Kayaks and Caribou 1969 Coloured pencil 56 × 76.5 cm

Itee Pootoogook (1951–2014 Kinngait) — Rowing His Boat 2013 Coloured pencil and graphite 50 × 65 cm

Joe Talirunili (1893–1976 Puvirnituq) — Boat and Six Men c. 1965 Stone, ivory and sinew 10 × 17.7 × 13.2 cm

GOVERNMENT OF NUNAVUT FINE ART COLLECTION; ON LONG-TERM LOAN TO THE WINNIPEG ART GALLERY

COURTESY DAVIC NATIVE CANADIAN ARTS REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS

Abraham Anghik Ruben (b. 1951 Salt Spring Island) — Animal Spirit Umiak c. 2010 Stone and wood 45.7 × 61 × 17.8 cm

Inuit Art Quarterly

ALYSA PROCIDA

Executive Director and Publisher

COURTESY ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

COURTESY WADDINGTON’S

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Winter 2019

5 WORKS

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Itee Pootoogook

Rowing His Boat (2013) Against a grey backdrop of the sea stretching out to meet the hopeful blue of the horizon, a single rowboat floats alone in the calm of the water, its occupant reflected in the still mirror of the surface. I was drawn to the image as it captures a sense of loneliness adrift in the vast open ocean. I was reminded of an old man I passed during a recent ferry trip.

He was in a rickety-looking aluminum boat paddling out to sea. I thought of him for some time after that trip, wondering where his solitary oar strokes were propelling him.

In Rowing His Boat, though, Itee Pootoogook’s (1951–2014) mariner is not rowing out into the abyss of the expanse of water beyond, but faces the distant horizon, paddling himself backwards to the shore.

Wherever in that grey expanse he has spent the day, he is on his way home now, to whatever awaits him where the saltwater meets the land.

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Joe Talirunili

EMILY HENDERSON

Contributing Editor

Boat and Six Men (c. 1965) Sometimes, through repetition, an artist can come to almost own a certain subject. Think Degas’s ballerinas, O’Keeffe’s flowers up close and Warhol’s soup cans. Many artists have made work about boats, even dedicated their careers to marine paintings or models, but few have captured the subject quite like Joe Talirunili (1893–1976).

Boat and Six Men is different than the migration scenes for which Talirunili is best known. It is smaller, with far fewer figures and no sail. But the details that have made the artist’s boats so beloved and sought after are alive in this piece. Expressive faces and tense body language articulated so clearly in a single piece of stone—this piece is a quiet marvel.

JOHN GEOGHEGAN

Senior Editor

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Abraham Anghik Ruben, OC

Animal Spirit Umiak (c. 2010) From Hringhorni, the “greatest of all ships” of Norse Mythology, to Charon ferrying the dead across the river Styx, boats have figured prominently across the globe’s mythologies for millennia. For Inuit, who have subsisted almost exclusively on marine life, boats are central to both everyday life and figure prominently in mythology.

In Abraham Anghik Ruben’s Animal Spirit Umiak we see a vivid depiction Earth

of shaman tales of tarniit (spirit animals) riding in a boat on the back of Sedna.

Through his signature use of flowing lines and intricate otherworldly subject matter, Ruben creates magnificent imagery of Sedna guiding the tarniit across the water, her body mimicking the motion of waves.

NAPATSI FOLGER

Contributing Editor 15

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HIGHLIGHTS

Exhibition Highlights A behind-the-scenes look at some notable projects

BELOW

OPPOSITE (LEFT)

Installation view of Kablusiak’s Piliutiyara (2019) in the Sobey Art Award Exhibition, Art Gallery of Alberta, 2019

Aslaug M. Juliussen (b. 1953 Lodingen/ Tromsø) — Hornild/Hornfire 2005 Styrofoam, reindeer antler and hair 80 × 75 × 75 cm

PHOTO LEROY SCHULZ

OPPOSITE (RIGHT)

Cover art for Riit’s ataataga

COURTESY THE ARTIST

COURTESY SIX SHOOTER RECORDS

OCTOBER 5, 2019—JANUARY 5, 2020

Sobey Art Award Exhibition Art Gallery of Alberta EDMONTON, AB

Created by the Sobey Art Foundation in 2002, the annual Sobey Art Award recognizes pre-eminent Canadian contemporary artists under 40, awarding $240,000 in prizes to the longlisted and shortlisted artists. This year, the exhibition of the shortlisted artists is being held at the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton. The exhibition opened October 5 and features works by Stephanie Comilang, Nicolas Grenier, Anne Low, D’Arcy Wilson and Kablusiak, each presenting stand-alone showings of their work within the larger scope of the exhibition. Curator Lindsey Sharman noted that, despite the loose affiliation between the work in this group exhibition, explorations of personal narrative and materiality have taken centre stage among this year’s finalists: “There’s definitely this theme Inuit Art Quarterly

of looking at their own individual identity, often times within a settler-colonial context.”

We spoke to Kablusiak about what it means to be one of the youngest, and the first Inuvialuk artist, to be nominated for the prestigious award and about their work included in the exhibition: It’s such an honour to be included. I still don’t know how to process it, because I want to say that I might be the youngest. I’m among the youngest anyway: when the shortlist was announced publicly, I had just turned twenty-six. I don’t mean to be cocky about it, and I think it’s really amazing to have that recognition, both from my community and beyond; especially in the category of “Prairies and North.” I think it’s hilarious, too, because I was born in the North and grew up in the Prairies. It just seems fitting.

I’ve made new works for the show. New carvings, a new photo series as well as some other works such as the Inuvik Ghost (2018).

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I also made take-away posters and there is a large wall vinyl. It’s quite a lot, but I think it came together really well.

The new photo series is a slide projection with photos reminiscent of the Untitled Ghost series—but not quite. My friend and colleague—and wonderful person— Nicole Kelly Westmen has been helping me.

We went out into the bush of Alberta and took these beautiful scenic photos of iconic Alberta landscapes. In the photos I’m wearing my parka, the parka cover my mom made, as well as a lingerie as I’m staring into the camera. The starting place for that project was inspired by those ethnographic photos from the fifties and sixties where researchers went to northern communities, snapping pics of people doing their daily life (which I am sure still happens to this day). So I’m thinking through this new work and how it relates to autonomy, and using that as a theme to tie all the works together.

– Kablusiak Winter 2019

HIGHLIGHTS

NOVEMBER 1, 2019—MARCH 15, 2020

Aslaug M. Juliussen: Skjæringspunkter / Russenčuoggát / Intersections Anchorage Museum ANCHORAGE, ALASKA

In this first comprehensive solo exhibition of the works of Sámi artist Aslaug M. Juliussen, the Anchorage Museum plays host to Skjæringspunkter / Russenčuoggát / Intersections, an exhibition previously on display at Blaafarveværket in Drammen, Norway and at the Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum in Tromsø, Norway. Though her work is rarely seen outside of Norway, this is not Juliussen’s first time exhibiting her work at the Anchorage Museum. In 2015 her work was included in the travelling exhibition Sámi Stories. We caught up with Curator Charis Gullickson to learn more: Skjæringspunkter / Russenčuoggát / Intersections is not fully a retrospective, but a diverse representation of her artistic practice. The works in the show span from the early 1990s to today. There are a lot of similarities, but her work has changed significantly over time. There are some textiles from the early 1990s because weaving huge linen and wool tapestries is how she started. She moved into making the threedimensional work she is now known for, later in her career. Over time the works have jumped off the walls and taken on a new form, but they maintain references to textile

and ideas of the body and animals versus humans. Typically her exhibitions have included only her most recent series, because she mostly works in series, but it was interesting to see older works in dialogue with newer pieces.

At Anchorage Museum, works by Sonya Kelliher-Combs will be on display in the museum's permanent collection galleries.

We wanted to highlight the connections between female artists working in the circumpolar North, particularly those working with natural materials and hide.

For this project, we made the first monograph on Juliussen’s artistic practice.

We invited authors of diverse professional backgrounds to write because her works are so layered that writings from different reference points help viewers come to a greater understanding of her practice.

Juliussen’s artworks are beautiful and appealing, but also uncanny. Some of the materials seem familiar, but many are unknown and strange. Is there beauty in hooves, antlers and other dissected animal parts? Juliussen’s work points to the distance we modern humans have from nature, body and death.

– Charis Gullickson

OCTOBER 25, 2019

ataataga

by Riit SIX SHOOTER RECORDS

Known for her collaborations with artists such as The Jerry Cans, Twin Flames and Artcirq, Riit (Rita Claire Mike-Murphy) has made a name for herself as one of Nunavut’s most exciting musical acts. Her debut record ataataga dropped on October 25th, 2019 and serves as a musical dedication to her late father. The album features songs written over the past several years as well as covers and collaborations with artists Zaki Ibrahim, Elisapie and Joshua Qaumariaq. Standout tracks on the Inuktitut-language album include “qaumajuapik” and “qujana.” We spoke with Riit about the album, her influences and her future plans: It is an electro-pop album, mixed with traditional throat singing. All of the songs come from very personal experiences and relationships. Some are about family, intergenerational trauma, residential schools and sexual abuse. I feel like it is important to bring awareness to these issues that affect people in Nunavut and across the Arctic.

One of my greatest musical influences is Elisapie Issac; I grew up listening to her music and was always inspired by her. I was honoured to collaborate with her on the song “uqausissaka” featured on the album. When we collaborated, she had a lot of input and advice on being a full-time musician, especially as a woman in the music industry.

– Riit

To see a full list of exhibitions, visit our enhanced calendar online at: inuitartfoundation.org/calendar

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Front

CHOICE

Gukki Nuka Møller Kaalaralaaq

by Nauja Bianco

Inuit Art Quarterly

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Winter 2019

CHOICE

This mixture of two strong markers of Greenlandic identity—the perlekrave and the tupilaat—with modern and stringent elements of contemporary Scandinavian design transforms all three.

In ancient Greenlandic mythology a tupilak is a monster conjured by a shaman and made of found objects and animal parts such as hair, bone, skin, sinew and tusk. Its sole purpose, once animated, is to seek revenge on behalf of its maker. Entangling yourself in the magic of the tupilak is risky business, though; if the target of the maker’s revenge also knows magic, they might boomerang the tupilak back on its sender, with potentially deadly consequences.

Danes came to Eastern Greenland late in the nineteenth century with Gustav Holm’s Umiak Expedition. Intrigued by Inuit stories of the tupilak, Holm and his crew sought a visualization of this mostly invisible and introverted creature. A visual manifestation gradually took place when Greenlanders began carving interpretations of the creature, which those early European visitors took home. Today’s modern tupilak is a figure with sinister, sarcastic or shady characteristics made of narwhal and walrus tusk or reindeer antler. However, the tupilak has become civilized and now is mostly a souvenir item decorating peoples’ homes, divorced from its shamanistic, vengeful origins.

Despite this colonial taming of the tupilak, the creature continues to play an important role in Greenlandic culture. Today, it represents the ancient Inuit modes of oral storytelling and ties into an enduring idea that there is more to life than what we view. To acknowledge the tupilak’s lasting importance in contemporary Greenlandic art and culture, in 2018 Nuuk Art Museum opened an exhibition titled Tupilappassuit, which means many tupilaat (plural for tupilak) in Kalaallisut.

Greenlandic artist Gukki Nuka Møller was featured in this exhibition with his piece Kaalaralaaq, (c. 2009), a piece that intricately illustrates the tupilak’s—and Greenland’s— transformed post-colonial identity by mixing symbols of traditional Greenlandic culture with elements of contemporary Scandinavian design.

Kaalaralaaq is named for Møller’s grandmother, herself a likely witness to the colonial era and its transformations. It is a collar of ceramic tupilaat figurines draped over a narrow-necked vase; he describes the piece as a perlekrave, tying the piece to the traditional Greenlandic women’s dress. The traditional perlekrave is the colourful, beaded collar traditionally worn

by Greenlandic women, and is typically the most eye-catching part of traditional dress as it is placed on shoulders not unlike a crown.

This mixture of two strong markers of Greenlandic identity—the perlekrave and the tupilaat—with modern and stringent elements of contemporary Scandinavian design transforms all three. Replacing the beads of the national costume, the tupilaat here are more ornamental than vengeful.

Whatever evil qualities they had, they’ve been transformed by Møller into love and affection for his grandmother and Greenlandic culture by being woven into a perlekrave-like pattern. Considering the artist’s own travels and displacement— a Greenlandic artist trained in Canada, residing in Denmark—I like to view Møller’s piece as displaying a love for Greenland and as a token of appreciation for the identity symbols from which we measure ourselves.

Further complicating this nexus of modern/traditional and Greenlandic/ European is Møller’s use of ceramics, which sits outside the expected roster of materials in Greenland. Contemporary art in Greenland originates from traditional handicraft and is centred around carving (steatite, granite, tusk, bone, antler for example). It is complemented with drawings, prints and paintings and later again accompanied by photography, video installation and modern means of expressions. In Greenland, there is a strong tradition of storytelling within the performing arts such as music, singing and acting.

Ceramics in Greenland have traditionally been used for cups, bowls and plates, but is not a widely used medium for art. Møller is the first artist who has combined and perfected the use of ceramics as an aesthetic art form in the Greenlandic art scene.

The duality of his Greenlandic and Danish identity is a central focus in much of his work.

Through the mixing of traditional forms, modern designs and novel materials, Kaalaralaaq embodies the Greenlandic-Danish common history in an artistic narrative of its own. It also represents Danish and Greenlandic cultures bound together by colonial history since 1721 when the Danish/Norwegian missionary expedition came to Greenland.

— Nauja Bianco is an independent advisor, freelance journalist, communicator, facilitator and diplomat. She is a native Greenlander and a Danish citizen born and raised in the capital of Nuuk and is the Founder and Director of Isuma Consulting.

OPPOSITE

Gukki Nuka Møller (b. 1965 Uummannaq/ Copenhagen) — Kaalaralaaq c. 2009 Ceramic 35.6 × 40.6 × 30.5 cm COURTESY THE ARTIST

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CHOICE

Carola Grahn Markerna

by Maria Ragnestam

Beaivváš, duottar, johka, eana.

Miessi, vuovdi, spill, návdi.

Mearra, barro, allí, guolli.

Juopmu, jeagil, muoldu, muorji.

Váhki. Gávpot. Veaigi. Guovssu.

Boahtteáigái ja guhkkelebbui, guhkkelebbui, guhkkelebbui.

Inuit Art Quarterly

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Winter 2019

CHOICE

OPPOSITE

Carola Grahn (b. 1982 Jokkmokk) — Markerna 2018 Speech, wood and reindeer horn 23 × 23 cm COLLECTION KONSTMUSEET I NORR, NORRBOTTEN’S COUNTY ART MUSEUM PHOTO LISA KEJONEN

In the most northern parts of Sápmi in Sweden, a small city just a little older than a hundred years is, together with its inhabitants, going through a transformation under the watchful eye of the world. Kiruna’s central neighbourhoods are being relocated or demolished due to the continued activity at the state-owned mine, and a new city centre is now slowly taking shape two miles eastwards. Often forgotten or simply overlooked in the narrative of this area is the fact that long before the mine sunk into the ground, before the city was planned, the land nurtured an Indigenous people whose existence is still present and dependent on the use of the territory.

When the first buildings in the new city centre opened in late 2018, it contained a county art museum, Konstmuseet i Norr.

The museum aims to show critically oriented contemporary art that responds to societal issues through a variety of artistic perspectives, media and practices. With this in mind, the piece Markerna (2018) by the South Sámi artist Carola Grahn became the obvious choice as the first acquisition for the new collection.

Konstmuseet i Norr’s placement on Sámi ancestral homeland serves as a crucial condition in Grahn’s piece. The piece states the museum’s inevitable geographical and emotional connection to its surroundings and recognizes the historical magnitude of the site.

Markerna is a speech, written by the artist and inspired by the practice of land acknowledgements that rarely occur in Sweden, and a version of a Sámi skáhppu— a traditional handmade wooden box, usually oval with a flat bottom, no larger than what can be held in the hands. The woodwork and horn engraving of the skáhppu was developed in collaboration with Nils-Johan Labba, a master craftsman in duodji, Sámi traditional craft. In Grahn’s piece the skáhppu takes on an unconventional spherical shape, and in addition to the engraved speech it contains another text by the artist that has been freely interpreted into the North Sámi language by the author Sigbjørn Skåden.

Reflecting on a time that has passed while

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casting a clear look ahead, Grahn has created a polyvocal piece, both traditional and modern. It is a work of finely tuned contrasts that changes depending on the experiences and knowledge of its viewer, raising questions about the notion of the land and who it belongs to, if anyone.

Grahn’s speech now serves as a verbal introduction to public events at Konstmuseet i Norr, drawing visitors’ attention to the significance of the land they stand on, and looking towards a continued and common future for both Sámi and Swedish people.

Grahn’s approach is unifying—an attempt to create a mutual understanding. Throughout her practice she ventures to mend things that she considers broken. She challenges her materials, makes mistakes, rips things up and repairs.

Through parallel and overlapping artistic and social expressions, Markerna reflects on both structural limitations and possibilities, generating questions regarding whose stories are allowed, who can tell them and what happens to those who are excluded.

It broadens public understanding and challenges a simplified and segregated description of reality, contrasting an oftenaccepted narrative of history that played a role in effacing Sámi connections to the land.

Being able to take part of Grahn’s explorative process and thoughts behind the origin of the site-specific work, Markerna, has been a fantastic and partly overwhelming opportunity, and the direction this work provides to the continued development of Konstmuseet i Norr’s collection is important.

Markerna directly advances the representation of this area of the world in global contemporary art conversations and within Kiruna, an emblem of our shared responsibility to the land and the people that call this place home.

— Maria Ragnestam is an independent curator focusing on contemporary art of the Barents Region. She is among the founders of the Konstmuseet i Norr, the first contemporary art gallery in Northern Sweden.

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PROFILE

Bronson Jacque

BELOW

Bronson Jacque (b. 1995 Postville/ St. John’s) — Heritage Dog Team Race 2019 Oil 40.6 × 101.6 cm PHOTOS COURTESY THE ARTIST

by Evan Pavka

From the rush of a dog team racing across the frozen Nunatsiavut landscape to fishing near the pulsing Pinware River, St John’sbased painter Bronson Jacque has honed a visual language all his own—one laden with time and memory that softens the edges in a loose, hazy naturalism. “When I was growing up, I didn’t realize I needed glasses so everything I saw was blurry except for things that were near me,” the artist explains.

This early experience with the mechanics of optics and the shifting nature of human vision has found its way into his painting practice, which heavily favours imagery that invites a viewer’s close attention and plays with their understanding of distance and perspective.

Jacque, who has come to be known for his evocative and often dreamy scenes, was raised in an artistic family from Postville, Nunatsiavut, NL, and has been engaged in making since an early age. “It’s just something that we do up in Labrador, creating things,” says Jacque. “We like to make things with our hands, it makes us feel proud—sharing the things that are on our mind.”

Though he no longer resides in Nunatsiavut, the artist fondly recalls childhood memories of living near the ocean, and they resonate in his work: “When you’re a kid everything feels beautiful. By capturing this Inuit Art Quarterly

same quality in a painting, for me, it makes the subject feel much more intimate and personal.” Affect is an important consideration in his practice: “I’m interested in translating a moment or a feeling,” he adds about scenes like Trappers Cove (2019) that combine the intangibility of memory with his soft touch.

Trappers Cove depicts the striking silhouette of a fishing boat caught in roiling waters, vibrating with visible strokes of plum, lilac, marigold and coral that relay the flicking evening light across the water’s surface.

The urge to capture fleeting moments pervades works such as Uncle Doug’s Wharf (2019). Here a lone fisherman traverses a human-made landscape of patchwork boards, planks and plywood panels that mend years of use, all of it dissolving into early-morning mist. Behind him, a bright tangerine buoy, a cerulean-tipped qamutiik and an olive fishing net punctuate the otherwise muted scene.

The atmosphere is palpably thick, and the viewer feels the inescapable vastness of the sea and sky as a bridge, boat and similar coastal markers are gradually absorbed into the distant fog. For the artist, whose family has long worked on the water, scenes such as this evoke another kind of aura. “The wharf is a social place, a place to gather and a place where people make their living,” he explains. “It is a very vital part of a small 22

community, especially on the north coast of Nunatsiavut where you get your food from the sea.”

Jacque works full-time as an artist and receives steady commissions ranging from family portraits to a large-scale painting for the inaugural exhibition of the Inuit Art Centre in Winnipeg, MB, which opens in 2020 and has Jacque bracing for an exciting year ahead. He looks forward to exploring more abstract terrain in the future while also remaining committed to honing his ability to capture the fleeting and ephemeral across his work: “I really want to present different moments to people. Creating art is about sharing stories and communicating and is a great way of giving yourself to someone else, in an intimate and personal way.”

