InWt Q u

~ 3, No.1 Spring 1998 $6.25

InuitArt QUARTERLY

Features

Women Helping Each Other by Matthew Fox

Seventeen Inuit women artists from the Northwest Territories, Nunavik and Labrador came together last fall for a two-week workshop at the Ottawa School of Art, the first time in almost a quarter of a century that such a large and diverse group of Inuit women artists were able to interact in this way.

Inuit Art Attracts Cautious New Attention in France by Cecile Pelaudeix

Although Inuit art remains in what the author describes as a "no-man's land," exhibitions like Transitions, which opened in Paris in January 1997, are attracting cautious new attention. People are still "hesitant about the contemporary art of indigenous people," an attitude that may change as the voice of the Inuit artist continues to be heard.

Front cover ... Taloyoak carver Maudie Ohiktook and Bird/Spirit (pictured above), at the Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop. Ottawa, October 1997.

Photo: Tim Wickens

Vol. 13, No. 1 Spring 1998

Departments

Editorial Not Just Arctic Animals and Scenes from the Past

Curator's Choice John Pangnark By Maria von Finckenstein

Curatorial Notes Transitions: Contemporary Canadian Indian and Inuit Art By Barry Ace

Unikaat!Stories By Darlene Coward Wight and Dyane Cameron

Pencil to Paper: Early Drawings by Parr

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By Christine Lalonde 38

Book Reviews Images of Justice Reviewed by Desmond Brice-Bennett 42

Sinews of Survival: The Living Legacy of Inuit Clothing Reviewed by Jill Oakes 46

Update 48

At the Galleries 55

From Our Readers 62

Advertiser Index

Calendar

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InuitArt QUA RT E RL Y

Spring l998 Vol. 13, No. I

Editor : Marybelle Mitchell

Editorial Assistant: Matthew Fox

Advert ising Sales/ ' Sheila Sturk-Green

Circulation : Matthew Fox

Copy Editor: Claire Gigantes

Design and Typography : Acart

Printing : Beauregard

Publisher: Inuit Art Foundation

Editoria l Advisory

Comm ittee 1997-98 :

Directors, Inu it Art

Foundatio n:

Honorary Lifetime

Directors:

Valda Blundell Mattiusi Iyaituk Shirley Moorhouse Dorothy Speak

Stanley Felix Elisapee Inukpuk Mattiusi lyaituk Elsie Klengenberg Shirley Moorhouse Eli Nasogaluak Okpik Pitseolak John Terriak

Doris Shadbolt, OC Virginia Watt, CM

All rights reserved . Reproduction without written permission of the publisher is strictly forbidden. Not responsible for unsolicited mate­rial. The views expressed in Inui1 An Quarterly are not necessarily tbosc of the editor or the board of directors. IAQ is a member of the Canadian Magazine Publishers· Association. Publications mail registration number 7137. Publication date of this issue: February 1998. ISSN 08 31-6708 .

The mandate of the Inuit Art Foundation is to assist Inuit artists in the development of their professional skills and the marke1i11g of their art and to promote Inuit art rhrough exhibits, publications and films. The Inuit Art Foundation gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

Send address changes, letters to the editor and advertising enquiries to:

lnui1 Art Quarterly 2081 Merivale Road

Nepean, Ontario K2G 1G9 Tel: (613) 224-8189; Fax: (613) 224-2907

e-mail: iaf@inuitart.org website: www.inuitan .org

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Foreign: Equivalent of C$39 in your country's own currency; cheque,

money order, VISA or MasterCard accepted. Charitab le registration nllmbe r: 0792556-22.

Vol. J 3, No. I Spring 1998

EDITORIAL

Not Just Arctic Animals and Scenes

from the Past M ichele Therrien, lecturer at the

Institut des Langues Orien­tales in Paris, talked with

journalist Cecile Pe laud eix about the need for Inuit commentary on Inuit art (see p. 21). This will come, she says, from Inuit pr esenting works in exhibi­tions around the world that they have themselves selected. Her comments were made in the wake of Transitions: Contem­porary Canadian Indian and Inuit Art, a

small but powerful exhibition co-curated by Inuk July Papatsie and Ojibway Barry Ace. Both are employees of the Depart­ment of Indian Affairs and Northern Development which , along with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Inter­national Trade, organized the exhibition. It opened in January 1997 at the Cana­dian embassy in Paris and travelled from there to the Waikato Museum of Art and History in Hamilton, New Zealand for an October 11 opening . At the time of writing, 20 enquiri es have been received from pot ential venues wor ldwid e.

Consisting of 13 Inuit and 11 Indian contemporary works, the exhibition is accompanied by a handsome catalogue containi ng succinct essays by the two curators. Illustrated in colour, the artwork is accompanied by artists' statem ent s rather than curatorial analys is. Noting that curators' voices have often silenced those of the artists, the Transitions curators made a deliberate effort to let the artists present their work, a highly effective approach both in the catalogue and in Papatsie's slide presentation of the Inuit work at a Carleton University symposium I attended last winter. After introduc­tory comments, Papatsie read the artists' statements as he presen ted slides of the

lnuitArt Q U A. II. r C R L Y

works . The curators' function here was to assemble the art, not to explain it.

