Inuit Arts

InuitArts

Enookie AkulukjukPangnirtung, Baffin Island, Canada

Ptarmigan in Spring

In a land of snow and rock, Inuit artists work with the limited materials available : whale bone, walrus ivory, stone, fur, driftwood and lyme grass from the beach.

Figurative works are carved in relatively soft stone, like soapstone or serpentine; or printed as lithographs using the stonecut technique. Most works represent nature’s fauna – owls and loons, whales and seals, bears and caribous; but also hunters and mythical beings.

Inuit communities live in arctic environment, territories such as Greenland, Canada’s Arctic Islands and around Hudson Bay, northeast of Siberia and northern Alaska (Iñupiaq).

Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada

Musk Ox, serpentine

Cape Dorset, Baffin Island, Canada

Loon, serpentine

Nuna ParrCape Dorset, Nunavut, Canada

Walking Bear, serpentine

Barrow, Alaska

Ivory kayak

Barrow, Alaska

Tool boxWood, baleen ivory

Tasiilaq, East Greenland

Wood and ivory box

Tasiilaq, East Greenland

Harpoon and Spear throwing stick

Decorated with ivory seals

Greenland,

Sedna sitting

Judah NatanineClyde River, Baffin Island,Canada

Sedna and daughter

Looty PijaminiGrise Fjord, Ellesmere Island, CanadaSedna, walrus ivory

Looty Pijamini

Two mothers

My first carving was a small arctic fox made of wood, carved with a small pocketknife. I learned from my father, who was carving ivory at that time. He would trade these small carvings to men from the early freighter ships.

Osuitok Ipeelee(1923-2005)Cape Dorset, Baffin Island

Osuitok Ipeele

CaribouSoapstone

Osuitok Ipeelee

Caribou, soapstone

Osuitok Ipeelee

Caribou, 1982Green serpentine

Osuitok IpeeleeCape Dorset Studios

Owl, fox and hare

Jackoposie Oopakak (1948 – 2015) Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada Falcon

Ulu knife, sun glassesA traditional Inuit all-purpose knife made with a caribou antler, muskoxhorn or walrus ivory handle and slate cutting surface.

Clyde River, Nunavut, Canada

Kamiks - Boots made of sealskin, with intricate design and fine workmanship when turned inside out.

Pangnirtung, Baffin Island, Canada Pang hats

Pangnirtung, Baffin Island, Canada

Colourful clothing

Lyme Grass Baskets

Inuit baskets are made of sea lyme grass, easy to obtain on the shore, at sandy beaches. Usually they are decorated at the top with a small ivory-carved piece.

These baskets are fine hand made crafts, some of them in auction for a high price.

Pond inlet, Baffin Island, Canada

Basket with otter

Pond inlet, Baffin Island, Canada

Basket with bird

Sarah Appaqaq Pond inlet, Baffin, Canada

Basket with Inukpulling catch

Sarah Appaqaq

Basket with Hawk

Sarah Appaqaq

Basket with Loon

Minnie CarlKipnuk, Alaska

Grass Basket

Carl Toolak Barrow, Alaska

Basket with Bear

Harry HankPoint Barrow, Alaska

Basket with Bear

Angmagssalik, East Greenland

Water Bucket

Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts and Crafts andPangnirtung Tapestry Studio

The Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts opened in 1991 to serve the art community of Pangnirtung with facilities and equipment. Weaving had been introduced in 1970 and flourishing since then.

Atungauja EeseemailiePangnirtung, Baffin Island, Canada

Waiting for a Seal, 1987Hand-woven carpet

Atungauja EeseemailiePangnirtung, Baffin Island, Canada

Belugas and Kayaker, 1990Hand-Woven Carpet

Isaqkijaq, from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut mainland, Canada

Woven wall hanging

INUIT PRINTS

Inuit Printmaking Art started in the late 1950‘s.

The first collection was issued by the Inuit Artists

from Cape Dorset, Baffin Island (Canada), in 1960.

Founded in 1959, the Kinngait Co-opat Cape Dorset has been producing fine printmaking for nearly 56 years.

Inuit artists draw and paint animals and daily life themes like hunting, kayaking or dog-sledding, but they are also inspired by myths and fantasy.

Mayoreak Ashoona, b. 1946Cape Dorset, Baffin Island

Rabbits at Dawn, stonecut print, 2006

Kenojuak Ashevak born in 1927 Canadian Inuit Printmaker, Cape Dorset, Baffin Island, Canada

Kenojuak Ashevak

Dancing Ravens

Kenojuak Ashevak

Floral Passage

Kananginak Pootoogook(1935 – 2010)A carver and printmaker, he lived in Cape Dorset since 1951; while running the West Baffin Co-op, he began making lithography prints and carving on stone and baleen ivory.

Kananginak PootoogookCape Dorset, Nunavut, Canada

Anxious Trio

Kananginak PootoogookCape Dorset, Nunavut, Canada

Three Shore Birds

Kananginak PootoogookCape Dorset

Hawk

Ningeokuluk TeeveeBorn in Cape Dorset, May 1963

Since her first prints appeared, she has been one of most celebrated inuit artists.

She has a comprehensive knowledge of Inuit legends and a fine sense of design and composition.

Ningeokuluk TeeveeCape Dorset, Baffin IslandCanada

Three Owls

Ningeokuluk TeeveeCape Dorset, Baffin Island

Owls in Moonlight

Sedna’s Wonder, 2009

Sedna is often mentioned because she is a frequent theme for inuit artists.

According to Inuit legend , Sedna is a sea goddess.

Sedna was a young girl ; one day, her group was preparing to go hunting on the sea. As she went to climb into a kayak, some boys pushed her into the sea. She tried to hold onto the kayak to keep from drowning, but they chopped off her fingers and Sedna drowned.

As she sank deeper into the sea, she began to transform into a half human, half sea animal. She was now a part of the world underwater; a sea goddess representing and protecting all sea creatures.

Ningeokuluk TeeveeCape Dorset, Baffin Island

Seasonal Migration

Ningeokuluk Teevee, Cape Dorset

Crosscurrent, 2005

Tim PitsiulakBorn in Kimmirut, 1967

Tim has been living in Cape Dorset for several years now and has enjoyed working in the Kinngait lithography studio.

The land and its wildlife were his primary influences. More recently he has begun drawing large format works.

Tim PistulakCape Dorset, Baffin, Canada

Bowhead in Amautik, 2012

Tim Pistulak, Cape Dorset, Baffin, Canada

Three Running Caribous

Tim Pistulak, Cape Dorset, Baffin, Canada

Vigilant Wolves, 2010

The world's first sunglasses were built by the Inuit of the Arctic. They were created from bone, leather or wood with small slits see through, designed to protect the eyes from snowblindness caused by the bright spring sunlight.

These first snow goggles are said to date back 2000 years to a culture known as Old Bering Sea, who lived around the west coast of Alaska and were the ancestors of the modern Inuit.The snow goggles came to Canada with the Thule culture about 800 years ago. This example, an artifact of the Thule people, from north Baffin, was crafted from walrus ivory and dates back to between 1200 AD and 1600 AD.

Baffin Island, Nunavut

Plaque, 1912–1916

Kinngait Studios for Inuit ArtCape Dorset, Nunavut, Canada

This presentation©Mario Ricca, 2016

Some sources:

Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts and CraftsBaffin Inuit ArtCape Dorset PrintsInuit Gallery, VancouverFlickr