Winter 2019

PROFILE

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Rebar Workers 2016 Coloured pencil 20.3 × 25.4 cm BELOW

Uncle Doug’s Wharf 2019 Oil 40.6 × 50.8 cm

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Joe Ashoona, Ashoona Studios

Home to the world’s largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art.

Thousands of artworks, thousands of stories to share.

SHUVINAI ASHOONA Marion Scott Gallery February 22 – March 28, 2020

SHUVINAI ASHOONA: MAPPING WORLDS Vancouver Art Gallery February 22 – May 24, 2020

2423 Granville Street, Vancouver BC V6H 1K9 marionscottgallery.com

Shuvinai Ashoona, Titanic, 2012, coloured pencil on paper, 41 × 50 in.

THE SPEED OF IMAGINATION

The Speed of Imagination: The Ceramic Artists of Kangiqliniq

THE CERAMIC ARTISTS OF KANGIQLINIQ

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by Shary Boyle

BELOW

Back: Eli Tikeayak, Charlie Panigoniak Middle: John Kavik, Michael Angutituak, John Okalik Front: Claude Grenier, Laurent Aksadjuak, unidentified, Yvo Samgushak in Kangiqliniq, 1965.

PHOTO GEORGE SWINTON COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA ARCHIVES

Inuit Art Quarterly

The 1960s witnessed a ceramic Big Bang in Kangiqliniq (Rankin Inlet), NU, hurling wild new forms into the Inuit art stratosphere. Though their works were often misunderstood by government funders and private collectors, the artists worked to pave the way for a new generation. Since the early 1990s, ceramic artists of the Matchbox Gallery have taken up the mantle to vibrantly create, innovate new techniques and collaborate. In this Feature, a renown southern ceramist celebrates Kangiqliniq artists’ unique creative output during a transitional juncture in the scene.

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Winter 2019

PREVIOUS SPREAD

Robert Tatty (1927–2009 Kangiqliniq) — Three Faces with Animal Noses (detail) c. 1966 Clay 25.4 × 21.6 × 23.5 cm COURTESY WINNIPEG ART GALLERY

Pie Kukshout (1911–1980 Kangiqliniq) — Two Faced Head with Climbing Figure and Bird (detail) c. 1970 Ceramic 27.9 × 17.8 × 22.9 cm

John Kurok (b. 1977 Kangiqliniq) — Goose Eater (detail) 2016 Porcelain 17.5 × 13 × 13 cm COURTESY ESKER FOUNDATION PHOTO M.N. HUTCHINSON

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Robert Tatty — Head c. 1965–1974 Ceramic 44 × 33 × 28 cm GOVERNMENT OF NUNAVUT FINE ART COLLECTION COURTESY WINNIPEG ART GALLERY

COURTESY WADDINGTON’S

Roger Askadjuak (1972–2014 Kangiqliniq) — Head with Seal (detail) 2003 Ceramic 17.8 × 16.5 × 19.1 cm COURTESY WADDINGTON’S

Clay records the imprint of a hand, and so contains an intimate record of the person who touches it. It is dug from riverbanks and transformed through chemistry and fire; it is elemental. I have been working with clay for 15 years and have been drawing my whole life. With my own art I tell stories, boldly and with love. I want to communicate, to provoke recognition of our common unconscious.

This is what I feel I share with Shuvinai Ashoona, RCA, Pierre Aupilardjuk and John Kurok—artists I have collaborated with in ceramic sculptures and drawings.

In December 2015 I proposed a seven-person exhibition to the Esker Foundation in Calgary, AB; a show of narrative, handmade art and cross-cultural collaboration that ‘bridged’ the contemporary/ historical, Inuit/colonial settler, and craft/fine art divides. Earthlings was originally to be a solo show of my work, but I wanted to share that big space and opportunity with artists I loved and whose work I connected with, all of whom happened to be from the Arctic. The exhibition would introduce the extraordinary ceramics created at the legendary Matchbox Gallery to contemporary art audiences across Canada.

The Matchbox Gallery was not the first to experiment with clay in the Kivalliq Region. Intriguing evidence of ancient ceramics have been found and debated throughout the Arctic, and in the mid ’60s local clay from Kangiqliniq riverbanks was harvested for the original ceramic program.¹ Launched in 1963 as a government expansion of the northern arts and crafts economic initiative, Quebecois artist Claude Grenier was hired to manage the first Arctic ceramic art centre.

Clay was to become a signature medium of artists in Kangiqliniq.

Historically, Inuit of this region travelled the western coast and inland rivers of Kivalliq for seasonal fishing and hunting. In the 1950s, Kangiqliniq was a makeshift mining settlement, one that had drawn Inuit from various camps to the hard wage labour of nickel extraction.

When the deposit ran out, the mine closed, but many people who had migrated for work now felt it their home and did not want to leave.

Some turned to art. The talent was there and collectors were buying—many excellent carvers like George Arluk, John Kavik (1897–1993), Eli Tikeayak (1933–1996) and John Tiktak (1916–1981) had established themselves, using the hard local stone dug up from the mines. But the idea of ceramics was interesting: it had the appeal of softness, and no stone dust, which made working inside possible through the long winter. Also, the Arts and Crafts Centre would pay wages.

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Artists took to this new, complex earthly material. Early attempts at the wheel were abandoned in favour of hand building, with the artists freestyling sculptural interventions. Pie Kukshout (1911–1980) and Robert Tatty (1927–2009) seemed to be in a competition for best psychedelic portrait. Prismatic faces, noses transforming into seals, abstracted patterning of hair and feathers, creepy bugs, distorted birds and bears, pop-cultural influences such as alligators—the artists were on fire and clay afforded an elastic pliability that matched the speed of their imagination.

The first ceramics were wild, funny and fierce, with experimental glazes (including shoe polish) that didn’t go down well with the Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, a southern body tasked with determining what art was to reach the market. Grenier and his wife Cécile cultivated an atmosphere of joy and innovation, allowing artists to develop their voices and craft, but the reality was that the works weren’t selling, even after exhibitions were held across Canada and internationally.² It has been proposed that people in the South were resistant to Inuit ceramics because they weren’t made of traditional materials, and were therefore not “authentic.” This was despite early marketing attempts to link the ceramics with ancient Thule pottery shards, justifying the production in Kangiqliniq by way of historical precedent.³ I am troubled by the word authentic in reference to art. It is a romantic myth that denies contemporary realities and traps real people in an imagined past—a safe, ‘pre-contact’ world where the uncomfortable truths of capitalism and colonial violence do not have to be reckoned with by a southern audience. Is Inuit art not any artwork made by an Inuk?4 Claude and Cécile Grenier left Kangiqliniq in 1970 and were succeeded by Robert Billyard, who continued the fight for support of those early, exceptional ceramic artists. Program funding, however, had moved from the federal government to the Government of the Northwest Territories, who were not willing to invest in the production of experimental ceramics that didn’t sell. Michael Kusugak, who ran the studio after Billyard’s departure in 1973, was young and enthusiastic but also faced significant difficulties. Governmental influence on the program had increased, and the Department of Economic Development refused to allow the ceramics to be marketed across Canada. They insisted on limiting retail outlets—and audiences— to Kangiqliniq and Yellowknife only.

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The Speed of Imagination

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Laurent Aksadjuak — Men, Muskox, Fish 1990 Earthenware 21.5 × 21.5 × 24 cm

Pierre Aupilardjuk (b. 1961 Kangiqliniq) — Friends Sharing Gossip n.d.

Stoneware Each figure 40.5 × 28 × 20 cm

COURTESY WINNIPEG ART GALLERY

COURTESY ESKER FOUNDATION PHOTO M.N. HUTCHINSON

The creativity of artists Donat Anawak (1920–1990), Joseph Angatajuak (1935–1976), Michael Angutituak (1912–1982), John Kavik, Joseph Patterk (1912–1993) and many others blazed in ceramics for little over a decade. The program officially closed in 1975.

I think about these artists and their work as I enter Kangiqliniq.

The low January light slanted between backlit sheds like the set of a shadow play. Muskox pelts lay on hard-packed snow by the door of Kivalliq Arctic Foods; the -45°C wind whipping their fur like long dark strands of women’s hair. In January 2016, my friend art collector Marnie Schreiber brought me north to meet the artists working with Matchbox Gallery and the American couple who revitalized the current ceramics program: Jim and Sue Shirley. I came in person with an invitation for artists Pierre Aupilardjuk, John Kurok and Leo Napayok to join me in Alberta for a month-long ceramics residency.

Painter/printmaker Jim Shirley first came from New York City to the Arctic as a Northwest Territories Arts and Crafts Development officer in 1979. His wife, landscape watercolourist Sue Shirley, followed him shortly thereafter, and they settled in for what has now been decades of a life split between Kangiqliniq and rural New York State. A visionary artistphilosopher concerned with social justice, Jim Shirley was deeply inspired by the excellence of the first Kangiqliniq ceramic program and the creative resilience of the local people. The couple’s early conversations with Philip Hakuluk (1916–1989), Donat Anawak, Laurent Aksadjuak (1935–2002) and Yvo Samgushak (1942–2004), veteran ceramic artists who spoke with great fondness of the original program, encouraged the Shirleys to launch the Matchbox ceramics workshop in 1991.

Inuit Art Quarterly

What followed was an odyssey of artistic innovation and communal learning. Early grants from the Department of Economic Development and Tourism of the Northwest Territories allowed for a ‘matchbox’ building to be moved to the Art Centre site and transformed into a studio for ceramics, drawing and printmaking.

Word got out that the Matchbox was holding courses and paying wages.

Hakuluk and Anawak had passed away by the time ceramics were firing again, but elder Laurent Aksadjuak was an honoured member of the new studio, bringing his talented son Roger Aksadjuak (1972– 2014) in to learn by his side. Mariano Aupilardjuk (1923–2012) and his son Pierre heard of the new ceramics course while they were living in Arviat and drove by snow machine to learn clay together.5 I spoke to Pierre Aupilardjuk in August 2019 and asked him if there was a ceramic artist that influenced him in those early days.

He immediately answered: Laurent Aksadjuak. “I watched him telling stories about his artwork. And from him I started thinking about my dad’s stories,” he said. Sharing stories is important to Aupilardjuk who elaborated, “If I say something in words you can hear it, but you cannot see it. When I see something with my eyes and ears, I can remember easier. It’s more—much stronger than just words.”6 Ceramic program veteran Yvo Samgushak helped teach young Phillip Ugjuk, grandson of the legendary carver/ceramist, John Kavik.

Both artists are Deaf and do not speak, but communicated through demonstration and sign language. Gifted local drawer John Kurok and his friend Jack Nuviyak (1971–2016) joined the studio in their early twenties, interpreting traditional subjects with modern eyes and

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Winter 2019

BELOW

John Kurok Leo Napayok (b. 1961 Salliq/ Kangiqliniq) — Three Birds n.d.

Stoneware 25.5 × 20 × 20 cm COURTESY ESKER FOUNDATION PHOTO M.N. HUTCHINSON

hands. Of Samgushak in those early days, Kurok pays his respect, “I learned a lot from him just by watching and talking to him.”

Though men have dominated the discussion of ceramics from Kangiqliniq since production began in the 1960s, women have always played a significant role. Helen Iguptak and Amauyah Noah participated in the Matchbox’s Traditional Arts Workshop and worked in the studio to create prints and dolls. Both occasionally made ceramics as well. Lucy Sanertanut, an ivory carver originally from Naujaat (Repulse Bay), NU, was a strong, vital presence at the Matchbox, and a valued instructor. She began working at the studio in the 1990s and specialized in hand-built pots with stylized faces and sensitively observed bears. She stopped working in the studio when she moved from Kangiqliniq.

Clay is a difficult medium to master. Over time Jim Shirley and the Matchbox artists taught themselves and each other how to sculpt, dry and fire the clay properly to avoid cracking and blow-ups in the kiln. The chemistry of glazing didn’t compel them: telling stories and refining personal style was their collective preference. After much trial and error, Matchbox developed their signature finishing technique: sealing bisque-fired ware with a slip-like coating of terra sigillata, then carefully nestling the sculptures in layers of sawdust to slowly smolder overnight in an outdoor barrel. Like a seal’s fur, the spotted, swirling brown, grey and white surfaces caused by the smoke can’t be pre-determined. This is a dangerous stage. “In wintertime when we did barrel firing, the hot and cold temperatures changing meant that the ceramics could crack or spoil. That is the worst part of

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ceramics,” says Kurok. A successful surface pattern was a mysterious offering of the process, and as such, humbling and beautiful.

The Matchbox style often took the base form of a hand-coiled pot, bust or more rarely, free-standing animals such as a bear or muskox. The artists then applied their own imagination to create narrative elements attached onto or cut into the clay. Roger Aksadjuak learned from his father, becoming one of the most admired sculptors in the program. His expressive characters—animals, mer-men and multiple figures crammed into boats complete with tiny motors and radios—remain classics of the era.

Unique to the success of the studio was the leap into collaboration.

Like a conversation, sculptures were passed between artists. Salliq (Coral Harbour), NU, stone carver Leo Napayok joined the studio and began to cut bas-relief imagery into the surfaces of the other artist’s unfired ceramics. Of the process he said, “Everyone had something different to say and we all liked it.” Napayok especially enjoyed the peace that would come when everyone settled into collective focus. “When we talk too much, we’re not getting anything done, but when we started being quiet, there was something going on. Progress was going on.”

At its buzzing height in the early 2000s, the Matchbox held education sessions. John Kurok remembers, “We did English in the morning and math, so that was nice. Then in the afternoon, we would be doing ceramics.” Artists such as Jessie Kenalogak from Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake), NU, were invited to draw and share new techniques, keeping local artists challenged and engaged. Elders, children and family dropped by to watch the artists and the community ceramic

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The Speed of Imagination

workshops that were offered. This collaborative, cross-cultural spirit lifted their work to new heights of experimental excellence. But as time passed, funding became harder to access. Matchbox began working with an Inuit arts distribution company but found the pressure to produce higher quantities diminished the quality of their work. Finally, payment was shifted to piecework and artists began coming in more sporadically. Elders Laurent Aksadjuak and Yvo Samgushak had passed away, and the deaths of Roger Aksadjuak in 2014 and Jack Nuviyak a few years later were a blow to everyone.

By the time I travelled to Kangiqliniq, the studio was rarely open, and only a small handful of artists were still sculpting.

On learning of the limited access the artists had to a kiln, I hoped a southern ceramics residency would provide a chance for artists to work freely. I can only imagine Pierre Aupilardjuk, John Kurok and Leo Napayok were bemused as I, southern stranger, motormouth and superfan, pitched my invitation that winter day at the offices of the Nunavut Development Corporation. All three men listened graciously and with interest, and swiftly—on condition that their families agreed—said yes.

In the months that followed, funding to bring the three artists south to Medalta in Medicine Hat, AB, was secured from organizations including the Esker Foundation and the Inuit Art Foundation. At the last moment Napayok was unable to join us, so for the month of September 2016 Kurok, Aupilardjuk and I worked together at the big Medalta ceramic studio in the grassy heart of Alberta’s badlands. Supported by a knowledgeable staff, the residency is right next door to Plainsman Clays, the same company that produced the materials the artists used at the Matchbox. Right away Kurok and Aupilardjuk got busy, warming up

Inuit Art Quarterly

with forms they were familiar with. Kurok made a series of his signature masks, with perfectly combed hair and snow geese emerging from heads and mouths like migrating ideas. Aupilardjuk started an ambitious story-pot, circled by men, Nuliajuk and a small figure peeking out of a snowhouse; his child self watching for his father to come home from hunting. Two fat seals sit on top near the vase hole, as if deciding whether to slip off the ice and under the surface of the sea.

Many wonderful sculptures took shape that September and we experimented with new clay and firing techniques such as porcelain and the soda kiln. Kurok taught me how he sculpted such fine and perfect hair, and I taught them both how I made my large, expressive sculptures of hands. Aupilardjuk made his landmark piece Giving Without Receiving (2016) at that time.

Towards the end of this memorable month, I asked Aupilardjuk if he would like to make three small heads for a porcelain body I had sculpted, showing him a sketch of my idea. Facing Forward (2016) turned out so well that Kurok was inspired to sculpt a reclining version of the goddess Nuliajuk, and asked Aupilardjuk to make heads for her raised arms and tail. Once they completed this sculpture, they invited me to paint, glaze or fire it any way I chose. These collaborations between artists of different imaginations, cultures, genders and ages became symbols of what can be achieved when we work together and are inspired as equals. ᓄᓕᐊᔪᒃ ᐅᖃᓗᑉᑉᖅᐳ (Nuliajuk oqaluppoq) (2016) is currently on public display as part of the permanent collection of the Canadian Consulate in New York City.

In January 2017 the exhibition Earthlings opened at the Esker Foundation in Calgary. Most of the works created at Medalta were included, as well as an exceptional selection of earlier Matchbox

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Winter 2019

OPPOSITE (LEFT)

Pierre Aupilardjuk — Nuliajuk 2016 Stoneware 25 × 45 × 40 cm COURTESY ESKER FOUNDATION PHOTO M.N. HUTCHINSON

RIGHT

Pierre Aupilardjuk Shary Boyle John Kurok —

ᓄᓕᐊᔪᒃ ᐅᖃᓗᑉᑉᖅᐳ

(Nuliajuk oqaluppoq) 2016 Stoneware 22 × 21 × 27 cm COURTESY ESKER FOUNDATION PHOTO M.N. HUTCHINSON

ceramics. By inviting Aupilardjuk, Kurok and other artists to share the exhibition in this prestigious contemporary art gallery, it was my intention to dissolve the invisible walls, in our minds and institutions, that divide fine art from craft, folk from MFA’s and Indigenous from non-Indigenous artists. If an artist desires to use clay—a material demeaned by critics as “craft” as well as culturally “inauthentic”—the only thing the artist can do is smile and flip those authorities the bird.

But when artists are singularly dependent on their sales to feed their families, like many in the North are, they can’t afford to laugh.

The Arctic doesn’t support the romantic European notion that artists create exclusively from a ‘passionate calling,’ nor do Inuit families hold legacy wealth. Why were most of the ceramic artists men? “It’s very hard to find a job for them up here in Rankin,” Aupilardjuk told me. Napayok had moved to Kangiqliniq from Salliq, “because I was a carver and there was more work and people buying more carving, so I moved here.” When asked about his focus on ceramics, Kurok said, “When I’m drawing, I walk around town and try and sell them, but I don’t make much. For ceramics I can make more.” These three people are just a few of the many talented artists now without consistent access to supplies, studio or income in Kangiqliniq.

Jim and Sue Shirley have much to weigh as they decide the future of the Matchbox. Their studio has a deep, rich legacy that has affected many lives, and it has been at the epicentre of theirs. My conversation with Napayok touched on his compassion for Jim Shirley’s difficult succession. “We understand. We also understand because that was his life, and he don’t want to let go for now,” Napayok said. The Shirleys are artists and rightfully proud of what they gave to keep the studio running for 30 years.

Making ceramics requires infrastructure. This means consistent funding, decent space and indoor tables, running water, a supply chain to organize the materials, shipping and sales, and most importantly— kilns. I asked John Kurok, Leo Napayok and Pierre Aupilardjuk about their greatest wish for the future of ceramics in Kangiqliniq. Napayok responded, “My wish would be to build a brand-new building, better kilns and to open the place year-round.” Kurok proposed, “I want it to grow bigger, get outside of Canada. Get to be well known. That’s my purpose, to go for that.”

Over the phone from Kangiqliniq, Aupilardjuk responded, “I would want to have somebody working here to keep the Matchbox

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Gallery going. It would help people who need jobs up here to make art. A person from the South, working together with Inuit, would be very nice. Like, a non-Inuit person could work there, and that person would know about the South and we would know about the North.”

I liked his practical activism and started to say, “That sounds…” but before I could finish, Aupilardjuk responded, “Strong.”

The artists of Kangiqliniq have much to teach about innovation, adaptability and working together. The Matchbox ceramic sculptures were a huge hit in our touring Earthlings exhibition, gaining many new, enthusiastic fans and collectors. Ceramics as a medium is becoming an important, respected material across contemporary art circles internationally, and the clay artists of Kangiqliniq should be in a position to benefit. The excellence of their unique ceramic history justifies full government and public support. With talented, skilled ceramic artists ready to create, the spark is alive to build an exciting and successful future. It takes many hands to run a ceramic studio, and many stages to create a finished piece. As the lines dissolve between craft and fine art, and restrictive notions of authenticity fade away, let us all step up to the collaborative challenge of keeping ceramics alive and thriving in the North.

NOTES

Heather Igloliorte, “Inuit Ceramics and Other Outliers,” in Earthlings, edited by Naomi Potter and Shauna Thompson (Calgary: Esker Foundation, 2017), 93-99.