Combined Indian and Inuit exhibitions have happened before in, for instance, lndigena and the German exhibition In the Shadow of the Sun, but the community of int erest between Indian and Inuit art ists has never before been made so clear. Transitions goes beyond mere asso­ciation to mak e a statement about the position of Aboriginal artist s in the con­tempor ary art scene . Although it was intended to be shown abroad, there is a deliberate departur e from the customary fare offered to people presumed not to be knowledgeable about Inuit art. As Pelaudeix comments, there is a tendency to export safe generic imag es of Inuit art, but Transitions includes some work that would be shocking even to domestic audiences. Idiosyncratic and, in a word, contemporary, this is work that, in the words of Papatsie, "dares to chall enge the general public 's expectations of Inuit art." As he says, it "contradict[s] the com­mon perception that Inuit art is simply arctic animals and scenes from the past."

Referring to "artificially imposed limits" placed on Inuit artists (in materials, sub­ject matter, techniqu e), Papatsie considers the Transitions artists to be "front-line ambassadors" who are "pav ing the way for other Inuit artists to be modern and experimental. " Similarly, Barry Ace calls the Indian artists in the exhibition "cata­lysts who are challenging the established perceptions and stereotypes of Indian art held by contemporary Western art critics and institution s." He refers to Western art discourse as "a neo-colonial device" that excludes Indians and renders their art "static" and "peripheral." Worse, he says, it is often dismissed as "unauthen ­tic" when it incorporates "noticeable

July Papatsie (right, with Willia m Gruben), a graduate of t he Inuit Art Foundation's Cultural Industries Training Program, co-curated Transit ions which is attracting new attention to Inuit art worldwide.

signs of modernity. " This is language familiar to readers of commentary from Inuit artists published over the last several years in Inuit Art Quarterly.

The larger purpo se of Transitions is to contribu te "to the emergence of a di s­tinct Indian [and Inuit] art history and aesth etic" (Ace, p. 7). Both Aboriginal groups are in the process of constructing their own history of their respective arts. A recent meeting of the Inuit Art Quarterly's editorial advisory board reaffirmed this as th e exp licit task of the periodical. Although it is always satisfying to have one narrativ e thread, common sense has to agree with academics in various dis­ciplines that there are many stories, many

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versions of history (as anyone comparing eye witness accounts of the same event knows all too well). It is a small step from there to an acknowledgement of the politics of the process. Power deter­mines who makes decisions, whose story becomes the official version . In the past, decisions about Inuit art (and other kinds of art, women's, for instance) have been made by a small group of people who were in a position to make decisions for everyone. Mercifully, the field is opening up and allowin g more voices - women, people of colour, Indians, Inuit and others.

Perhaps, as Inuit perspectives on his­tory become more widely known, we wiIJ not be so confounded by contemporary art expressions, such as those found in the Transitions exhibition. Although th is exhibition succeeded in attracting a new audience in France, Catherine Bedard of

the Canadian Embassy says peop le are still "hesitant about the contemporary art of indigenous peoples." H sits uneasily with what we have been conditioned to expect from Indians and Inuit. But that calls into question the conditioning, not the art which must, as Papatsie and others have said, come from where the artists are now.

In France, as elsewhere , the voice that has yet to be heard is that of the Inuit artist (see Pelaudeix, p. 23). If Inuit art is "languishi ng in a no-man 's land," as Pelaudeix writes , it is indeed "due to the rigidity of our conven tion al cate­gories of classification and the obstinacy of an ethnocentric view of the purpose of art." Inuit have too long been confined to an image of "traditional culture" con­structed for them by southern commen­tators. "After all, what is meant by the

IMAGES ART GALLERY

• We invite you to see

one of the largest selections of collector quality

Inuit sculpture from all areas of the Arctic .

term 'tradilional culture'?" asks Pelaudeix (p. 20). "Does it not all too often presup­pose a static tradition divorced from his­tory in which the only benchmark is the arriva l of the white man?"

Inevitable change - in art and in our perceptions of it - is shaped by chal­lenges such as the Transitions exhibition and the responses provoked by those challenges. Ideally, respond ents engage in a dialogue of ideas which results in a new and better synthesis . This appears to be happening in France and elsewhere in the world. Sometimes , the response is from hidebound commentators with an interest in maintain ing the status quo. They, too, make a contribution; for, tug­ging in the opposite direction, they pro­voke a reaction away from a point of view that is anathema to artistic growth and intellectual vision. MM

We purchase older collections for cash.