Published in conjunction with the exhibition “Earthlings” curated by Shary Boyle and Shauna Thompson, shown at the Esker Foundation in Calgary, AB. 2 Between 1967 and 1970 ceramics from Kangiqliniq were exhibited in Edmonton, AB, Montreal, QC, London, ON, Ottawa, ON, Saskatoon, SK, Toronto, ON and Winnipeg, MB in Canada, Fort Worth, TX, Los Angeles, CA, Middletown, CT, Milwaukee, WI, New York, NY, Palo Alto, CA, Rochester, NY, Scottsdale, AZ, Washington, DC, Seattle, WA in the United States and Paris, France, Sydney, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden internationally.

3 Stacey Neale, “The Rankin Inlet Ceramics Project, Part Two: The Quest for Authenticity and Market Share,” Inuit Art Quarterly 14.2 (Summer 1999): 6-17.

4 Abraham Anghik Ruben, “Where We Go From Here,” Inuit Art Quarterly 30.3 (Fall 2017): 54-63.

5 Jim Shirley, excerpt from “A Change in Fortunes,” Ceramic Work from Rankin Inlet, (Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, 2006), 12.

6 Quotes from Pierre Aupilardjuk, John Kurok and Leo Napayok from interviews conducted by the author in August, 2019.

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33

The Speed of Imagination

Forging Narratives

For 20 years Mathew Nuqingaq, CM has been a central figure in Inuit jewellery making, achieving wide recognition for his innovative forms made of materials unique to the North. In this interview, Nuqingaq reflects on a storied career, the opportunities for future Inuit jewellers and artists, and the inspiration he draws from Inuk ingenuity.

An interview with Mathew Nuqingaq —

by Ashley Kilabuk-Savard

PREVIOUS SPREAD

Mathew Nuqingaq (b. 1964 Qikiqtarjuaq/ Iqaluit) — Assortment of silver jewellery by Mathew Nuqingaq COURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS

BELOW

Snow Goggle Whiskers 2019 Walrus whiskers, muskox horn and waxed thread 10.2 × 26.7 × 12.7 cm COURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS

RIGHT

Sedna Earrings 2019 Copper 12.7 × 7 × 1.9 cm COURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS

OPPOSITE

Nathalia Okalik modelling Nuqingaq’s Large Qulliq Earrings 2019 COURTESY MATHEW NUQINGAQ

Inuit Art Quarterly

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Winter 2019

ASHLEY KILABUK-SAVARD:

How did you get started making jewellery?

Everything is far away, but then again not too far if you really want it. I use what we have here. It has always been Inuit ingenuity to take what you have and make it work. I have easy access to natural materials like ivory and stone. It’s a matter of using it in different ways and as many ways as possible. It’s mainly silver that I need to order and that can take three days to get here.

MATHEW NUQINGAQ: I went to the Christmas craft fair at the Nunavut Arctic College (NAC) in 1994 to buy ornaments. I saw some artwork on the walls and also jewellery made by the students and thought to myself, Wow! This is so beautiful. I was used to seeing jewellery in Sears and other stores, but it all looked the same. These pieces, made by the students at NAC, were different—they told stories and legends.

I fell in love with jewellery and I thought, I could do this.

I started taking all the night courses at the college. I was accepted in 1995 as a half-time student and worked as an elementary school teacher during the day. I did that for three years. After I graduated, NAC received funding to have me teach during the day and in the evening I would make jewellery. But that didn’t work.

By the time the evening came I was too tired with no energy left.

I decided to stop teaching and now I’ve been making jewellery for 20 years.

AS:

AS: When you were starting out as an artist, was it difficult to get your work into galleries?

MN: We were quite lucky starting out at Nunavut Arctic College. Our graduation pieces were exhibited in Vancouver, BC. In discussion with other artists we started to figure out that galleries operate because of us. If they didn’t have these pieces—our pieces—they wouldn’t exist, and that was important for us to learn.

A lot of the time, social media will help get work out there and good photographs are really important. The galleries are watching everything that is happening in the art world, and sometimes someone will see something I post on Facebook or Instagram and then I’ll get an invitation to have a show and participate in a workshop. We need to create art also because if we don’t create it, we’re just waiting for something and we can’t wait for something, we have to make it happen. As artists we have to create something, create excitement and create a demand.

Who initially inspired you?

MN: When I was a kid my parents carved, not all the time, mostly in early springtime before we would go camping. Their carvings were so beautiful; to me they were like real animals. Years later when I was at NAC in 1997, I went to the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT, and met amazing artists like Paul Maliki, Joseph Shuqslak and Inuk Charlie. They were inspiring.

Their carvings were amazing and as artists they were confident and loved what they were doing.

AS:

MN: I get them from all over. The ivory comes from hunters mostly.

Antlers are getting scarce because of the decline of the caribou population, so they have been going for quite high prices. Hunters will drop by to sell some claws and bones. Social media is really good; I’ll have hunters from all over Nunavut message me when they have claws and bones for sale.

AS: What are some of the difficulties you face as a jeweller working in the North?

MN: It’s my job to ensure that I’m making art and that I have all the materials and tools to make things as well as clients to purchase it.

It’s my full-time career, and I have worked hard to get where I am.

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How do you source materials like ivory, antler, horn and claws?

AS: You recently started using more unusual materials to make things.

Can you talk about why this started and what made you think to do it?

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Interview

MN: There are so many possibilities, so many ideas that I have in my head. Ideas start in my drawings and then grow and grow. Sometimes I’ll get ideas in the middle of the night or early in the morning and I’ll have to wake up and write it or draw it out. There are so many ideas and so many fun possibilities for unusual materials, like using cereal boxes to make snow goggles or taking old violins and hockey sticks and transforming them into something else. Anything can become art.

I have so many ideas that it will take a lifetime to do them all.

I’ll never stop. Ideas are kind of like a sickness, because once they get in there, they want to come out and be shared. Like, Snow Goggle Whiskers (2019), the goggles I made using walrus whiskers and a muskox horn base. The idea came to me and it seemed crazy but once I got to work it started to look pretty good. The ideas come in and they just need to go out or they’ll eat me.

AS:

What are some of your favourite things to make?

MN: That’s a hard question. It’s always changing, the ideas are always changing and that’s the beauty of it. The qulliq, it’s been my favourite lately. I make earrings using the qulliq shape. I can’t get away from it. It’s a very simple design but still so very elegant.

AS: The qulliq has such beautiful and strong symbolism. What does it mean to you?

MN: Warmth. The qulliq has always symbolized warmth for me. It has been around for a long time, it has kept our people warm since the beginning until quite recently. For all those years it was the main thing that kept Inuit warm in the igloo. Like the qajaq and qamutiik these are the tools that have been around forever and sometimes are still the best. So, the warmth is the biggest thing for me, and beauty of course.

LEFT

Aayuraa Studio in Iqaluit, 2019 PHOTO INUIT ART FOUNDATION

OPPOSITE (RIGHT)

HER 2019 Hockey stick, leather and brass 3.2 × 15.9 × 15.2 cm COURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS

Inuit Art Quarterly

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Winter 2019

AS: You use many traditional motifs and Arctic imagery in your work. Please describe why this is important to you.

MN: The studio is an old house. It was one of the first houses built in Apex in the 1950s. They were called the 5-12, 512 square feet.

This one was moved to Iqaluit from Apex a long time ago. When we bought it, we gutted the whole building. Everything is recycled and most of it came from the dump. The cabinets were going to be thrown out in the garbage by the school, and the chairs, which have old government of NWT and NU stickers, were thrown out at the dump. The bench and tables were made from doors and there is an airplane nose as a fume hood. It’s hard to look new after 12 years of being here.

The studio is called Aayuraa Studio. It is named after the traditional snow goggles. In my region, Qikiqtarjuaq, the aayuraa is the crack in the ice that goes from land and gets wider and wider.

The slits on the snow goggles look like them and that’s why they’re named aayuraa. I’ve been fascinated with them for many years, and I made them out of wood for a long time. So, when I became a jeweller, I started to make them out of any kind of material I could.

I had a big exhibition called Masquerade recently at Feheley Fine Arts in Toronto, ON. To me, aayuraa means looking to the future and that’s why it is the name of the studio.

MN: It’s where we came from. Inuit were traditionally nomads.

We couldn’t carry much but we could carry small things such as jewellery and amulets and so I like to think that the tradition I work in is ancient.

I’m working on a qajaq piece right now, and the inspiration came from the beginning of life in Inuit legends. Kiviuq was the one who travelled and saw the world in a qajaq. The qamutiik design, it’s still the best and it hasn’t changed much. Nowadays we have nuts and screws and bolts but they are still lashed together to withstand the rough terrain. The igloo itself was insulation from the cold, but it came from the cold. These are the beautiful and old inventions that were created long ago that are still used today. Since my start as an artist I have taken these elements as inspiration and tried to simplify them in my pieces as much as possible, but simple can be difficult.

AS: How does it make you feel when you see people wearing your creations?

AS: You have become a mentor to many young jewellers, why is mentorship and helping others important to you?

MN:

I feel pride. I still get shy and sometimes embarrassed but I always feel very proud and happy to see people wearing my creations.

MN: We need more Inuit jewellers. There is a good program at Nunavut Arctic College and more people should be taking it. The demand for high quality, thoughtful products is there. Being a jeweller is like any other job. We make our opportunities for ourselves and thankfully there are many organizations that help artists to become self-sufficient. There’s lots of room for more Inuit to own businesses. More people should study jewellery making. Inuit artists have so many beautiful designs and ideas that need to be made— and we’re very good at it.

AS: Do you have any dream projects that you hope to work on in the future?

MN: I haven’t really thought about it at all. I don’t think I have just one dream project because things are always coming up. I’m still pretty young, I think! [Laughs] AS: Your studio, Aayuraa Studio, is considered a hub for jewellers in Iqaluit. Can you tell me more about it?

Earth

This interview has been edited for clarity and condensed.

39

Interview

What Nuna Provides: 10 Contemporary Carvers ROBERT KAUTUK UNTITLED (2018)

ᓄᓇᒥᙶᖅᐸᒃᑐᒃ: 10 ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᓂᑦ ᖁᓕᓂᑦ ᐅᓂᒃᑲᐅᓯᑦ

10

Sammy Kudluk b. 1958 Kuujjuaq, QC ᓵᒥ ᑲᓪᓗᒃ b. 1958 ᑰᔾᔪᐊᖅ, ᑯᐸᐃᒃ

Sammy Kudluk (b. 1958 Kuujjuaq) — Shaman c. 2012 Antler, stone, baleen and whale bone 57.2 × 27.9 × 50.8 cm COURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS

ᓵᒥ ᑲᓪᓗᒃ (b. 1958 ᑰᔾᔪᐊᖅ)

—

ᐊᖓᒃᑯᖅ

c. 2012 ᓇᒡᔪ, ᐅᔭᕋᖅ, ᓱᖅᑲᖅ, ᐊᕐᕕᐅᑉ ᓴᐅᓂᖓ

57.2 × 27.9 × 50.8 ᓯᓐᑕᒦᑕᔅ ᐊᐃᑦᑐᖅᑕᐅᔪᖅ ᕕᕼᐃᓕ ᓴᓇᖕᖑᐊᖅᓯᒪᔪᕆᔨᒃᑯᑦ

“My materials tell me what they want to be,” explains Sammy Kudluk of his imaginative and sumptuously detailed carvings.

Though Kudluk has made a career for himself as a graphic artist and painter, over the past two decades the Kuujjuaq-based artist has turned his attention to mixed-media sculpture with great success.

“When I first began sculpting I used stone, but soon became interested in bones and other organic materials,” he adds, “and now my favourite things to incorporate are polar bear, caribou and small animal skulls that I purchase from hunters or find out on the land.” Kudluk abstracts the sun-bleached skulls by carefully carving and positioning them, transforming unexpected objects into monstrous and fantastic creatures.

Shaman (c. 2012), like many of Kudluk’s carvings, is whimsical, unexpected and brimming with movement. Traditional subjects are important to the artist, who grew up hearing stories and legends from his family. Inspiration comes from looking at his materials and recognizing “something that I’ve heard before, an Inuit legend or hunting story,” the artist continues, “that’s how it starts.” From this point of inspiration, Kudluk explores the story in three dimensions, bestowing new life to a traditional story and bringing a pulsing energy to materials harvested from the land.

– John Geoghegan

Inuit Art Quarterly

“ᓴᓇᓂᐊᖅᑕᒃᑲ ᖃᐅᔨᑎᑦᑎᓲᖑᒻᒪᑕ ᖃᓄᖅ ᓴᓇᔭᐅᔪᒪᒻᒪᖔᕐᒥᒃ,” ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ ᓵᒥ ᑲᓪᓗᒃ ᐃᓱᒪᓇᖅᑐᓂᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓴᓇᑦᑎᐊᕐᓯᒪᓪᓚᕆᑦᑐᓂᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᒐᓲᖑᖕᒪᑦ. ᑲᓪᓗᒃ ᓇᒻᒥᓂᖅ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔮᖃᖅᑎᑦᑐᖅ ᑎᑎᖅᑐᒐᖅᑎᐅᓪᓗᓂ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᒥᐊᕆᔨᐅᓪᓗᓂ, ᐊᕙᑎᓂᑦ ᐊᕐᕌᒍᓂᑦ ᐊᓂᒍᖅᑐᓂᑦ ᑰᔾᔪᐊᕐᒥᐅᑕᐅᓪᓗᓂ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎ ᑲᒪᓂᕐᓴᐅᖔᓕᕐᒥᔪᖅ ᐊᔾᔨᒌᙱᕈᓘᔭᖅᑐᓂᑦ ᓴᓇᓯᒪᕙᑦᑐᒋᑦ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖏᑦ ᓴᓇᑦᑎᐊᕐᓯᒪᔪᐊᓘᕙᑦᑐᑦ. “ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᓕᕋᑖᖅᑐᖓ ᐅᔭᕋᒻᒥᒃ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᔪᒐᒪ, ᑭᓯᐊᓂ ᓴᓇᔪᒪᓂᖅᓴᐅᖔᖃᑦᑕᓕᖅᑐᖓ ᓴᐅᓂᕐᓂᑦ ᐊᓯᖏᓐᓂᓪᓗ ᑭᓱᑐᐃᓐᓇᑦᑎᐊᓂᑦ,” ᐅᖃᒃᑲᓐᓂᕆᓪᓗᓂ, “ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᒫᓐᓇ ᖁᕕᐊᒋᓂᖅᐹᕆᖃᑦᑕᓕᕐᒥᔭᒃᑲ ᐃᓚᓕᐅᑎᔭᕆᐊᔅᓴᖅ ᓇᓄᐃᑦ, ᑐᒃᑐᐃᓪᓗ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐆᒪᔪᐊᕈᓯᒥᓃᑦ ᓂᐊᖁᒥᓂᖏᑦ ᓂᐅᕕᕐᐸᑦᑐᒋᑦ ᐊᖑᓇᓱᑦᑎᓂᑦ ᐅᕝᕙᓘᓐᓃᑦ ᓇᓂᕙᑦᑐᒋᑦ ᓄᓇᒥ. ᑲᓪᓗᒃ ᓴᓇᓲᖅ ᓯᕿᓂᕐᒦᑦᑐᒥᓂᕐᓂᑦ ᓂᐊᖁᒥᓂᕐᓂᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᑎᐊᖅᑐᒋᑦ ᐋᖅᑭᑎᐊᖅᑐᒋᓪᓗᓂ, ᐊᓯᔾᔨᐸᑦᑐᓂᒋᑦ ᓂᕆᐅᓇᙱᑦᑐᓄᑦ ᐊᓕᐊᓇᖅᑐᓄᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑕᑯᓕᒪᓇᙱᑐᙳᐊᖑᓪᓗᒋᑦ ᐆᒪᔪᕐᓗᙳᐊᖑᓕᖅᑐᑎᒃ. ᐊᖓᒃᑯᖅ (c. 2012), ᑕᐃᒫᒃ ᑲᓪᓘᑉ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖏᑦ ᐊᒥᓱᑦ, ᐃᓱᒪᓇᙱᑑᕙᒻᒪᑕ, ᓂᕆᐅᓇᕋᑎᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᐅᓚᓂᖏᑦ ᐅᔾᔨᕐᓇᑦᑎᐊᓲᖑᓪᓗᑎᒃ. ᐱᖅᑯᓯᖅᑎᒍᑦ ᐱᔾᔪᑎᖏᑦ ᐱᒻᒪᕆᐅᕙᒻᒪᑕ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᓄᑦ, ᐱᕈᕐᓯᒪᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᑐᓵᕙᑦᑐᑎᒃ ᐅᓂᒃᑳᓂᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐅᓂᒃᑳᖅᑐᐊᓂᑦ ᐃᓚᖏᓐᓂᒃ. ᐃᑉᐱᓇᕐᐸᑦᑐᑦ ᑕᑯᓪᓗᒋᑦ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖏᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑐᑭᓯᓪᓗᒋᑦ “ᑐᓴᓚᐅᕐᓯᒪᔭᕋᐅᓇ, ᐃᓄᓐᓄᑦ ᐅᓂᒃᑳᖅᑐᐊᖅ ᐅᕝᕙᓘᓐᓃᑦ ᐊᓯᕙᕐᓯᒪᔪᓂᑦ ᐅᓂᒃᑳᖑᑎᓪᓗᒍ,” ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎ ᐅᖃᒃᑲᓂᖅᑐᖅ, “ᑕᐃᒫᒃ ᐱᒋᐊᓲᑦ.” ᑕᕝᕙᙵᑦ ᐱᒋᐊᕈᑎᒋᓪᓗᒍ, ᑲᓪᓗᒃ ᖃᐅᔨᕙᓪᓕᐊᓯᓲᖅ ᐱᖓᓱᐃᓕᖅᑲᖓᔪᒥᒃ ᓴᓇᓯᒪᓂᕆᓂᐊᖅᑕᖓᓂᒃ, ᐆᒻᒪᑎᑦᑐᒍ ᐱᖅᑯᓯᖅᑎᒍᑦ ᐅᓂᒃᑳᖑᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᑉᐱᓇᕐᓯᑎᑉᐸᑦᑐᓂᒋᑦ ᓴᓇᔭᖏᑦ ᓄᓇᒦᙶᕐᓯᒪᔪᑦ.

– ᔮᓐ ᒐᐃᒐᓐ 42

Winter 2019

Derrald Taylor’s mastery of observation is immediately clear when looking at his body of work, an oeuvre that is rich with motion and realism. From the subtle rendering of the guard hairs that line the neck and legs of his signature polar bears, to the coarse lines of umimmak manes, flowing as smoothly as the wind through tall grass, Taylor’s representation of animals are highly technical. His preferred materials are stones like serpentinite or chlorite because they afford him room for fine detail. Not only does Taylor carve what he sees, he also gleans inspiration through careful looking. “I follow the shape of the stone and try to use as much [of it] as possible,” says the artist.

Much of his skill was developed by watching, not only his father Bobby Taylor-Pokiak (1927–2005), but also notable carvers Inuk Charlie and Bill Nasogaluak. Taylor, who is based in Yellowknife, NT, notes that, “as artists, we’re continually learning, so I wouldn’t call myself a professional artist. A well-taught artist, but not a professional.” Despite his modesty, Taylor has had a prolific career as a sculptor and continues to bring life to stone in unique detail by following the natural curves of his medium.

– Napatsi Folger

ᑎᐅᕈᑦ ᑕᐃᓘᑉ ᕿᒥᕐᕈᑦᑎᐊᓲᖑᓂᖓ ᓇᓗᓇᙱᑎᐊᖅᑐᖅ ᑕᑯᓪᓗᒋᑦ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖏᑦ, ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖏᑦ ᓈᒪᑦᑎᐊᖅᑐᑦ ᐊᐅᓚᓂᖓᓂ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᓪᓚᕆᐅᔫᔮᕐᓂᖏᑦ. ᓇᓄᙳᐊᓕᐊᕆᓯᒪᔭᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᐅᔾᔨᕐᓇᓗᐊᕋᑎᒃ ᒥᖅᑯᖏᑦ ᖁᖓᓯᖓᓃᑦᑐᑦ ᓂᐅᖏᓐᓂᓪᓗ, ᐅᔾᔨᕐᓇᑦᑎᐊᐸᒃᑭᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐅᒥᒻᒪᐅᑉ ᒥᖅᑯᖏᑦ, ᓲᕐᓗ ᑎᑦᑕᐅᕋᓛᑦᑐᑦ ᐊᓄᕋᔮᖅᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᓲᕐᓗ ᐃᕕᒃᑐᑦ. ᑕᐃᓘᑉ ᐆᒪᔪᙳᐊᓕᐊᕆᕙᑦᑕᖏᑦ ᓴᓇᑦᑎᐊᕐᓯᒪᓪᓚᕆᖃᑦᑕᖅᑐᑦ. ᓴᓇᒍᒪᓲᖏᑦ ᐅᔭᕋᐃᑦ ᑎᓯᓂᖅᓴᐃᑦ ᐅᕝᕙᓘᓐᓃᑦ ᑯᓗᕆᑦ (ᖃᓪᓗᓈᑐᑦ ᑕᐃᔭᐅᔪᐃᑦ) ᐱᔾᔪᑎᒋᓪᓗᒍ ᐱᕕᖃᕐᓂᕐᓴᐅᕙᒻᒪᑦ ᓴᓇᑦᑎᐊᕐᓯᒪᓂᐊᕐᖓᑕ. ᑕᐃᓗ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᑐᐃᓐᓇᖃᑦᑕᖏᑦᑐᖅ ᑕᑯᓐᓈᖅᑕᒥᓂᒃ, ᐱᓇᓱᐊᕆᐊᒃᑲᓐᓂᖃᑦᑕᕐᒥᔪᖅ ᕿᒥᕐᕈᑦᑎᐊᐸᑦᑐᓂᒋᑦ, “ᒪᓕᖃᑦᑕᓲᒃᑲ ᖃᓄᐃᓕᖓᓂᖏᑦ ᐅᔭᕋᐃᑦ, ᖃᓄᓕᒫᑦᑎᐊᖅ ᐊᑐᑦᑎᐊᕋᓱᓲᕆᓪᓗᒋᑦ,” ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎ. ᓴᓇᔭᕆᐅᕐᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᑕᑯᓐᓈᖃᑦᑕᖅᑐᓂ, ᐊᑖᑕᒥᓂᒃ, ᐹᐱ ᑕᐃᓗ-ᐴᑭᐊᕐᒥᑦ (1927–2005), ᑭᓯᐊᓂᓕᑦᑕᐅᖅ ᑕᑯᓐᓈᖃᑦᑕᕆᓪᓗᓂ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᓪᓚᕆᓐᓂᑦ ᐃᓅᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᓵᓕ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᓕ ᓇᓱᒐᓗᐊᖅ. ᑕᐃᓗ, ᔭᓗᓇᐃᕝᒥ, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕐᒥᐅᑕᖅ ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ, “ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᓪᓗᓂ, ᐃᓕᑉᐸᓪᓕᐊᖏᓐᓇᖃᑦᑕᕐᒥᒐᑦᑕ, ᑕᐃᒫᒃ ᐃᒻᒥᓂᒃ ᑕᐃᒐᔭᙱᑦᑐᖓ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᓪᓚᕆᐅᓂᕋᕐᓗᖓ. ᓇᒻᒥᓂᖅᐃᓕᑉᐸᓪᓕᐊᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎ, ᑭᓯᐊᓂ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᓪᓚᕆᐅᙱᑦᑐᖅ.” ᐱᒃᑲᐅᓱᒋᙱᒃᑲᓗᐊᖅᑎᓪᓗᒍ, ᑕᐃᓗ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔮᖃᕐᓯᒪᕗᖅ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᓂᕐᒥᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐆᒻᒪᑎᑦᑎᕙᑦᑐᓂ ᐅᔭᕋᒻᒥᒃ ᐊᔾᔨᐅᖏᑦᑐᒥᒃ ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑐᒋᑦ ᒪᓕᑉᐸᑦᑐᒋᑦ ᓴᖑᐃᖓᓂᖏᑦ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᖅᑕᖏᓐᓂ.

– ᓇᐸᑦᓯ ᕗᓪᔪ

Derrald Taylor b. 1963 Tuktuuyaqtuq, NT ᑎᐅᕈᑦ ᑕᐃᓗ b. 1963 ᑐᒃᑑᔮᖅᑐᖅ, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᖅ

Derrald Taylor (b. 1963 Tuktuuyaqtuq) — Mother and Child c. 2018 Stone and wood 22.9 × 12.7 × 10.2 cm COURTESY INUIT GIFTS

ᑎᐅᕈᑦ ᑕᐃᓗ (b. 1963 ᑐᒃᑑᔮᖅᑐᖅ)

—

ᐊᓈᓇ ᕿᑐᕐᖓᖓᓗ

c. 2018

ᐅᔭᕋᖅ ᕿᔪᒡᓗ

22.9 × 12.7 × 10.2 ᓯᓐᑕᒦᑕᔅ ᐊᐃᑦᑐᖅᑕᐅᔪᖅ ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᑐᔫᓯᐊᖏᑦ

Earth

43

What Nuna Provides

Malu Natakok b. 1992 Salliq, NU

ᒪᓗ ᓇᑕᖅᑯᖅ b. 1992 ᓴᓪᓕᖅ, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ

“People always tell me they can recognize my carvings by the faces,” says artist Malu Natakok of his expressive sculptures of figures, “I tell them they are just looking up and smiling or leaning in for a kiss.” With ovoid mouths and often-tilted compositions, it is difficult to miss the inherent charm and humour in the Salliq (Coral Harbour), NU, carver’s work.

Natakok began making art in 2015, inspired by other local creators who have made names for themselves as artists. Though sometimes materials for carvings are scarce in Salliq, Natakok explains that, “people from town often bring materials to me, and when I go out hunting I find caribou antler and other bones.”

The artist skillfully transforms the raw materials he collects into distinctive and lively works of art.

The world Natakok has created in his work is rich and playful.

A walrus about to capsize a frantic hunter in his kayak, a mother caught mid-conversation or perhaps mid-scolding with her child squirming in her amauti and another walrus resting on one flipper, as if it is in mid-yoga posture, are but a few of the varied subjects of the artist. Though his career as an artist began fairly recently, Natakok has carved a niche for himself with work that is energetic and full of life.

– John Geoghegan

Inuit Art Quarterly

Malu Natakok (b. 1992 Salliq) — Hunter in Kayak c. 2018 Stone and antler 16 × 18 × 8 cm

ᒪᓗ ᓇᑕᖅᑯᖅ (b. 1992 ᓴᓪᓕᖅ)

COURTESY CANADIAN ARCTIC PRODUCERS

ᐊᐃᑦᑐᖅᑕᐅᔪᖅ ᑯᐊᐸᒃᑯᑦ

—

ᖃᔭᖅᑐᖅᑐᖅ

c. 2018

ᐅᔭᕋᖅ ᓇᒡᔪᒡᓗ 16 × 18 × 8 ᓯᓐᑕᒦᑕᔅ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᒐᖅᑐᓕᕆᔨᖏᓐᓂᑦ

“ᐃᓄᖕᓂᑦ ᐅᖃᐅᔾᔭᐅᖏᓐᓇᓲᖑᔪᖓ ᐃᓕᓴᕆᔭᐅᖃᑦᑕᕐᖓᑕᒎᖅ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᒃᑲ ᑮᓇᖏᓐᓄᑦ,” ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎ ᒪᓗ ᓇᑕᖅᑯᖅ ᓇᓗᓇᙱᑦᑎᐊᖃᑦᑕᕐᖓᑕ ᑕᐅᑦᑐᖏᑦ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖏᑦᑕ, “ᐅᖃᐅᑎᓲᒃᑲ ᖁᒻᒧᑦ ᕿᕕᐊᖓᓂᕋᖅᑐᒋᑦ ᖁᖓᑦᑐᑎᓪᓗ ᐅᕝᕙᓘᓐᓃᑦ ᑯᓂᔅᓯᒍᒪᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ.” ᖃᓂᖏᑦ ᐊᐃᑦᑕᖓᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓴᖑᐃᖓᒐᔪᑦᑐᑎᒃ, ᐅᔾᔨᕐᓇᕐᓂᕐᓴᑐᐃᓐᓇᐸᒻᒪᑕ ᑕᑯᒥᓇᕐᓂᖏᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᔪᕐᓇᕐᓂᖏᑦ ᓴᓪᓕᕐᒥᐅᑉ, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ, ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᑉ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖏᑦ. ᓇᑕᖅᑯᖅ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᓯᓚᐅᕐᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᕆᕙᑦᑕᖏᓐᓂᒃ 2015ᖑᑎᓪᓗᒍ, ᑐᓱᓕᕐᓂᑰᓪᓗᓂ ᓄᓇᖅᑲᑎᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᓂᑦ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᐅᑦᑎᐊᓕᕐᓂᑯᓂᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᓂᖏᓐᓂᒃ. ᐃᓛᓐᓂᒃᑯᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᒐᒃᓴᖅᑕᖃᑦᑎᐊᕈᓐᓃᕐᐸᒃᑲᓗᐊᖅᑐᓂ ᓴᓪᓕᕐᒥ, ᓇᑕᖅᑯᖅ ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ, “ᑕᒫᓂᒥᐅᑦ ᑎᑭᐅᔾᔨᓲᖑᒻᒪᑕ ᐅᕙᓐᓄᑦ, ᐊᐅᓪᓚᕋᐃᒐᒪᓗ ᐊᖑᓇᓱᒋᐊᖅᑐᖓ ᓇᓂᓯᕙᒃᑲᒪ ᑐᒃᑑᑉ ᓇᒡᔪᖏᓐᓂᑦ ᐊᓯᖏᓐᓂᒡᓗ ᓴᐅᓂᕐᓂᑦ.” ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎ ᓴᓇᑦᑎᐊᓪᓚᕆᓲᖅ ᑕᒪᒃᑯᓂᖓ ᓄᐊᑉᐸᑦᑕᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᐊᔾᔨᐅᒐᑎᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑕᑯᔪᒥᓇᕐᓯᑦᑎᐊᕐᐸᑦᑐᑎᒃ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖏᑦ. ᓇᑕᖅᑰᑉ ᓴᓇᕙᒃᑕᖏᑦ ᓈᒻᒪᑦᑎᐊᖅᑐᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᖁᕕᐊᓇᖅᑐᑎᒃ. ᐊᐃᕕᖅ ᐅᕕᖅᑎᑦᑎᓂᐅᔭᖅᑐᖅ ᐊᖑᓇᓱᑦᑎᒥᒃ ᖃᔭᖅᑐᖅᑐᒥᒃ, ᐊᓈᓇ ᐊᖑᔭᖅ ᐅᖃᓪᓚᒃᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᐅᕝᕙᓘᓐᓃᑦ ᓱᐊᑦᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᕿᑐᕐᖓᒥᓂᒃ ᕿᑲᙱᑦᑐᒥᒃ ᐊᒫᖅᑐᓂᐅᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᐃᕕᖅ ᓯᖅᑯᒥᓄᑦ ᐊᔭᒃᐸᒃᓯᒪᐅᔭᖅᑐᖅ ᐃᖃᐃᓕᓴᙳᐊᑐᕐᔫᔮᖅᑐᓂ, ᑕᒪᒃᑯᐊ ᐊᒥᓲᙱᑦᑑᒐᓗᐊᑦ ᐊᔾᔨᒌᙱᑦᑐᑦ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᖅᑕᖏᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᑉ. ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᓕᓵᖅᓯᒪᒐᓗᐊᖅᑐᓂ ᒫᓐᓇᕋᑖᖅ ᑕᒪᑐᒥᖓ, ᓇᑕᖅᑯᖅ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᓕᖅᑐᖅ ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑐᓂ ᕿᑦᑕᐃᖓᔫᔮᖅᑐᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐆᒪᓪᓚᕆᒃᑑᔭᖅᑐᓂᒃ.

– ᔮᓐ ᔪᐊᔩᒐᓐ 44

Winter 2019

As the son of Puvirnituq artists Lizzie Kumangu and Thomassie Sivuarapik (1941–2009), creativity has always surrounded Johnny Sivuarapik. It’s no wonder then, that at a young age he developed the skills to create the surreal style that produced haunting sculptures like Emerging Faces (1999). Not all of the artist’s works take on this abstract style however, in other works Sivuarapik carefully manipulates stone to capture detailed scenes of hunting and traditional activities. The heavy strain of fighting to pull a seal out of the water is rendered almost effortlessly in Hunter Pulling Apertuk through Ice (2006).

As is typical for many artists, Sivuarapik learned his craft in a practical way—through observation. “I learned by watching my father carve. Just by watching him.” One can notice the artist’s keen sense of observation by the power of his lines indicating motion.

His work is characterized by dynamic compositions and a sense of gravity not normally associated with inanimate stone. Perhaps this ability to sculpt power and motion so adeptly explains Sivuarapik’s favourite subject matter. Sivuarapik states his “favourite things to carve are whales—beluga, killer whale, all kinds of whales,” which are an apt representation of sheer natural force.

– Napatsi Folger

Johnny Sivuarapik b. 1970 Puvirnituq, QC

Earth

ᐳᕕᕐᓂᑐᕐᒥᐅᓄᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᓄᑦ ᐃᕐᓂᕆᔭᐅᔪᖅ ᓕᓯ ᖁᒪᖑᑦ, ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑑᒪᓯ ᓯᕗᐊᕌᐱᒃ (1941–2009), ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑐᓂᑦ ᐊᕙᓗᔭᐅᓯᒪᐃᓐᓇᕐᖓᑦ ᔮᓂ ᓯᕗᐊᕌᐱᒃ. ᐅᐱᓐᓇᕋᓂ ᑕᐃᒫᒃ, ᓄᑲᑉᐱᐊᖑᓪᓗᓂ ᐃᓕᓯᒪᕗᖅ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᕆᐊᔅᓴᖅ ᐱᓪᓚᑦᑖᖑᔮᖅᑐᓂᑦ ᐊᓕᐊᓇᕐᓯᓯᒪᔪᓂᑦ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᕐᓂᑦ ᓲᕐᓗ ᑖᔅᓱᑎᑐᓇᖅ ᓴᖅᑭᐸᓪᓕᐊᔪᑦ ᑮᓇᐃᑦ (1999). ᑕᐃᒪᐃᑦᑐᐃᓐᓇᕐᓂᑦ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᖏᒻᒥᔪᖅ ᑖᓐᓇ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎ ᑭᓯᐊᓂᓕ, ᐊᓯᖏᓐᓂᑦ ᓯᕗᐊᕌᐱᒃ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᕐᓯᒪᒻᒥᔪᖅ ᓴᓇᑦᑎᐊᕐᓯᒪᓪᓚᕆᑦᑐᐊᓗᓐᓂᑦ ᐊᖑᓇᓱᙳᐊᖅᑐᓂᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᖅᑯᓯᖅᑎᒍᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᙳᐊᖅᑐᓂᑦ. ᐅᖁᒪᐃᔅᓴᖅᑐᑦ ᐊᒧᓯᓇᓱᑦᑐᖅ ᓇᑦᑎᕐᒥᒃ ᐃᒫᓂ ᓇᓗᓇᙱᑎᐊᕐᒥᔪᖅ ᓱᖅᑯᐃᕋᔅᓴᐅᑎᐊᖅᑐᓂ ᐊᖑᓇᓱᑦᑎ ᐊᒧᓯᔪᖅ ᐊᐱᖅᑐᕐᒥᑦ ᓯᑯᒃᑯᑦ (2006). ᑕᐃᒫᓪᓗ ᐱᐅᓯᖃᕋᔪᓲᖑᒻᒪᑕ ᐊᒥᓱᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᕙᑦᑐᑦ, ᓯᕗᐊᕌᐱᒃ ᐃᓕᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᖅᑕᖏᓐᓂᒃ, ᑕᑯᓐᓈᖃᑦᑕᓂᒃᑯᑦ. “ᐃᓕᓯᒪᕗᖓ ᑕᑯᓐᓈᐸᑦᑐᒍ ᐊᑖᑕᒐ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᑎᓪᓗᒍ. ᑕᑯᓐᓈᑐᐃᓐᓇᖅᑐᒍ.” ᑭᓇᑐᐃᓐᓇᕐᒧᑦ ᐅᔾᔨᕆᔭᐅᔪᓐᓇᖅᑐᖅ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᑉ ᑕᑯᓐᓈᖃᑦᑕᓲᖑᓂᖓ ᐅᔾᔨᕈᓱᑦᑎᐊᖅᑐᓂ, ᐊᐅᓚᖂᔨᑦᑎᐊᖅᑐᑎᒃ ᓇᒧᑦ ᑐᕌᖓᓂᖏᑦ. ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑕᖏᑦ ᑕᐅᑦᑐᑖᖃᑦᑕᖅᑐᑎᒃ ᖃᓄᑐᐃᓐᓇᑦᑎᐊᖅ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᑉᐱᓇᕐᓯᕙᑦᑐᑎᒃ ᑕᐃᒫᒃ ᑕᑯᔭᔅᓴᐅᓲᖑᖏᒻᒪᑕ ᐅᔭᕋᑐᐃᓐᓇᐃᑦ. ᐃᒻᒪᖄ ᑕᐃᒫᒃ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᕈᓐᓇᕐᓂᖓ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᐅᓚᓂᖃᖅᑎᙳᐊᖅᑐᓂᖏᑦ ᑐᑭᓯᔭᐅᒍᓐᓇᕐᓯᓲᖅ ᓯᕗᐊᕌᐱᐅᑉ ᖁᕕᐊᒋᓂᕐᐹᖓᓂᒃ, “ᖁᕕᐊᒋᓂᕐᐹᖏᑦ ᓴᓇᔭᕆᐊᔅᓴᖅ ᐳᐃᔩᑦ ᓴᖅᐱᓖᑦ—ᕿᓚᓗᒐᖅ, ᐋᕐᓗᒃ, ᖃᓄᐃᑦᑐᑐᐃᓐᓇᑎᐊᓪᓗ ᐳᐃᔩᑦ ᓴᖅᐱᓖᑦ,” ᐱᔾᔪᑎᖃᖅᑐᓂ ᐱᓪᓚᑦᑖᓂᑦ ᐱᓯᒪᔪᓂᑦ.

– ᓇᐸᑦᓯ ᕗᓪᔪ

Johnny Sivuarapik (b. 1970 Puvirnituq) — Emerging Faces 1999 Stone and sinew 30.5 × 17.8 × 7.4 cm

ᔮᓂ ᓯᕗᐊᕌᐱᒃ b. 1970 ᐳᕕᕐᓂᖅᑐᖅ, ᑯᐸᐃᒃ

COURTESY MAYNARDS FINE ARTS & ANTIQUES

45

ᔮᓂ ᓯᕗᐊᕌᐱᒃ (b. 1970 ᐳᕕᕐᓂᖅᑐᖅ)

—

ᓴᖅᑭᐸᓪᓕᐊᔪᑦ ᑮᓇᐃᑦ

1999

ᐅᔭᕋᒃ ᐊᒻᒪ ᐃᕙᓗ

30.5 × 17.8 × 7.4 ᓯᓐᑕᒦᑕᔅ ᐊᐃᑦᑐᖅᑕᐅᔪᖅ ᒪᐃᓇᑦ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᐃᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᑐᖃᐃᑦ

What Nuna Provides

Working between Postville, Nunatsiavut, NL, and Barrie, ON, self-taught sculptor Jason Jacque has been practicing since his early teens creating distilled renditions of Arctic animals and cultural practices out of serpentinite, marble and labradorite sourced from quarries in Nunatsiavut. Antler, bone, wood and other natural materials also appear in a number of his multimedia works further emphasizing the artist’s interest in traditional life.

ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔭᕐᓂᖅ ᐊᑯᓐᓂᖏᓐᓂ, ᕿᐳᖅᑲᖅ, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕗᑦ, ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᕕᐅᕆ, ᐋᓐᑎᐅᕆᐅ, ᐃᒻᒥᓂᒃ ᐃᓕᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᒐᕐᓂᕐᒥᑦ ᔭᐃᓴᓐ ᔮᒃ ᐊᔪᕈᓐᓃᖅᓴᐃᓐᓇᖅᐳᒃ ᑕᐃᒪᙵᓂᑦ ᒪᒃᑯᒃᑑᓂᕐᒥᓂᒃ ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑐᓂ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥᐅᑦ ᐆᒪᔪᖁᑎᙳᐊᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᓕᖅᑯᓯᖅᑎᒍᑦ ᐱᐅᓯᕆᔭᐅᓲᑦ ᐃᒪᐃᑦᑐᓂᑦ ᐅᔭᕋᓐᓂᒃ ᑎᓯᔪᒻᒪᕆᖕᓂᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕗᑦ ᐅᔭᕋᖁᑎᖓᓂᑦ. ᓇᒡᔪᐃᑦ, ᓴᐅᓃᑦ, ᕿᔪᐃᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᓯᖏᑦ ᓄᓇᒦᙶᕐᓯᒪᔪᑦ ᑕᑯᔭᔅᓴᐅᕙᒻᒥᔪᑦ ᐊᒥᓱᓂᑦ ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑕᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᐊᔾᔨᒌᙱᑦᑐᓂᑦ ᑲᑎᓯᒪᔪᓂᑦ ᐅᔾᔨᕐᓇᕆᐊᒃᑲᓐᓂᖃᑦᑕᕆᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᑉ ᖁᕕᐊᒋᔭᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᐱᖅᑯᓯᑐᖃᑦ ᐃᓅᓯᐅᓚᐅᖅᑐᒥᑦ. ᒫᓐᓇᕋᑖᖑᓕᖅᑐᖅ ᑭᓯᐊᓂ ᖃᐅᔨᕙᓪᓕᐊᓯᒪᓕᖅᑐᓂ ᑕᑯᒥᓴᐅᑎᓂᑦ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᓂᕐᒥᒃ, ᔮᒃ ᑲᑎᑦᑎᖃᑦᑕᕐᓯᒪᓕᕇᖅᑐᖅ ᑲᒪᒋᓗᐊᕐᐸᑦᑕᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᓴᓇᑦᑎᐊᕐᓯᒪᔪᐊᓗᓐᓂᑦ ᐱᔭᖅᑭᔅᓯᕙᓪᓕᐊᑐᐃᓐᓇᖅᑐᓂ ᐃᓕᓐᓂᐊᕈᑎᒋᕙᑦᑕᖏᑎᒍᑦ ᔪᐊᔾᔨᐊᓐ ᓯᓚᑦᑐᓴᕐᕕᒻᒥ. ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᒧᓪᓕ, ᑕᒪᒃᑯᐊ ᖃᐅᔨᒋᐅᖃᑦᑕᖅᑕᖏᑦ ᓴᓇᔾᔪᓰᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓴᓈᔅᓴᐃᑦ ᖁᕕᐊᓇᖅᑐᐊᓗᓐᓂᑦ ᐱᓇᓱᐊᕈᑎᒋᒃᑲᓐᓂᕈᓐᓇᖅᑕᖏᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᓂᕐᒥᒃ. “ᖃᐅᔨᒃᑲᓐᓂᕈᑎᒻᒥᔭᒃᑲ ᖃᓄᐃᑦᑐᑐᐃᓐᓇᑦᑎᐊᓂᑦ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᕈᓐᓇᓂᓐᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓯᕕᑦᑐᕆᐊᕐᓯᓪᓗᓂ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᕈᓐᓇᓂᕐᓂᒃ,” ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ. “ᐊᔾᔨᒌᙱᑦᑑᖕᒪᑕ ᐃᑉᐱᓇᕐᓂᖏᑦ ᐊᑐᖃᑦᑕᕈᓐᓇᕐᑕᒃᑲ, ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᔾᔨᒌᙱᑦᑐᓂᑦ ᐊᑑᑎᑎᑦᑎᔪᓐᓇᖅᑐᑎᒃ ᐊᑕᐅᓯᑐᐊᑲᓪᓚᒻᒥᒃ ᐊᑐᖃᑦᑕᓂᐊᙱᓐᓇᒪ ᐅᔭᖅᑲᒥᒃ.” ᐅᒃᐱᒃ (2019) ᐱᔾᔪᑎᓕᒃ ᐊᖏᓪᓕᕙᓪᓕᐊᓂᖓᓂᒃ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᕐᓂᖓᑕ. ᐅᔾᔨᕐᓇᕐᓯᓯᒪᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐆᔭᐅᔭᐅᓂᖓ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᕿᕐᓂᕐᓂᖓ ᕿᓪᓕᖅᑕᖅᓯᒪᔪᒥᑦ ᐅᒃᑯᓯᒃᓴᔭᒥᒃ ᒪᕐᕉᒃ ᕿᓪᓕᖅᑑᒃ ᐃᔩᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᒥᐊᕐᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᓯᒡᒍᖓ ᑖᒃᑯᐊ, ᑕᒪᕐᒥᒃ, ᐅᔾᔨᓇᕐᓯᑎᑦᑎᓯᒪᔫᒃ ᐆᒪᔫᑉ ᑕᑯᓐᓈᕐᓂᖓᓂᒃ ᐊᓕᐊᓇᖅᑐᓂ. “ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑐᖓ, ᓴᓇᔪᒪᔭᓐᓂᑦ ᑎᑎᕋᖅᑳᓲᙳᖏᓐᓇᒪ ᑭᓯᐊᓂᓕ ᓴᓇᑐᐃᓐᓇᓲᕆᔭᒃᑲ ᐅᔭᕋᒃ,” ᔮᒃ ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ ᑕᐃᒫᒃ ᐱᓇᓱᐊᕈᑎᒋᓲᖓᓂᒃ. “ᐃᓱᒪᕐᓲᑎᒋᑐᐃᓐᓇᓲᕆᒐᒃᑯ. ᓇᒻᒥᓂᖅ ᐅᔭᕋᒃ ᐋᖅᑭᓱᖅᑎᐸᓪᓕᐊᓪᓗᒍ.”

– ᐃᕙᓐ ᐸᕝᑲ

While only recently exploring jewellery-making, Jacque has already amassed a significant portfolio of finely crafted objects as he continues to hone his skills through studies at Georgian College. For the artist, these newfound techniques and materials offer exciting potentials in combination with carving. “It opens up the range of things I can make and broadens my creativity more,” he notes. “There are different textures I can use, and it provides me with different effects instead of simply using stone.”

Owl (2019) speaks to this burgeoning expansion in his practice. Accenting the rich olive and midnight hues in the polished black pearl steatite are two piercing silver eyes and a gilded beak that, together, expertly capture the animal’s haunting gaze. “When I’m carving, I will not draw anything out but just work with the stone,” Jacque explains about his intuitive approach. “It’s much more free. I tend to let the rock make its own form.”

– Evan Pavka

Jason Jacque b. 1977 Postville, NL ᔭᐃᓴᓐ ᔮᒃ b. 1977 ᕿᐳᖅᑲᖅ, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕗᑦ

Jason Jacque (b. 1977 Postville) — Owl 2019 Steatite and silver 27.5 × 17.5 × 27 cm COURTESY LA GUILDE

ᔭᐃᓴᓐ ᔮᒃ (b. 1977 ᕿᐳᖅᑲᖅ)

—

ᐅᒃᐱᒃ

2019

ᐅᒃᑯᓯᒃᓴᖅ ᐊᒻᒪ ᓴᕕᕋᔭᑦᑎᐊᖅ 27.5 × 17.5 × 27 ᓯᓐᑕᒦᑕᔅ ᐊᐃᑦᑐᖅᑕᐅᔪᖅ ᓚ ᒋᐅᓪᑦ

Inuit Art Quarterly

46

Winter 2019

Kakkee Ningeosiaq b. 1973 Kinngait, NU ᑲᒃᑭ ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᖅ b. 1973 ᑭᙵᐃᑦ, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ

Kakkee Ningeosiaq (b. 1973 Kinngait) — Narwhal Composition c. 2014 Serpentinite, antler and bone 39.4 × 24.1 × 17.8 cm COURTESY INUIT GALLERY OF VANCOUVER

ᑲᒃᑭ ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᖅ (b. 1973 ᑭᙵᐃᑦ)

—

ᕿᓚᓗᒐᐃᑦ ᑑᒑᓖᑦ

c. 2014

ᐅᔭᕋᖅ ᐊᕿᑦᑐᖅ, ᓇᒡᔪᒃ, ᐊᒻᒪ ᓴᐅᓂᖅ

39.4 × 24.1 × 17.8 ᓯᓐᑕᒦᑕᔅ ᐊᐃᑦᑐᖅᑕᐅᔪᖅ ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᒑᓗᓕ ᕚᓐᑰᕙ

The writhing bodies and unique formations of schools of fish and pods of narwhal and beluga might seem impossible subjects to capture in a fixed, three-dimensional form, but for Kakkee Ningeosiaq the challenge is part of the fun. Ningeosiaq, who lives in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU, has been making and exhibiting work for nearly 30 years and in that time has honed his skills and expanded his imagination to create highly individual and immediately recognizable work.

ᐊᐅᓚᙳᐊᖅᑐᑦ ᑎᒥᖏᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᔾᔨᐅᖏᑦᑐᒥᒃ ᐋᖅᑭᓯᒪᓂᖏᑦ ᐊᒥᓲᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐃᖃᓗᐃᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑲᑎᙵᐅᖅᑐᑦ ᕿᓚᓗᒐᐃᑦ ᑑᒑᓖᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᕿᓚᓗᒐᐃᑦ ᐱᔭᕆᐊᑐᒍᓐᓇᕐᖓᑕ ᐅᔾᔨᕐᓇᓯᑎᒐᓱᓪᓗᒋᑦ ᐋᖅᑭᓯᒪᔪᒥ, ᐱᖓᓱᐃᓕᖅᑲᖓᔪᒥ ᓴᓇᓇᓱᒃᓗᒋᑦ, ᑭᓯᐊᓂ ᑲᒃᑭ ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᕐᒧᑦ ᐱᔭᕆᐊᑐᓂᖓ ᖁᕕᐊᒋᓗᐊᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᕐᖓᒍ. ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᖅ, ᑭᙵᕐᒥᐅᑕᐅᓪᓗᓂ, ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᕐᓯᒪᓕᕐᖓᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑕᑯᔭᔅᓴᐅᑎᑦᑎᖃᑦᑕᕐᓯᒪᓕᕐᖓᑦ ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑕᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᐊᕙᑎᓂᑦ ᖁᓕᓂᓪᓗ ᐊᕐᕌᒍᓂᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑖᒃᑯᓇᓂ ᐊᕐᕌᒍᓂᑦ ᐱᔭᖅᑭᔅᓯᕙᓪᓕᐊᓯᒪᓪᓗᓂ ᓯᕕᑦᑐᕆᐊᕐᓯᑎᑦᑎᓯᒪᓪᓗᓂ ᑕᑯᓐᓇᙳᐊᓲᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᕐᓂᐊᕋᒥ ᐱᐅᔫᑎᐊᓗᓐᓂᑦ ᐃᓕᓴᕐᓇᖅᑕᐅᑎᒋᕙᑦᑐᓂᑦ ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑕᖏᓐᓂᒃ. ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᖅ, ᐊᖑᓇᓱᑦᑎᓪᓚᕆᐅᓪᓗᓂ ᐃᖃᓗᒐᓱᑦᑎᓪᓚᕆᐅᓪᓗᓂᓗ, ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᖅᑕᖏᑦ ᐃᒪᕐᒥᐅᑕᙳᐊᑦ ᐃᓕᓴᕐᓇᐸᑦᑐᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᖁᕕᐊᒋᓗᐊᙳᐊᐸᑦᑕᖏᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᑉ. “ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᓯᓚᐅᕐᓯᒪᔭᒃᑲ ᐅᕙᓐᓄᑦ, ᐱᐅᒋᒐᒃᑭᑦ,” ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ. ᐊᕐᕌᒍᓂᑦ ᑕᐃᒪᙵᓂᑦ, ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᖅᑕᖏᑦ ᐱᐅᒋᔭᐅᓗᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᓕᕐᓯᒪᔪᑦ. ᐊᐅᒍᓯ 2019ᖑᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᐱᕈᒃᓯᐊᖃᕐᕕᐊᓗᒃ Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington, ᐋᓐᑎᐅᕆᔪᒥ, ᓴᖅᑭᑎᑦᑎᔪᔪᑦ ᐃᖃᓗᒐᓴᓐᓂᒃ ᑲᑎᙵᐅᖅᑐᓂᑦ, ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖅ ᐊᖏᔪᐊᓗᒃ ᐅᖁᒪᐃᑦᑐᒥᒃ ᓴᕕᕋᔭᖕᒥᑦ ᓴᓇᓯᒪᓪᓗᓂ ᐅᒃᑯᓯᒃᓴᔭᒥᒃ ᐃᔾᔪᐊᖅᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᓴᓇᓯᒪᔭᖓ ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᑉ. ᓴᓇᓯᒪᔭᖓ ᑕᑯᔭᔅᓴᖅ ᑎᓴᒪᐅᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐃᖃᓗᐃᑦ ᐊᒻᒧᑦ ᐃᖏᕐᕋᔪᑦ, ᐸᐱᕈᖏᑦ ᐊᑕᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐃᓂᖓᓂ ᐊᑐᓂᑦ ᐃᓂᖃᐅᖅᑐᑎᒃ ᐃᖃᓗᐃᑦ. ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᑉ ᐱᓯᑎᐅᓂᖓ ᐃᕐᖏᓐᓇᖅ ᐅᔾᔨᕐᓇᑲᐅᑎᒋᓲᙳᖏᑦᑐᖅ ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑕᖏᓐᓂᑦ. ᕿᓚᓗᒐᐃᑦ ᑑᒑᓖᑦ (c. 2014) ᑕᑯᒃᓴᐅᔪᑦ ᑕᓪᓕᒪᓂᑦ ᐆᒪᔪᓂᑦ ᐃᖏᕐᕋᔪᓂᑦ ᖁᒻᒧᑦ, ᐊᑐᓂᑦ ᓇᓗᓇᕋᑎᒃ ᐊᔾᔨᒌᙱᑦᑐᒡᒍᑎᐅᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᖁᒻᒧᑦ ᐃᖏᕐᕋᓂᖏᓐᓂᒃ. ᓴᓇᓯᒪᓂᖓ ᐋᖅᑭᑎᐊᕐᓯᒪᔪᕐᔪᐊᕌᓘᓪᓗᓂ ᐱᐊᔪᐊᓘᓪᓗᓂᓗ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᑉ ᓴᓇᑦᑎᐊᕋᓱᔅᓯᒪᓂᖓ ᐋᖅᑭᑎᐊᕐᓯᒪᓇᓱᑦᑐᒍ ᐅᔾᔨᕐᓇᑦᑎᐊᖏᒻᒪᕆᑦᑐᖅ. ᐊᐱᕆᔭᐅᒻᒪᑦ ᖃᓄᖅ ᑕᐅᑐᖑᐊᕆᔭᖃᖅᓯᒪᖕᒪᖔᑦ ᓯᕗᓂᒃᓴᒥᓂᒃ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᓪᓗᓂ ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᖅ ᑭᐅᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᐃᒫᒃ, “ᖁᕕᐊᓱᓪᓚᕆᑦᑐᖓ ᓴᓇᒃᑲᓐᓂᖃᑦᑕᕐᓂᐊᕆᐊᔅᓴᖅ ᐊᒥᓱᒃᑲᓂᕐᓂᒃ.”

– ᔮᓐ ᒐᐃᒐᓐ

For Ningeosiaq, an avid hunter and fisherman, the aquatic animals he carves are familiar and have become a favourite subject. “I started carving them for myself, because I liked them,” he explains. In the years since, his distinct works have become highly prized. In August 2019 the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, ON, unveiled School of Fish, a massive sculpture in bronze modelled off an original steatite version

by Ningeosiaq. The piece shows four Arctic char swimming downwards, their tails connected with negative space cradling each of the slender fish.

Ningeosiaq’s skills are often hidden in his work. Narwhal Composition (c. 2014) shows five of the creatures swimming upwards, each uniquely rendered in a varying position of ascent.

The composition is so elegant and sinuous that the artist’s effort to keep the piece balanced and stable is nearly invisible. When asked what he saw in his future career as an artist, Ningeosiaq responded, “I am excited to make more.”

– John Geoghegan

Earth

47

What Nuna Provides

Heather Kayotak b. 1984 Iglulik, NU Hᐃᐊᑐ ᖃᔫᑦᑕᖅ b. 1984 ᐃᒡᓗᓕᒃ, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ

Heather Kayotak (b. 1984 Iglulik) — Mother and Child c. 2010 Stone 30.5 × 38.1 × 30.5 cm COURTESY INUIT GIFTS

Hᐃᐊᑐ ᖃᔫᑦᑕᖅ (b. 1984 ᐃᒡᓗᓕᒃ)

—

ᐊᓈᓇ ᕿᑐᕐᖓᖓᓗ

c. 2010 ᐅᔭᕋᖅ

30.5 × 38.1 × 30.5 ᓯᓐᑕᒦᑕᔅ ᐊᐃᑦᑐᖅᑕᐅᔪᖅ ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᑐᔫᓯᐊᖏᑦ

Womanhood features prominently in the sculptural works of Heather Kayotak—some women fish, while others carry children or pails full of berries. Each wears an amauti with distinctive, unique details. “I see lots of women with amautiit in different styles,” Kayotak says, “and I really like their styles and try to capture them in my carvings.”

ᐊᕐᓇᐃᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᕙᒃᑕᖏᑦ ᓴᖅᑭᔮᕐᓂᖅᐹᖑᓲᑦ Hᐃᐊᑐ ᖃᔫᑦᑕᐅᑉ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖏᓐᓂᒃ— ᐃᓚᖏᓐᓂᑦ ᐊᕐᓇᙳᐊᑦ ᐃᖃᓗᒐᓱᙳᐊᖅᑐᐃᑦ ᐊᓯᖏᑦ ᐊᒫᙳᐊᐸᑦᑐᑎᒃ ᓱᕈᓯᕐᓂᑦ ᐅᕝᕙᓘᓐᓃᑦ ᖃᑦᑕᖃᙳᐊᖅᐸᒃᑐᑎᒃ ᑕᑕᓯᒪᔪᓂᑦ ᓄᓂᕚᒥᓂᖏᓐᓂᒃ. ᐊᑐᓂᑦ ᐊᑐᖅᑐᑎᒃ ᐊᒪᐅᑎᓂᑦ ᐅᔾᔨᕐᓇᑦᑎᐊᖅᑐᑎᒃ ᐊᔾᔨᐅᖏᑦᑐᑦ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖏᑦ. “ᑕᑯᖃᑦᑕᖅᑐᖓ ᐊᒪᐅᑎᓂᒃ ᐊᔾᔨᒌᙱᑦᑐᓂᑦ ᐊᑐᖅᑐᓂᑦ,” ᖃᔫᑦᑕᖅ ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ, “ᐱᐅᒋᓪᓚᕆᑦᑐᒋᑦ ᓴᓇᔭᐅᓯᒪᓂᖏᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑕᐃᒫᒃ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᒐᖅᑕᓐᓂᒃ ᓴᖅᑭᑎᓐᓇᓱᓲᕆᔭᒃᑲ.” ᖃᔫᑦᑕᖅ ᐃᒡᓗᓕᖕᒥᐅᑕᖅ, ᑕᒪᒃᑭᒃ ᐊᖓᔪᖅᑳᖏᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᒐᖅᑎᐅᓚᐅᖅᑐᑎᒃ, ᐃᕗᓇ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᒪᐅᕆᐅᓯ ᖃᔫᑦᑕᖅ (1947–2008), ᑕᒪᒃᑮᒡᓗ ᐃᓕᓯᕝᕕᒋᓯᒪᔭᖏᒃ. “ᑕᑯᕋᓐᓂᕆᓪᓚᕆᖃᑦᑕᔪᒐᒃᑭᒃ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᑎᓪᓗᒋᒃ,” ᓱᖅᑯᐃᒋᔭᒥᓂᒃ ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ. ᖃᔫᑦᑕᖅ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᕐᓯᔪᖅ ᑕᑯᒥᓴᐅᑎᓂᒃ ᓴᓇᓯᒪᔪᓂᑦ ᓴᕕᕋᔭᒻᒥᒃ, ᐊᑭᑐᔪᓂᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖏᑦ ᐅᒃᑯᓯᒃᓴᔭᒥᒃ, ᑑᒑᕐᒥᒃ ᓇᒡᔪᒥᓪᓗ, ᑭᓯᐊᓂ ᓂᕈᐊᕆᔭᖃᕐᓂᖅᓴᖅ ᓇᒡᔪᒻᒥᒃ ᐱᔾᔪᑎᒋᓪᓗᒍ ᐱᑕᖃᕐᓂᕐᓴᐅᕙᒻᒪᑕ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ “ᐅᒃᑯᓯᒃᓴᖅ ᓴᓂᕐᑲᕐᓇᓗᐊᖅᑐᐊᓘᖕᒪᑦ/ᐳᔪᖃᕐᓇᓗᐊᖅᑐᐊᓘᖕᒪᑦ ᐅᕙᓐᓄᑦ.” ᐊᒥᓱᑦ ᓇᒡᔪᖕᓂᒃ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᕆᕙᑦᑕᖏᑦ, ᓴᓇᓯᒪᒐᔪᓐᓂᕐᓴᐃᑦ ᐊᕐᓇᙳᐊᖑᓪᓗᑎᒃ, ᐊᓈᓇᖓᑕᓗ ᓴᓇᕙᓚᐅᖅᑕᖏᓐᓂ ᐃᖅᑲᕐᓇᖅᑐᑎᒃ ᑭᓯᐊᓂ ᖃᔫᑦᑕᐅᑉ ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑕᖏᑦ ᖁᕕᐊᓇᖅᑎᒋᐊᖅᑐᓂᒋ ᐊᔾᔨᐅᒐᑎᒃ ᑖᔅᓱᒪ ᓴᓇᓯᒪᒻᒪᒋᑦ ᓇᓗᓇᙱᔾᔪᑎᒋᕙᑦᑕᖏᑦ. ᖃᔫᑦᑕᐅᑉ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖓ ᐊᖏᔪᒻᒪᕆᐊᓗᒃ ᐊᓈᓇ ᕿᑐᕐᖓᖓᓗ (c. 2010) ᐱᐅᔪᕐᔪᐊᕌᓘᓪᓗᓂ, ᖁᕕᐊᓇᖅᑐᓂ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖓ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᑉ ᐊᔪᙱᑕᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᑕᑯᔭᐅᑎᑦᑎᔾᔪᑎᒋᓯᒪᓪᓗᓂᐅᒃ. ᓴᓇᙳᐊᕐᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᑎᓯᔪᐊᓗᒻᒥᒃ, ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖓ ᓱᓇᑯᓘᔭᖏᑦ ᐅᔾᔨᓇᑦᑎᐊᖏᓐᓂᖅᓴᐅᒐᓗᐊᖅᓗᑎᒃ ᖃᔫᑦᑕᐅᑉ ᓴᓇᕙᒃᑕᖏᑎᑐᑦ ᓇᒡᔫᓐᓂᒃ, ᑭᓯᐊᓂ ᖃᓄᐃᓕᖓᙳᐊᕐᓂᖓ ᐃᑉᐱᓇᕐᓂᖓᓗ ᑕᑯᔭᔅᓴᐅᑎᐊᖅᑐᓂ. ᐊᕐᓇᖅ ᑎᒃᑯᐊᖓᓪᓗᓂ ᐳᐊᓗᓯᒪᓪᓗᓂ ᖁᒻᒧᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑕᒪᒃᑮᒃ ᐊᕐᓇᖅ ᕿᑐᕐᖓᖓᓗ ᐊᒫᖅᑕᖓ ᑕᑯᓐᓈᖅᑐᐃᓐᓇᐅᕙᓗᑦᑐᑎᒃ ᑖᔅᓱᒥᖓᔅᓴᐃᓐᓇᖅ. ᑭᓱᒥᐅᑯᐊ ᑕᑯᓐᓈᖅᑐᒃ? ᑕᒪᒃᑯᐊ ᐃᓱᒪᓇᖅᑐᑦ ᑕᐃᒪᐃᑦᑐᑦ ᑕᑯᒥᓇᕐᓯᑎᑦᑎᕙᒻᒪᑕ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᖁᕕᐊᓇᕐᓯᑎᑦᑎᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖏᓐᓂᒃ Hᐃᐊᑐ ᖃᔫᑦᑕᐅᑉ.

– ᔮᓐ ᔪᐊᔩᒐᓐ

Kayotak hails from Iglulik (Igloolik), NU, and notes that her parents, artists Yvonne and Marius Kayotak (1947–2008), both influenced her artistic approach. “I used to really like watching them carve,” she recalls. Kayotak has made jewellery from precious metals and sculpture from stone, ivory and antler, but prefers working with antler because it is abundant and “stone is too dusty for me.” Many of her caribou antler carvings, often depicting compactly rendered female figures, resemble the carvings of her mother but Kayotak’s playful details make her work distinctly her own.

Kayotak’s massive Mother and Child (c. 2010) is a commanding, joyful work that puts the artist’s skills on full display. Carved from tough local basalt, the work lacks the details present in Kayotak’s antler figures but is prominently rooted in gesture and emotion. The woman points her mittened hand upwards and gazes with the child she carries in her amauti on the shared point somewhere beyond. What are they looking at?

It is mysteries like this that charm and delight in the work of Heather Kayotak.

– John Geoghegan

Inuit Art Quarterly

48

Winter 2019

In a career spanning almost 25 years, played out over communities across Nunavut, carver Kupapik Ningeocheak has created a body of work that includes everything from arctic animals to hockey players. In fact, in 2000 the National Hockey League commissioned the artist to create Inuk Player (2000) for the Visions of Hockey collection, a fitting addition from the artist who himself was a recreational director for hockey programs in Sanikiluaq, NU.

ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᖅᓯᒪᓕᖅᑐᖅ ᐊᕙᑎᑦ ᐅᖓᑖᓂᑦ ᐊᕐᕌᒍᓂᑦ, ᓄᓇᓕᖕᓂᑦ ᐊᒥᓱᓂᑦ ᓄᓇᕗᒥ, ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎ ᖁᑉᐹᐱᒃ ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᖅ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᖅᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᑭᓱᓕᒫᑦᑎᐊᓂᒃ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ ᐆᒪᔪᙳᐊᓂᑦ, ᐊᒡᓛᓘᓐᓃᑦ Hᐊᑭᖅᑎᙳᐊᓃᑦ. ᐊᓱᒻᒪᕆᖏᓛᒃ, 2000ᖑᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᑲᓇᑕᒥ Hᐊᑭᖅᑎᕐᔪᐊᒃᑯᓂᑦ ᑎᓕᔨᓚᐅᕐᓯᒪᔪᑦ ᖁᑉᐹᐱᒃᒥᒃ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖁᓪᓗᒍ ᐃᓄᙳᐊᕐᒥ Hᐊᑭᖅᑎᙳᐊᒥᒃ (2000) Hᐊᑭᖅᑎᓂᒃ ᑕᑯᓐᓇᙳᐊᒐᐅᓂᐊᖅᑐᓄᑦ ᓄᐊᑕᐅᓯᒪᓗᑎᒃ, ᐊᑲᐅᑐᐃᓐᓇᓕᓚᐅᖅᐳᕐᓗ ᓇᖕᒥᓂᖅ ᐱᙳᐊᖅᑐᓕᕆᓂᕐᒧᑦ ᑐᑭᒧᐊᑦᑎᑦᑎᔨᐅᓚᐅᕐᓯᒪᒻᒪᑦ Hᐊᑭᖅᑐᓕᕆᓂᕐᒧᑦ ᓴᓂᑭᓗᐊᕐᒥ, ᓄᓇᕗᒥ. ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑕᖏᓐᓂ ᐱᙳᐊᖅᑐᓕᕆᔪᑦ ᐊᓯᖏᓐᓂᒃ, ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᖅ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᓗᐊᓲᖅ ᒪᑯᓂᖓ ᑕᐅᑦᑐᓕᓐᓂᒃ ᑎᖕᒥᐊᑦ, ᐅᒃᐲᑦ, ᐅᒥᖕᒪᐃᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᓯᔾᔨᐸᓪᓕᐊᙳᐊᖅᑐᑦ. ᖁᔭᒋᔭᖃᓗᐊᙳᐊᓲᖅ ᐃᑲᔪᖅᑎᒋᓯᒪᔭᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᐊᓯᔾᔨᐸᓪᓕᐊᙳᐊᖅᑐᓂᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᒻᒪᓂᓴᖅ ᐅᒃᐱᕆᔭᐅᕙᓚᐅᖅᑐᓂᑦ. “ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᓯᓚᐅᕐᓯᒪᔪᖓ ᐱᖃᑎᒋᓪᓗᒋᒃ ᔪᐊᔾ ᐋᕐᓗᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᓕᒃᓯ ᐊᓕᑲᓱᐊᖅ,” ᐅᖃᐅᓯᓕᒃ ᐱᒋᐊᕐᐸᓪᓕᐊᓂᕆᓚᐅᕐᓯᒪᔭᒥᓂᒃ, “ᐊᓯᕈᕐᐸᓪᓕᐊᙳᐊᖅᑐᓂᑦ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᔪᒻᒪᑎᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᓱᒪᓇᖅᑐᓂᑦ ᑕᐃᒫᓪᓗᓂ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᓯᓚᐅᕐᓯᒪᒻᒥᔪᖓ ᑕᐃᒫᒃ.” ᒫᓐᓇ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᕐᔪᐊᖑᓂᖓ ᐃᓕᑕᕆᔭᐅᓯᒪᓕᖅᑎᓪᓗᒍ, ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᖅ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᓲᖑᓕᖅᑐᖅ ᓇᒻᒥᓂᖅ ᓴᓇᔾᔪᓯᕐᒥᓂᒃ ᓴᓇᓯᒪᑦᑎᐊᓪᓚᕆᑉᐸᑦᑐᑎᒃ ᐅᔾᔨᕐᓇᑦᑎᐊᖃᑦᑕᖅᑐᑎᓪᓗ. ᐅᒃᐱᙳᐊᖏᑦ ᖁᐃᓂᔪᑲᓪᓚᐅᓪᓗᑎᒃ, ᐊᒻᒪᓗᑭᑖᖑᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᓂᐊᖁᖏᑦ, ᒥᑭᔪᐊᓘᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐃᔨᖏᑦ. ᐃᔨᖃᕐᕕᖏᑦ ᑕᖅᑲᒧᖓᐅᔨᖓᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᖃᓪᓗᓕᐊᓘᓪᓗᑎᒃ, ᑮᓇᖏᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᑉ ᓴᓇᓯᒪᔭᖏᑦ ᑲᒪᓇᐸᓗᓲᑦ, ᐃᓚᖓ ᓴᓇᓯᒪᓗᐊᙱᒃᑲᓗᐊᖅᑐᓂ ᐃᓱᒪᓇᕐᓯᑎᑦᑎᕙᑦᑐᑎᒃ. ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᖅ ᒫᓐᓇ ᓴᓪᓕᕐᒥᐅᑕᖅ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᐸᒃᑐᖅ ᓴᓕᕐᒥᑦ ᓇᓂᔭᐅᕙᒃᑐᓂᑦ ᐅᔭᖅᑲᓂ. ᐅᔭᕋᑦᑕᓲᖅ ᓇᒻᒥᓂᖅ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓇᓂᓯᔭᕋᐃᒻᒪᑦ ᐱᐅᔪᒥᒃ ᐅᔭᕋᒻᒥᒃ ᓇᑭᑦ ᐱᓐᓂᕐᒪᖔᖅ ᐅᖃᓲᖑᙱᑦᑐᖅ, “ᑭᓯᐊᓂ ᐊᓯᖏᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑏᑦ ᑐᓴᖅᑐᒥᓂᐅᖏᓐᓇᓲᑦ.”

– ᐄᒪᓕ Hᐃᐊᓐᑐᓴᓐ

Aside from figures of sport, Ningeocheak focuses primarily on depicting birds, owls, muskoxen and transformation scenes. He credits some of his mentors for their inspiration to make transformation and spiritual scenes. “I started carving with George Arluk and Alex Alikashuak,” he says of his early career. “They made transformations and abstract things and I began to make them too.”

Now an established artist, Ningeocheak has developed his own unique style characterized by artworks that carry incredible mass and presence. His owls are squat, with balloonround heads and beady, inset eyes. With deep-set sockets and heavy brows, the faces of the artist’s transformation figures are often mysterious, their lack of detail leaving room for intrigue.

Ningeocheak currently lives in Salliq (Coral Harbour), NU, and uses the tough local stone. He quarries his own and when he finds a good deposit, he keeps the location a secret, “but the other artists always hear anyways.”

– Emily Henderson

Kupapik Ningeocheak b. 1970 Salliq, NU ᖁᑉᐹᐱᒃ ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᖅ b. 1970 ᓴᓪᓖᑦ, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ

Kupapik Ningeocheak (b. 1970 Salliq) — Owl 2016 Stone and antler 12 × 14 × 7.6 cm COURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS

ᖁᑉᐹᐱᒃ ᓂᖏᐅᑦᓯᐊᖅ (b. 1970 ᓴᓪᓖᑦ)

—

ᐅᒃᐱᒃ

2016

ᐅᔭᕋᖅ ᐊᒻᒪ ᓇᒡᔪ 12 × 14 × 7.6 ᓯᓐᑕᒦᑕᔅ ᐊᐃᑦᑐᖅᑕᐅᔪᖅ ᕕᕼᐃᓕ ᓴᓇᖕᖑᐊᖅᓯᒪᔪᕆᔨᒃᑯᑦ

Earth

49

What Nuna Provides

As comfortable with carving tools as he is with the strings of a guitar, multidisciplinary artist Billy Kuksuk is known for his sculptural work as well as his jazz, ragtime and blues as a member of The Arviat Band. Born and raised in the hamlet of Arviat, NU, Kuksuk recalls that art has always played a major role in his life and names both his father, John Kuksuk as well as his uncle, Donald Uluadluak (1923–2014), as key influencers in his creative practice.

Lacking easy access to serpentinite, Kuksuk primarily uses granite, a hard stone readily available in the community. He credits this stone with providing the strength and durability needed to create many of his seemingly impossibly structured pieces. “I trust granite more than serpentinite because it’s really dense and hard,” he says of his preferred material. “It’s hard to carve, but it gives a good finish.”

At the time of our interview, Kuksuk was preparing a sculptural work depicting a scene from the legend of Kiviuq, destined for display at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. A natural storyteller, he describes his longstanding relationship with the legendary figure as he appears in his work. “I’ve shown Kiviuq in many different forms and it all depends on which part of the story I carve,” he describes. “I’m at the end of the story now. This is last thing that Kiviuq was going to do.”

– Emily Henderson

ᐊᑲᐅᒋᔭᖃᑦᑎᐊᕐᒪᑦ ᐊᑐᕈᓐᓇᑦᑎᐊᖅᑐᒋᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᕈᑎᑦ, ᑕᐃᒪᐃᑐᐃᓐᓇᖅ ᐊᔪᙱᒋᑦᑎᐊᕆᕙᐃᑦ ᑯᒃᑭᑦᑕᐹᕈᑎᑦ, ᖃᓄᐃᑦᑐᑐᐃᓐᓇᕐᓂᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᓲᖑᓪᓗᓂ ᐱᓕ ᑯᒃᓱᒃ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᐅᑦᑎᐊᖅᑐᖅ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᕆᓲᖏᓐᓄᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗᑦᑕᐅᖅ ᓂᔾᔭᐅᓯᔭᓲᖑᓂᖓᓄᑦ ᒪᑯᓂᖓ ᖃᓪᓗᓈᑎᑐᑦ ᔮᔾ-ᖑᓂᕋᖅᑕᐅᔪᑦ, ᖃᓪᓗᓈᑦ ᓂᔾᔭᐅᓯᖏᑦ ᐃᑦᑕᕐᓂᓴᐃᑦ, ᕿᕐᓂᖅᑕᐃᓪᓗ ᑎᑕᐅᓯᖏᑦ ᓄᒪᓈᐸᓗᒃᑐᑦ, ᐃᓚᒋᔭᐅᓪᓗᓂ ᐊᕐᕕᐊᕐᒥᐅᓄᑦ ᓂᔾᔭᐅᓯᔭᖅᑎᓄᑦ. ᐃᓅᓂᑯ ᐱᕈᕐᓴᓯᒪᓪᓗᓂᓗ ᐊᕐᕕᐊᕐᒥ, ᓄᓇᕗᒥ, ᑯᒃᓱᒃ ᓱᖅᑯᐃᓱᑦᑐᖅ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᐃᑦ ᐊᑑᑎᖃᐃᓐᓇᖃᑦᑕᕐᓯᒪᒻᒪᑕ ᐃᓅᓯᖓᓂ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑕᐃᓪᓗᓂᒋᒃ ᑕᒪᒃᑮᒃ ᐊᑖᑕᓂ ᔮᓂ ᑯᒃᓱᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗᑦᑕᐅᖅ ᐊᒃᑲᖓ, ᑖᓄᑦ ᐅᓪᓗᐊᑦᓗᐊᖅ (1923–2014), ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᕈᒪᓕᕈᑎᒋᓯᒪᓪᓗᓂᒋᒃ. ᐊᑐᐃᓐᓇᖃᓗᐊᖃᑦᑕᕋᓂ ᐅᔭᕋᕐᓂᑦ ᐊᕿᑦᑐᓂᑦ ᑯᒃᓱᒃ ᐊᑐᓗᐊᓲᖅ ᐅᔭᖅᑲᓂᒃ ᑎᓯᔪᒻᒪᕆᖕᓂᑦ ᑕᐃᒪᐃᑦᑐᓂᑦ ᐊᑐᐃᓐᓇᖅᑕᖃᕐᓂᕐᓴᐅᒻᒪᑦ ᓄᓇᖓᓐᓂ. ᐅᖃᖅᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᑕᐃᒪᐃᑐᒡᒎᖅ ᑎᓯᔪᑦ ᓱᕋᒃᓴᕋᐃᙱᓐᓂᖅᓴᐅᓂᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᐳᑐᓛᓕᖕᓂᑦ, ᐱᔭᕆᑐᒻᒪᕆᒃᑐᓂᒡᓗ ᓴᓇᓇᓱᑦᓱᓂ “ᐱᐅᒋᓂᕐᓴᕆᕙᒃᑲᒃᑭᑦ ᐅᔭᕋᐃᑦ ᑎᓯᔪᒻᒪᕇᑦ ᒪᑯᓂᖓ ᐊᕿᓐᓂᖅᓴᓂᑦ ᐅᔭᖅᑲᓂᑦ, ᑎᓯᔪᐊᓘᒻᒪᑦ,” ᐅᖃᐅᓯᖓ ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑕᖓᑕ ᖃᓄᐃᑦᑑᓂᖓ. “ᓴᓇᔭᕐᓂᖏᑦᑐᐊᓗᒃ, ᑭᓯᐊᓂ ᐱᐅᓯᑦᑎᐊᓲᑦ ᕿᓪᓕᖅᓵᓂᒃᓯᒪᓕᕌᖓᒥᒃ.” ᐊᐱᕐᓱᖅᑕᐅᑎᓪᓗᒍ, ᑯᒃᓱᒃ ᓴᓇᓂᐊᖅᑕᒥᓄᑦ ᐅᐸᓗᖓᐃᔭᖅᑐᖅ ᑭᕕᐅᖅ ᒥᔅᓵᓄᑦ ᐅᓂᒃᑳᖅᑐᐊᖑᓯᒪᔪᒥᒃ, ᓴᖅᑭᔮᖅᑎᑕᐅᒍᒫᕐᓂᐊᕐᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᐅᐃᓂᐸᒡ ᓴᓇᐅᒐᖃᕐᕕᒻᒥ. ᐅᓂᒃᑳᖅᑐᐊᖅᑎᓪᓚᕆᐅᓪᓗᓂ, ᓇᓗᓇᐃᕐᓯᔪᖅ ᐊᑯᓂᐊᓗᒃ ᐊᑦᑐᐊᓯᒪᓂᖓᓂᒃ ᐅᓂᒃᑳᖅᑐᐊᖑᖃᑦᑕᕐᓯᒪᔪᒧᑦ ᑕᐃᒫᒃ ᓴᖅᑭᔮᕐᖓᑦ ᓴᓇᕙᑦᑕᖏᓐᓂ. “ᑭᕕᐅᖅ ᑕᑯᔭᐅᑎᖃᑦᑕᕐᓯᒪᔭᕋ ᖃᓄᑐᐃᓐᓇᑦᑎᐊᖅ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᒪᓕᑉᐸᑦᑐᑎᒃ ᓇᓪᓕᐊᓐᓂᒃ ᐅᓂᒃᑳᖑᓕᕐᒪᖔᖅ ᐅᓂᒃᑳᖑᓯᒪᔪᒥ,” ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ. “ᐅᓂᒃᑳᑉ ᐃᓱᐊᓃᓕᕋᒪ. ᑖᓐᓇ ᑭᕕᐅᑉ ᑭᖑᓪᓕᕐᐹᒥ ᐊᑐᕐᓂᐊᓚᐅᕐᓯᒪᔭᖓᓂ.”

– ᐄᒪᓕ Hᐃᐊᓐᑐᓴᓐ

Billy Kuksuk b. 1962 Arviat, NU ᐱᓕ ᑯᒃᓱᒃ b. 1962 ᐊᕐᕕᐊᑦ, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ

Billy Kuksuk (b. 1962 Arviat) — Sedna c. 2012 Steatite 34.3 × 22.9 × 5.1 cm COURTESY SPIRIT WRESTLER GALLERY

ᕕᓕ ᑯᒃᓱᒃ (b. 1962 ᐊᕐᕕᐊᑦ)

—

ᓴᓐᓇ, ᑕᑲᓐᓈᓗᒃ

c. 2012

ᐅᒃᑯᓯᒃᓴᖅ

34.3 × 22.9 × 5.1 ᓯᓐᑕᒦᑕᔅ ᐊᐃᑦᑐᖅᑕᐅᔪᖅ ᓯᐱᐅᕆᑦ ᐅᕆᔅᓗ ᒑᓗᓕ

Inuit Art Quarterly

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Winter 2019

Priscilla Boulay b. 1986 Tuktuuyaqtuq, NT ᐳᕆᓯᓚ ᕗᓚᐃ b. 1986 ᑐᒃᑑᔮᖅᑐᖅ, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᖅ

Priscilla Boulay (b. 1986 Tuktuuyaqtuq) — Woman Fishing 2019 Chlorite, alabaster and whale bone 14 × 9 × 7.5 cm COURTESY THE ARTIST

ᐳᕆᓯᓚ ᕗᓚᐃ (b. 1986 ᑐᒃᑑᔮᖅᑐᖅ)

—

ᐃᖃᓗᒐᓱᖅᑐᖅ ᐊᕐᓇᖅ

2019

ᕿᓪᓕᖅᑕᖅ ᐅᔭᕋᖅ, ᖃᑯᖅᑕᖅ ᐅᔭᕋᖅ ᐊᒻᒪ ᐊᕐᕕᐅᑉ ᓴᐅᓂᖓ 14 × 9 × 7.5 ᓯᓐᑕᒦᑕᔅ ᓴᓇᔨᖓᑕ ᐊᐃᑦᑐᖅᑕᖓ

Since the day her uncle handed her a piece of stone to polish at the age of three, Priscilla Boulay has lived her life surrounded by carving. A third-generation artist hailing from a family of artists in Tuktuuyaqtuq, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT, Boulay says she creates to keep the legacy of her grandfather, Bobby Taylor-Pokiak (1927–2005), alive. Currently residing in Irricana, AB, Boulay decided to devote herself to making art full time nine years ago and has been working in stone, horn and antler ever since.

For Boulay the creative process begins with an exploration of the shape of an antler, which she uses as the base for many of her pieces. Of the undulating lines of her sculptures Boulay says, “I like the antlers to look as though they are forming the water.” Following the completion of the base, “I try to figure out what I want and where I want the belugas,” she explains. “From there I can see how much stone I’m going to need, so I can start creating the hunter and the kayak.” Her unique forms of windswept muskox, hunting scenes and belugas have gained a following on social media, where the artist shares images of completed works as well as behind-the-scene peeks into her artistic process.

– Emily Henderson

Earth

ᑕᐃᒪᙵᑦ ᐊᒃᑲᖓᑕ ᑐᓂᓯᓚᐅᕐᓯᒪᒻᒪᒍ ᐅᔭᕋᒻᒥᒃ ᕿᓪᓕᖅᓴᕐᓂᐊᖅᑕᖓᓂᒃ ᐱᖓᓱᓂᑦ ᐅᑭᐅᖃᖅᑎᓪᓗᒍ, ᐳᕆᓯᓚ ᕗᓚᐃ ᐃᓅᓯᖃᕐᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖃᑦᑕᓂᕐᒧᑦ ᐊᕙᓗᔭᐅᓯᒪᓪᓗᓂ. ᐱᖓᔪᖏᓐᓂ ᑭᖑᕚᕆᔭᐅᓪᓗᓂ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᒐᓴᐅᓯᒪᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᓯᕗᓕᕇᑦ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑏᑦ ᑐᒃᑑᔮᖅᑐᕐᒥᐅᑦ, ᐃᓄᕕᐊᓗᐃᑦ ᓄᓇᖓᓐᓂ, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕐᒥ ᕗᓚᐃ ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᓲᖑᒐᒥ ᑲᔪᓯᑎᑦᑎᒍᒪᓪᓗᓂ ᐊᑖᑕᑦᓯᐊᖓᑕ ᐊᑐᖃᑦᑕᕐᓯᒪᔭᖓᓂᒃ, ᐹᐱ ᑕᐃᓗ-ᐴᑭᐊᖅ (1927–2005). ᒫᓐᓇ ᓄᓇᖃᓕᖅᑐᖅ ᐃᐅᕆᑳᓇ, ᐋᓪᐴᑕᒥ, ᕗᓚᐃ ᑐᑭᑖᕈᑎᖃᕐᓯᒪᔪᖅ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎᐅᖃᑦᑕᓂᕐᒥᒃ ᐃᖅᑲᓇᐃᔮᖃᐃᓐᓇᕈᒪᓕᕐᓯᒪᓪᓗᓂ ᖁᓕᐅᙱᒐᖅᑐᑦ ᐊᕐᕌᒍᑦ ᐊᓂᒍᖅᑐᑦ ᑕᐃᔅᓱᒪᓂ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᕐᓯᒪᓪᓗᓂ ᐅᔭᕋᒻᒥᒃ, ᐅᒥᖕᒪᐅᑦ ᓇᒡᔪᖏᓂᑦ, ᑐᒃᑑᑉ ᓇᒡᔪᓂᖏᓐᓂᒡᓗᑦ ᑕᐃᒪᖓᓂᑦ. ᕗᓚᐃᒧᑦ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᕐᓂᖅ ᐱᒋᐊᕈᑎᖃᓲᖅ ᕿᒥᕐᕈᖄᖅᑐᓂᒋᑦ ᓇᒡᔪᐃᑦ, ᐊᑐᓲᕆᒻᒪᒋᑦ ᑐᙵᕕᒋᓂᐊᖅᑐᒋᑦ ᓴᓇᓂᐊᖅᑕᒥᓄᑦ. ᐊᐅᓚᓂᙳᐊᖑᑎᑦᑐᒋᑦ ᓴᓇᔭᖏᑦ ᕗᓚᐃ ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ, “ᓇᒡᔪᐃᑦ ᐃᒪᐅᑎᙳᐊᕈᒪᓲᕆᒐᒃᑭᑦ.” ᐱᔭᕇᓚᐅᖅᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᑐᙵᕕᖏᓂᐊᖅᑕᖓᓂᒃ, “ᑐᑭᓯᓇᓱᓲᖑᒐᒪ ᑭᓱᓕᐅᕈᒪᓂᐊᕐᒪᖔᕐᒪ ᓇᒥᓗ ᐃᓂᖃᖁᓂᐊᕐᒪᖔᒃᑭᑦ ᕿᓚᓗᒐᙳᐊᑦ,” ᐅᖃᖅᑐᖅ, “ᑕᐃᑲᙵᑦ ᑐᑭᓯᓲᖑᔪᖓ ᑭᓱᓂᑦ ᐊᑐᕆᐊᖃᕐᓂᐊᕐᒪᖔᕐᒪ ᑖᓐᓇ ᐱᒋᐊᕈᑎᒋᓪᓗᒍ ᓴᓇᒍᓐᓇᕐᓯᓲᖑᔪᖓ ᐊᖑᓇᓱᑦᑎᙳᐊᕐᒥᒃ ᖃᔭᙳᐊᒥᓪᓗ.” ᐊᔾᔨᐅᖏᑦᑐᑦ ᓴᓇᖃᑦᑕᖅᑕᖏᑦ ᐊᓄᕆᓯᐅᙳᐊᖅᑐᓂᑦ ᐅᒥᖕᒪᙳᐊᓂᑦ, ᐊᖑᓇᓱᙳᐊᖅᑐᓂᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᕿᓚᓗᒐᙳᐊᓂᑦ ᑕᑯᔭᐅᖃᑦᑕᓕᕈᑎᒋᓯᒪᔭᖏᑦ ᐃᑭᐊᖅᑭᕕᒃᑯᑦ ᑕᓐᓇ ᓴᓇᙳᐊᖅᑎ ᑕᑯᑎᑦᑎᕙᑦᑐᓂ ᓴᓇᓯᒪᔭᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗᑦᑕᐅᖅ ᓴᓇᕙᓪᓕᐊᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᑕᑯᑎᑦᑎᑲᐃᓐᓇᓲᖑᓪᓗᓂ ᓴᓇᔾᔪᓯᖓᓂᒃ.

– ᐄᒪᓕ Hᐃᐊᓐᑐᓴᓐ

51

What Nuna Provides

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APRIL 23 - JUNE 21, 2020 TIOHTIÀ:KE (MONTRÉAL) WWW.BACA.CA

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LEGACY

Ukkusisaqtarviq The Places Where We Find Stone

BELOW

Lydia Qayaq carving at the Nunavut Arts Festival in Iqaluit, 2019 PHOTO ELAINE ANSELMI

by Elaine Anselmi

Written into the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement is every Inuk’s right to quarry stone for carving. The agreement— Section 9 in particular—recognizes each beneficiary’s yearly entitlement to 50 cubic yards of serpentinite, argillite and steatite: utkuhighak and hananguagahaq.

No permit needed.

The agreement was signed in 1993, but quarrying was well practiced across the Canadian Arctic at this point. By the 1960s, Inuit who lived among groups in camps scattered across the tundra, had moved into communities on sandy bays and pebbled shores across the mainland Arctic and archipelago.

The construction of the Distant Early Warning Line, fending off a Russian attack— or at least notifying North American authorities of it—was under construction, bringing with it work, healthcare and southern provisions that were previously doled out Inuit Art Quarterly

through trading posts. Children who grew up in those scattered camps were enrolled in community schools by the federal government, their parents given no choice but to send them.

It was this series of tectonic cultural shifts that exposed geological areas to groups of artists seeking stone to saw and scrape away into sculpture. There was also the development of a market for those works of art that came largely with the help of government funded programs to expose new audiences to Inuit art both at home and abroad.

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Since the 1960s, the Government of Canada (and more recently Government of Nunavut) has recognized the value of Inuit carvings as an economic opportunity for the region, and as an emblem of Canada’s embattled claim to the Arctic—and its riches below (of which rock is hardly the focus).

In the decades since, the location of ukkusisaqtarviq (the places where we find stone) have been studied and mapped by various governments. Between 2010 and 2013, the Government of Nunavut’s Carvingstone Deposit Evaluation Program set out across the territory to the quarry sites for each community to evaluate the available resource.

The largest quarry among them is Kangiqsukutaaq outside Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU, which has been mined since the 1960s. “This stone is highly regarded for its overall consistency, toughness, holding of fine detail and smooth finished polish,” the report from this program reads. And it is against the stone of Kangiqsukutaaq that the quality of all other stone in the territory is measured.

This summer at the Nunavut Arts Festival in Iqaluit, NU, carver Lydia Qayaq of Kangiqtugaapik (Clyde River), NU, stated that you can tell the quality of the stone from looking at it. “I can tell because I’m a carver: there’s a hard piece, there’s a soft piece,” she explained on the plateau where Inuksuk High School overlooks Koojesse Inlet. “The colour and feel of the stone give it away,” she said.

Qayaq’s circular saw smoothed edges off a block of marble that laid on the ground between her feet. She bent down over it, pressing the blade into the white surface in a cross-cut and four legs started to take shape.

The ground around Qayaq and a half-dozen other carvers was covered in rock dust as they demonstrated their technique for onlookers. Jaco Ishulutaq of Panniqtuuq (Pangnirtung), licked his finger and swiped it across a piece of steatite, removing the white dust, to inspect the black surface.

The rock of each region varies greatly.

Kimmirut’s Aberdeen Bay is known for its apple green marble: “Tatsiituq ‘the place of fog’ yields Nunavut’s most famous stone,” reads the Carvingstone Evaluation report.

Winter 2019

LEGACY

RIGHT

Nicotye Samayualie (b. 1983 Kinngait) — Names Out of Rocks 2017 Coloured pencil 58.2 × 40.6 cm COURTESY MADRONA GALLERY

East of Iqaluit, a quarry bears speckled green marble that has the appearance of narwhal skin. And further north on Baffin Island, around Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet), a light green serpentinite stone was found by carver Phillip Pitseolak in 1981, fetching a higher price for artists and the community co-op from then on, writes Emily Elisabeth Auger in The Way of Inuit Art (2005).

Quarried by hand for five decades, about 50,000 tonnes of rock are estimated to have been mined from Kangiqsukutaaq near Kinngait. About 30 per cent of that was transported to carvers across Nunavut—the rest left behind as waste rock.

But the surface rock is dwindling, a 2013 study by the Canada-Nunavut Geoscience Office found. Hand quarrying relies on that rock and it’s long been the method of extraction: whether an individual rock lies in wait to be selected, or through the plugand-feather method where repetitive tapping and wedging liberates the rock from its place. Little is left of this surface rock, but there is plenty buried beneath, the report Earth

found. And for this, mechanical extraction would be required.

The Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA) which represents Inuit of the Qikiqtaaluk Region has continued to study the quarry and how to manage it as a resource in the future.

As a 2017 Canada-Nunavut Geoscience Office report states: “Carving stone—such as serpentinite, marble and soapstone—holds intrinsic value in Nunavut’s Inuit society.

Traditional carvings are valuable both economically and as a means of passing traditional knowledge down through generations.”

This value has been recognized with investment. In 2016, the federal government put $57,000 toward the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA) for its work on developing three quarry sites outside Kinngait, Kimmirut and Sanikiluaq, respectively. The QIA also contributed $14,000.

Transportation can be a significant challenge and expense. To combat this, some northern airlines offer special rates on transporting carving stone. In 2016 an Arctic research vessel, the Martin Bergmann, ferried 55

carvers from its regular docking point in Iqaluktuuttiaq (Cambridge Bay), to known steatite quarries in Bathurst Inlet and Wellington Bay. Because of her health, Qayaq can no longer make the trip to the nearest quarry in Clyde Inlet. It’s about three hours away and has to be reached during a short window before the river breaks up. Her grandson Jimmy now makes the trip for her, by snowmobile between March and May. When she flew to Iqaluit for the festival, she lugged a store of marble with her. At a sale on the final day of the festival, her polar bears were gone within the first hour. She had a few more blocks of marble that she left there for next year’s festival.

Carving is the only way Qayaq can earn a living, she tells me. Across Arctic communities and subarctic cities, you’ll find artists on porches and outside buildings, surrounded by dust, a sculpture taking shape at the end of their saw. Unfinished utkuhighak and hananguagahaq awaits transformation. It’s their beneficiary right, as long as they can get it.

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Mattiusi Iyaituk, “Mother with Her Two Children”, 20 x 11 x 7 Inches, Soapstone, Hair

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CURATORIAL NOTES

Àbadakone | Continuous Fire | Feu continuel National Gallery of Canada

Joseph Tisiga An Exercise in Resilience 1, 2, and 3 and The Game is Not a Game 2016 Mixed media COURTESY DIAZ CONTEMPORARY PHOTO TONI HAFKENSCHEID

NOVEMBER 8, 2019–APRIL 5, 2020 OTTAWA, ON

by Greg A. Hill and Rachelle Dickenson

Àbadakone | Continuous Fire | Feu continuel is the second in an ongoing series of exhibitions organized by the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) in Ottawa, ON, focusing on contemporary Indigenous art from around the world, following Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art in 2013. For Àbadakone, we, the curatorial team composed of Rachelle Dickenson, Greg A. Hill and Christine Lalonde, looked to ideas of Relatedness—the relationships between human beings, animals, plants and the land; Continuities—examining links between ancestral work, contemporary and the future; and Activation—how artists are active, how audiences are engaged and how artworks themselves have agency.

Inuit Art Quarterly

From these central tenets, we began the process of selecting works with the idea that the scope of the exhibition would be global. We also knew we wanted to have many more projects that are performancebased.

As far as we’re aware, there isn’t another exhibition of contemporary Indigenous art of this scope anywhere in the world. It’s a strong statement. The exhibition features works by more than 70 artists installed in all the public spaces of the gallery. From the entrance to the exit of the exhibition, there is an incredible amount of work to experience, including some very ambitious, never-before-seen commissioned works.

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With Àbadakone, we’re pushing away from the didactic objective that marked Sakahàn, which sought to introduce Indigenous art and what it can mean, and are moving towards thinking about the art as an opportunity for gathering. This shift provides a unique opportunity to think through some critical contemporary questions. Discussions about the expectations for Indigenous art will happen, but there’s also the possibility for the NGC to become an important hub where critical dialogue happens amongst audience members, artists, collaborators and partners. We invited every one of the exhibiting artists to the opening, allowing us to extend the curatorial intentions beyond our Winter 2019

CURATORIAL NOTES

There isn’t another exhibition of contemporary Indigenous art of this scope anywhere in the world.

offices and our own heads by having artists in the space. In this way, we can extend a vision of artmaking that is about being together and visiting, trading ideas, connecting and working together. We perceive this show as an ongoing conversation here at this federal institution, and believe that we and Canada are uniquely positioned to bring people from countries that may not support these kinds of open discussions to join the conversation.

We also thought about performance and activation—how art is activated and the role of the artist and viewer in that activation.

We have installations that lay dormant for part of the exhibition until the artist comes and activates them, transforming them in another way. To cap our dedication to process and our excitement to witness the conversations that will arise, we will release the catalogue towards the end of the exhibition. Doing this will help us pull back the curtain on the curatorial process, and be more responsive and better able to document the installations, the public commissions and interactions that occur. It matters that the process as well as the documentation is flexible, so that it can respond to different moments.

In terms of specific works, Joar Nango’s installation, Sámi Architectural Library (2019), is representative of our focus on the process. It is the first work in the exhibition, and it is visible before you even enter the gallery. There is an interesting tension that arises in the preparation and creation of a commissioned work like this since the final result is amorphous to us curators, which is rare in an institution that usually has highly structured plans.

When we think about big goals, like the practicalities of decolonizing an institution, it means being able to accommodate different approaches to art, and Indigenous-specific ones. In Nango’s case, he brought traditional materials like hides and fish skin—materials that have not typically been associated with fine art—into the gallery. He built a library, populated it with his personal collection of books and re-covered the books in the installation with tanned hides and other materials. The books themselves are about Indigenous architecture and activism.

Covering that body of printed Indigenous knowledge with a material layer of knowledge and process combines two very different ways of carrying knowledge forward.

Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory (b. 1979 Iqaluit) Jamie Griffiths — Silaup Putunga Iluani (Inside the Hole in the Universe) 2018 © LAAKKULUK WILLIAMSON BATHORY AND JAMIE GRIFFITHS PHOTO JAMIE GRIFFITHS

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CURATORIAL NOTES

Brian Adams (b. 1985 Kivalina/ Anchorage) — Marie Rexford 2017 From the series I am Inuit Inkjet print COURTESY THE ARTIST

Other pieces created specifically for the exhibition are a shaman’s drum by Sámi artist Fredrik Prost and a collection of sculptural works by Nenets artist Evgeniy Salinder. The performance work of Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Jamie Griffiths, Cris Derksen and Christine Tootoo is also included and is a new commission, partially funded by the Inuit Art Foundation.

We also have three works by Maureen Gruben, several by Shuvinai Ashoona, RCA, one by Pierre Aupilardjuk, and a collaboration between Aupilardjuk and Shary Boyle. The Aupilardjuk and Boyle collaboration in particular reminds us that Indigenous and settler people have been in relation to each other since colonialism began. These relationships are commonly understood to be violent and destructive, and many of the works in the exhibition discuss colonial violence and forms of Indigenous activism and resistance in that context. The collaborative works however, are another opportunity to think through generative relationships that emerge, and how allyship and activism work across identity politics in Canada and globally.

Inger Blix Kvammen, reflects on her experiences on the land and her travels with Inuit Art Quarterly

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the Nenets people of the Siberian Arctic, showing how people move and relate to one another across borders and identities within a circumpolar context. She’s also relating to climate issues, particularly what is affecting the Nenets people, from her perspective as a Sámi/Norwegian artist. There is a very interesting cascade of collaboration, intention, resistance and activism that is being articulated in her work.

When we’re talking about artworks, we’re really thinking non-disciplinarily, so whether it’s a film screening or individual performance, we’re considering it integral work in the exhibition and it will be included in the catalogue as an artwork in the exhibition.

We did that with the understanding that there could be some interesting critical dialogue about the curatorial decision to include these different art forms in a gallery context. We are looking forward to the conversations that occur when audiences consider the exhibition overall. We anticipate conversations about what we call it, why we call it that, what they would call it—and perhaps most crucially, what does it do for the way we all talk about Indigenous artmaking in Canada and in international contexts?

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REVIEW

Mark Igloliorte Bonavista Biennale AUGUST 17–SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 BONAVISTA PENNINSULA, NL

BELOW

OPPOSITE

Mark Igloliorte (b. 1977 Corner Brook) — Kasilik SekKuk 2018 Oil 57 × 76.4 cm

Seal Skin Neck Pillow 2019 Sealskin 33 × 30 × 10 cm

PHOTOS COURTESY THE ARTIST

by Mireille Eagan

“When I looked at a model kayait at the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology (MOA) covered in harpoons, I saw a vessel for hunting,” Mark Igloliorte tells me as we stand in his exhibition at the Bonavista Biennale. “Recreational kayaking is therefore an appropriation of sorts, and the way to take that back is to assert the function of the kayak’s pre-colonial use for seal hunting.”

This Biennale’s theme was FLOE, a term for ice floating on the water’s surface. The curators poetically emphasized what exists below the surface, supporting what is visible— Inuit Art Quarterly

and much of Igloliorte’s work uncovers invisible histories. Igloliorte’s exhibition brought together work made at the MOA in Vancouver, BC, and during a residency at the Ramp Gallery in New Zealand. Much of his exhibited work responds to a disagreement over a draft animal ethics policy at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, where Igloliorte is an Assistant Professor.

Inspired by fellow faculty member Julie Andreyev’s The Compassion Manifesto—a text that “invites the abandonment of destructive, outmoded, unecological beliefs generated by anthropocentrism”—the proposal aimed to 62

set up a committee to evaluate all research proposals related to animals at the university.

To Igloliorte, the principles of the policy fundamentally dismissed an Indigenous perspective. Its language framed Indigenous traditions of working with animal-based materials as something of the past. And on an official level, the artist would need to formally defend his use of animal-based materials— key to his explorations of Indigenous heritage.

With the support of the Aboriginal Advisory Committee, Igloliorte spoke out against the policy, which was eventually vetoed by the University Senate Committee.

Winter 2019

REVIEW

“Recreational kayaking is an appropriation of sorts, and the way to take that back is to assert the function of the kayak’s pre-colonial use for seal hunting.”

One can trace the impact of this episode in Igloliorte’s recent work, which focusses on both the decolonization of the kayak and the Inuit right to combine contemporary forms with the traditional material of the sealskin. Igloliorte links the same understanding that places the kayak as a leisure activity to the larger policies of those who decry the seal hunt. His work here links to an ongoing conversation that includes Bonavista’s sealing history—a history that radiates across international borders. The annual hunt continuously draws criticism from animal rights groups, despite repeated statements from knowledgeable sources (such as Fisheries and Oceans Canada) that the hunt is a humane and fundamental aspect of this province’s culture.

“From the Inuit perspective there is nothing wrong with seal hunting,” Igloliorte told me. “That is why I, maybe in a didactic way, am trying to steer the conversation.

I am asserting these terms and asking where we go from there. When we talk about Indigenization and taking ownership of one’s Indigeneity, well, how can that manifest?

What are the steps?”

One step, these works suggest, is reasserting Indigenous history. With the large work on canvas, Kayak Is Inuktitut For Seal Hunting Boat (2019), Igloliorte clearly states

the boat’s Indigenous lineage, effaced during colonization. His connection to these histories exists in learning form through process. For example, his large canvas works present drawings done from observation of items from the MOA’s collection. The act is what Igloliorte describes as “taking time, spending time” with an object to show respect through careful attention. Similarly, working with his body is a method of acquiring knowledge physically. In Eskimo Roll (2017), Igloliorte filmed himself learning a kayaking manoeuvre to flip oneself upright.¹ As Igloliorte once stated: “Capsizing myself… and then completing a full rotation with my body and paddle, I did so in an Inuit design with an Inuit technique. Sitting in the kayak back on top of the water, I completed something that my ancestors completed. The traditional has that power of connecting time in a way that does not take into account linear thinking.”² Like the metaphor of the ice floe that organizes the Biennale, Igloliorte demonstrates that surfaces—whether the body, the land, the water or the canvas—are political sites.

From his 2019 Rendering series, three paintings portray the conceptual and physical distance that he and many others feel from Nunatsiavut. Inuktitut words are laid over topographical images that combine surface

information with stripped views of the land: Kavisilik Uvinik (salmon skin), Pulâttik Angiggak (visiting home) and Kasilik SekKuk (hurt knee). With these phrases, which also serve as the paintings’ titles, he questions the distance felt when returning home, recalls the memory of a knee strain while in the Labrador wilderness and alludes to Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed’s analogy comparing Nunatsiavut’s lack of access to subsurface resources with having the skin of the salmon, but not its meat.

Nearby, a sealskin travel pillow shows that another surface—a seal’s pelt—can carry political value when it changes form. By creating a functional object that is meant to travel, Igloliorte asserts that the material can, and should, transcend international borders, despite policies to the contrary.

External criticisms of the seal hunt, and the way of life it supports, skim the surface.

They lay ideas of how things should be upon the way things are, and don’t take the time to ask whether the criticisms are well-placed.

Igloliorte asks for responsibility in language and respect in one’s approach. He examines how Indigenous identity is valued by the language that defines it. He shows that words reflect not only the intent of the author but also the values of the reader.

NOTES

1 Kinnguttarniq or qajaq roll is a technique developed

by Inuit hunters to recover from a capsized qajaq.

2 Igloliorte, Mark. “Response to Contemporary is Tradition is Contemporary...” ArtsEverywhere, September 26, 2017. https://artseverywhere.ca/ roundtables/pccp-reflections/.

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REVIEW

Billy Gauthier: Saunituinnaulungitotluni | Beyond Bone The Rooms JUNE 1–SEPTEMBER 2, 2019 ST. JOHN’S, NL

Billy Gauthier (b. 1978 Happy ValleyGoose Bay) — Swimming Loons – My Tribute to Kenojuak Ashevak 2010 Horn, antler, serpentinite and labradorite 45.7 × 45.7 × 30.5 cm COURTESY SPIRIT WRESTLER GALLERY

by Hannah Morgan

The Big Land speaks through sculptor Billy Gauthier’s first mid-career retrospective, Saunituinnaulungitotluni | Beyond Bone, imploring its audience to listen to the embodied, generational knowledge of the Indigenous cultures of Nunatsiavut and their stewardship of the region’s natural resources. Throughout the exhibition the lived experiences of Nunatsiavummiut are brought into conversation with Gauthier’s work, which spans topics of Inuit creation stories Inuit Art Quarterly

to impacts of climate change on food security.

Curator Jessica Winters takes great care in amplifying Gauthier’s voice, contextualizing his work largely through his activism and positioning it as an ongoing and multifaceted act of resistance against colonial impertinence and the continued exploitation of resources in the region. Moving between Pinngutik (to create), Pattangaititsik (to protect), Misigmik (perception) and IkKaik (to remember something forgotten), Saunituinnaulungitotluni 64

is an impressive collection of work that illustrates the timeless relationship between Inuit culture, the land, ice and a natural energy that connects them. A broad range of raw materials—including labradorite, serpentinite, sinew, wooly mammoth ivory, grouse feathers, baleen, bone and antler— are utilized by Gauthier to highlight this interconnectedness.

Works like the masterfully carved Swimming Loons (2010) bring together muskox horn and moose antler to depict two loons’ underwater play, anchored in serpentinite and labradorite. With its playful curves and iconic feather design, the work is a dynamic tribute to the late Inuit graphic artist Kenojuak Ashevak CC, RCA (1927–2013).

The piece captures the delicate movement and expressive glow so often displayed in her work, and signals Gauthier’s admiration for those artists who have come before and his deep respect for the knowledge they have passed down to younger generations.

Gauthier’s aesthetic, however, remains decidedly contemporary—an approach that has captured the attention of many young collectors and curators. Take, for example Traditional Springtime Seal Hunt (2019) where an undeniably self-assured hunter, rendered in antler, stands upon a surfboard-like ice floe. Below it sits his catch, a stone seal tethered by the hunter’s sinew line. It’s clear that Gauthier wants his audience to understand the importance of art for the preservation of cultural histories, but more crucially the continuation of cultural existence and life on the land.

The exhibition also takes care to illustrate aspects of Gauthier’s creative approach, drawing a relationship between process, politics and environmental stewardship.

Gauthier’s voice greets visitors upon entering the exhibition via multiple recorded interviews of the artist at work in his North West River, NL, studio. Echoing throughout the space, Gauthier speaks thoughtfully about his practice between the mesmerizing buzz of power tools emanating from the background.

In one video, the artist’s hands continuously turn a small, work-in-progress figure, revealing the intimate nature of his work as each pass with the saw deepens the character of the Winter 2019

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piece. In yet another, Gauthier recites a poem titled Protectors of the North, calling out “I need this snow— the snow needs me.”

These videos reveal that Gauthier purposefully attends to the desires of his materials as each layer reveals new characteristics existing naturally in stone, antler or bone. The documenting of this conscientious practice elevates Gauthier’s work to a sacred appreciation for the environment from which Inuit and the culture of Nunatsiavut were born. For Gauthier, one does not exist without the other; Gauthier’s artistry is innate to his knowledge of and connection with his homeland and community.

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TRIBUTE

In Memoriam: The Inuit Art Quarterly Remembers

Andrea Flowers (1934–2019)

PHOTO CARVINGS NUNAVUT

Affectionately known as Aunt Joy to her friends and family and members of her community, Andrea Flowers passed away in September 2019. Born in Makkovik, NL in 1934, Flowers learned to sew from her mother and aunt as a child. She moved to the community of Hopedale in 1952 where she started her family and lived for the rest of her life. Flowers became known for sewing labourintensive waterproof sealskin garments, such as boots and mittens, that she crafted from seals hunted by her husband and sons. She initially sewed exclusively for her family and began to craft garments for sale once her own children had grown.

Throughout her life, Andrea Flowers understood and emphasized the importance of passing on her skills and knowledge to the next generation of artists and craftspeople. In 2017, she aided her nephew in the construction of his traditional sealskin kayak, and many of her grandchildren have become talented craftspeople and seamstresses in their own right.

A pair of Flowers’ beaded, sealskin kamiit were included in the landmark exhibition SakKijâjuk: Art and Craft from Nunatsiavut (2018). The exhibition, organized

by The Rooms in St. John’s, NL, and curated by Dr. Heather Igloliorte toured across Canada.

Throughout her life, Andrea Flowers continued to craft her beautiful mittens, moosehide slippers, kamiit and parkas as a respected member and elder in her community. Flowers was recognized for her contributions to her community in November 2010, when she was selected to represent the Government of Nunatsiavut as the Elder Firekeeper in Hopedale where she welcomed the 2010 Olympic Torch relay.

Pavinak Petaulassie (1961–2019)

Inuit Art Quarterly

PHOTO MICH NUNATSIAVUT

Renowned carver, Pavinak Petaulassie, passed away this summer. He was an accomplished carver whose work has been presented across North America from San Francisco to Toronto, and many places in-between.

Hailing from a long line of Kinngait artists, Petaulassie was a natural creative and part of the generation of Inuit artists who straddled the line between traditional life and modern Inuit communities, growing up in Kinngait during the foundational early years of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative.

Though his preference was usually groups of animals, Petaulassie also carved people on occasion. He expressed dynamic motion and the blending of traditional and modern Inuit in his carving Family (c. 2015)—a serpentinite depiction of an excited family gathering around a freshly caught char, with the group in traditional parkas and a young man donning a baseball cap.

An avid runner even into his later life, Petaulassie was preoccupied with flow and movement—an exuberance he transferred into his art. From his many depictions of schools of fish to flocks of birds, Petaulassie was capable of portraying the interconnectedness of nature with beautiful precision, often using single pieces of stone and following the natural curves of his medium. Works by Pavinak Petaulassie are in the collection of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Quebec City and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, MB. 66

Winter 2019

Papiara Tukiki

PHOTO ERNIE BIES

dorsetfinearts.com Etulu Etidloie (1946–2019)

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2019-10-29 10:31 AM

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Kinngait born singer-songwriter and carver Etulu Etidloie passed away in September 2019 in Ottawa, ON. Etidloie was the son of late graphic artists Etidloie Etidloie (1911–1981) and Kingmeata Etidloie (1915–1989). Etidloie began writing music in the 1960s and by the 1970s, he had a loyal fanbase across the region. In 1980, he performed at CBC’s True North Concert, in Iqaluit, NU. In 1986, a collection of Etidloie’s music entitled Today’s Thoughts was released through the CBC’s Northern Service Broadcast Recording Label.

Throughout his life, the artist could be found entertaining crowds in the community hall with his folk songs.

On Sunday mornings he was often in front of the church, singing his own blend of gospel and popular music.

Etidloie was also known for his stone sculptures.

He took up carving in his early twenties and learned by watching his father carve. For each piece, the shape of the stone dictated the works final form, although loons as well as dancing bears, birds and wolves have become synonymous with his name.

Etidloie’s work has been exhibited widely in Canada as well as in Germany and the United States. In addition, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the Vancouver Art Gallery, BC, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, MB, all have sculptures by the late artist as part of their permanent collections.

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NEWS

Updates and highlights from the world of Inuit art and culture

BELOW

OPPOSITE

John Pangnark (1920–1980 Arviat) — Figure c. 1970 Stone 19.1 × 12.7 × 15.2 cm

Rendering of Couzyn van Heuvelen’s proposal for the Glen Road Tunnel Public Art Project, 2019 COURTESY THE ARTIST

PHOTO WADDINGTON’S

Spirit Wrestler Gallery Closed its Doors in October After 24 years, Spirit Wrestler Gallery has closed. Founded in 1995 by Derek Norton, Nigel Reading and Gary Wyatt, the gallery became well known for showcasing the work of leading Indigenous artists from across Canada and beyond. Since its inception, the gallery has represented a number of celebrated contemporary and historic Inuit artists such as Paul Maliki as well as sought after sculptors Billy Gauthier and Michael Massie, CM, RCA. In November of 2016, faced with escalating rent prices across Vancouver, BC, the gallery moved from their former space in Gastown to the Armoury District near Granville Island. “The need to renew the lease along with no transition plan in place prompted our decision to close,” Spirit Wrestler explained in a letter sent to subscribers and supporters.

The gallery closed officially on October 25, 2019.

Boston Museum Receives Significant Donation

The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, Massachusetts, has announced the gift of twenty-seven textiles, sculptures and works on paper from the collection of Joyce W. and P. Frederick Sparling. Created by Inuit artists from the 1950s through the early 2000s, the collection represents the most significant donation of Inuit art in the museum’s history.

The collection includes wallhangings by Ruth Qaulluaryuk Nuilaalik and Marion Tuu’luq, sculptures by Henry Evaluardjuk, Luke Iksiktaaryuk, John Pangnark, John Kavik, Ennutsiak, Pitseolak Niviaqsi and Syollie Weetaluktuk. Early prints by Tudlik, Josephie Pootoogook and Niviaksiak are included alongside later works by Kenojuak Ashevak and Nancy Sevoga. Jessie Oonark features prominently in the collection, which includes her prints Woman (1970) and Inuit Art Quarterly

Power of Thought (1976), as well as several wallhangings and a rare sketchbook of drawings done in marker.

Fred Sparling adds that the MFA’s scope and reach resonated with their desire to educate: “The MFA reaches an audience which is unfamiliar with Inuit art.

We think the impact actually might be greater for a small number of pieces than being buried among thousands at another museum.

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MMFA Announces New Curator of Inuit Art The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), QC, has announced that Lisa Quluqqi Koperqualuk will join the team as their new Curator and Mediator of Inuit Art. Koperqualuk has worked with Inuit organizations and committees at the provincial, federal and international levels since becoming Vice President of International Affairs at the Inuit Circumpolar Council. A trilingual speaker and trained anthropologist, she holds an MA from Université Laval and a certificate in financial management from Cornell. She has worked as an Inuktitut teacher at John Abbot College, an educational councillor for the Kativik Ilisarniliriniq and as Director of Communications and Public Relations at La Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau-Québec.

The MMFA’s Inuit art collection is one of the largest in Canada, comprising over 900 carvings, drawings, prints, jewellery, textiles and other decorative arts by more than 300 artists. As part of her new position, KoperWinter 2019

NEWS qualuk is tasked with putting the museum’s dynamic acquisitions policy to use towards further acquisitions of Inuit art, and working with the museum to provide mentorships to interns from northern communities as part of her broader mission to foster relationships between the MMFA and Nunavik communities.

Following an annual general meeting in July 2019, the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association (NACA) has appointed a new Board of Directors. Eleven out of the twelve positions on the Iqaluit-based non-profit’s Board are now held by Inuit, including established and emerging multidisciplinary artists, authors, educators and more.

The Board of Directors will be chaired by artist Jesse Tungilik with artist Abraham Tarralik serving as Vice-Chair and musician Lucie Idlout as Secretary-Treasurer.

“Artists in Nunavut are some of the most important keepers and practitioners of Inuit culture,” says Tungilik. “Without them, our communities are less vibrant, prosperous and healthy, but they need support and representation to be successful.”

Curated by Candice Hopkins and Tairone Bastien, the exhibition included works that explore alternative ways of knowing and imagining. For the curators, this is what unifies the work of the more than 40 artists from across Canada and around the world who were called upon to “imagine a different world” for the Biennial’s exhibition.

The work of Inuit artists was exhibited across the Biennial’s various sites. Drawings by Qavavau Manumie and Napachie Pootoogook were exhibited alongside sculptures by Nick Sikkuark. Projects by Isuma were on display at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto and the Small Arms Inspection Building in Mississauga.

On Saturday September 21st, the Embassy of Imagination, a collective composed of Inuit youth primarily from Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU, and headed by Toronto-based PA System (Alexa Hatanaka and Patrick Thompson), participated in a performance procession beginning at The Bentway and proceeded along the waterfront to 259 Lake Shore Boulevard East, one of the Biennial’s main locations. The performance was part of their ongoing project Sinaaqpagiaqtuut/The Long-Cut, which includes an exhibition at the Lake Shore site as well as a parade in Kinngait held August 3rd, 2018.

Toronto Biennial Highlights Inuit Artists

Elisapie Makes Polaris Prize Shortlist

On September 21st, the Toronto Biennial opened to the public in locations across Toronto. Ambitious in scope, the inaugural edition of the Biennial promised “72 Days of Free Art” along the waterfront.

Montreal-based, Salluit-raised Elisapie (Elisapie Isaac) was shortlisted for the $50,000 Polaris Music Prize. Her album Ballad of the Runaway Girl (2018) was one of the 10 nominated albums for the 2019 prize.

Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association Appoints Inuit Majority Board

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Across the record, Elisapie combines English, French and Inuktitut to explore themes of identity, depression and motherhood.

Recorded in a small chalet in rural Quebec, it was inspired by an earlier intimate demo made with two fellow musicians that followed a personal journey to the North.

Though the top prize was awarded to musician Haviah Mighty for her album 13th Floor, Elisapie is only the second Inuk musician shortlisted for the prize following Tanya Tagaq’s nomination and subsequent win in 2014 for the record Animism.

Couzyn van Heuvelen Awarded Public Art Project A bold and graphic nod to the history of Inuit printmaking by Bowmanville-based sculptor and installation artist Couzyn van Heuvelen was selected for the Glen Road Pedestrian Tunnel public art project after being shortlisted alongside five other projects.

Surrounding the entrance to the tunnel, located near the Rosedale neighbourhood in Toronto, ON, van Heuvelen will create a sequence of bold, graphic, multi-coloured cut-outs of avian forms directly referencing the history of printmaking across Inuit Nunangat. A series of concrete panels resembling the carved slabs used in stonecut printing will wrap both walls of the thoroughfare. These formwork panels will feature enlarged representations of the markings made during the carving of stone blocks, as well as additional compositions of Arctic birds painted in vibrant hues as if to suggest they have just been inked. The project is expected to begin in 2021.

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Inuit Art Quarterly

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Winter 2019

Inuit — Contemporary Art First Nations Craft

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LAST LOOK

Shuvinai Ashoona Composition (Holding Up the Globe) Shuvinai Ashoona (b. 1961 Kinngait) — Composition (Holding Up the Globe) 2014 Ink and coloured pencil 95.3 × 120 cm COLLECTION BMO FINANCIAL GROUP REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS

Inuit Art Quarterly

Blue spherical bodies patterned with pea-green islands. Are they papier-mâché globes plucked from a classroom? Worlds from light-years away? Perhaps they are earths, shrunken or enlarged after imbibing a potion from Alice in Wonderland. Or a rarely spotted spherical species guiding us from another realm?

These terrestrial orbs are frequent visitors in the drawings of Shuvinai Ashoona, RCA appearing consistently in her work for the past dozen years. Occasionally they make up the features of a figure–globes for eyes, a cascade of globes braided into a planetary ponytail or a globe protruding from the belly of a woman. Sometimes there are groups of globes, clustered together, holding hands, in a pile to be shovelled, or just many globes floating in space.

Composition (Holding Up the Globe) (2014) is different. Seen from an aerial perspective, three figures literally carry the weight of the world. Absent are the fantastical creatures and out-of-this-world imagery that have become synonymous with Ashoona’s work. The figures, carefully rendered by the artist, aren’t Titans from ancient Greek myth, superheroes or bodybuilders; rather they appear to be three ordinary people. One, dressed in magenta and navy, has a long braid that twists and turns before pooling on the ground. She appears smaller than the other figures, her fingertips barely touching the globe, while the larger figures grasp it tightly. This might be a family. She might be a child. She appears off-balance and anguished, vulnerable under the globe’s weight.

In the hands of this group, the world seems delicate and fragile. If it were to slip from its precarious perch and land on the pebbled landscape below, it might shatter. At a time when temperatures and sea levels are rising at alarming rates, especially in the Arctic, Ashoona subtly reminds us that we are all stewards of our planet. The figures in this drawing are both carrying and caring for the Earth and Ashoona compels us to do the same.

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