DAVID RUBEN PIQTOUKUN

• 3345 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4N 2M6

(Tel.) 416-4 81-9584

NEWWORKS

Vol. 13, No. I Spring /998

• Ll..b~~bnc (Inuit Art Foundation)

lkayuktiit (Helpers)

A little help goes a long way: A $2,000 grant from the Inuit Art

Foundation was used to purchase axes, files, sandpaper, goggles,

masks and stone for a beginners' carving class in Cape Dorset in

the summer of 1997. Instructor Okpik Pitseolak (pictured above)

volunteered five weeks of her time to lead the course, which was

attended by nearly a dozen people ranging in age from 13 to the

mid-fifties. "Some students," she said, "were afraid to try carving

but the course helped them move beyond their expectations." The

tools will be used in a similar workshop in the summer of 1998.

Please see the donation card in this magazine or contact: Inuit Art Founda ti on

2081 Merivale Road

Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2G I G9

Tel: (613) 224 -8189

E-mai l: iaf@inuitart.org

Canadian and American donor s are prov id ed with tax receipts and all

don ations are ackn ow ledged in Inuit Art Quarterly .

Charitable registra tion #0792556-22 '

Be part of! he equation Patrons ($ I ,000 or more) Acart Mattiusi lyaituk Michael Massie Celine Saucier Jean E. Sawtelle Dorothy M. Stillwell

receive acknowledgement in four issues of IAQ

invitations to Inuit Art Foundation events

invitations to a lunch/ reception with anists during Inuit Art Foundation workshops

Associates ($500 - $999) receive

acknowledgem ent in three issues of IAQ

Invitations to Inuit An Foundation events

Supporters ($100 - $499) Gary & Marcia Anderson Paul Conroy Violet Czigler Mario de Marinis Dan Gray Joyce Keltie M. Louise Proctor Charlotte & Arthur Shull Mr. & Mrs. Fred Weil

receive acknowledgemen t in two issues of IAQ

Friends ($99 or less) Robert & Leah Brown Harvey Kalichman Michael Lerch receive

acknowledgement in one Issue of IAQ

Special Project Sponsors Kagita Mikam Local Delivery Mechanism

Contributors of Artwo rk Elisapee ltulu

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Shirley Moorhouse and Elisapee ltulu exchange

tips in the sewing studio.

f E A T U R E

Women Helping Each Other By Matthew Fox

Seventeen Inuit women artists from the Northwest Territories, Nunavik and Labrador came together in

Ottawa for a two-week Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop at the Ottawa School of Art (OSA) from October 20 to November 2. Organized by the Inuit Art Foundation, this was the first time in almost a quarter of a century that such a large group of Inuit women artists were able to interact in this way. The last opportunity was at a 1974 symposium held in Toronto in conjunction with the Crafts from Arctic Canada exhibition.

The 17 artists at the Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop represented all regions of the Arctic and most artistic media used in the North. "It will be good because we can exchange our ideas with each other and try and work on them when we get home," said Susie Malgokak, a Holman Island printmake r, upon her arrival in Ottawa. "Whether we are carvers, sew­ers or printmakers, we can pass on these ideas to our children. That way, our culture is kept alive."

MaJgokak was one of three printmak­ers at the workshop; the others were Elsie Klengenberg, a fellow Holman printmaker who recently moved to Cambridge Bay to attend a two-year jewellery course, and Elisapee !lulu of Kimmirut. Cape Dorset carver Okpik

Pitseol ak has been experimenting with printmaking at Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit. Her print entitled Woman Juggling seemed appropriate for the workshop and was used on invitation s, signage and T-shirts.

Pitseolak was joined by four other carvers: Maudie Ohiktook (Taloyoak), Akitiq Sanguya (Clyde River), Lucy Meeko (Kuujjuaraapik) and Josephine Felix (Tuktoyaktuk). Ohiktook , Sanguya and Meeko are established artists (Sanguya is also known for her dollmaking and Meeko is best known for her Arctic Quebec prints in the early 1970s) but Felix, in her late twenties, only recently started carving.

Lucy Sanertanut and Rhoda Karetak, who are involved in the revival of ceramic work in Rartkin Inlet , also attended, as did dollmakers Elisapee Inukpuk (Inukjuak) and Sarah Appaqaq (Sanikiluaq). Video artists Madeline Ivalu, Mary Kunnuk and Susan Avingaq of the Amait Ikajurtigiit (Women's Video Workshop of Igloolik) presented a southern debut screening of Taravut/Our Reflections. Fibre artists Lena Iqaqrialu (Clyde River) and Shirley Moorhouse (Goose Bay) completed the roster.

Vol. I 3, No. I Spring I 998

The women participated in a variety of activities over the two-week period. Studio instruction provided an oppor­tunity to experiment with new media, including printmaking, life drawing, inlay carving and aluminum casting. The OSA instructors included print­maker Naz Ikramullah, Sbubhika Lal (a visiting artist from Indi a), graphic artist Pamela Lasserre and carver Mattiusi Iyaituk of Ivujivik. William Gruben of Tuktoyaktuk served as a sculpture studio technician.

Not only did the women artists par­ticipate in new media workshops, they picked up and exchanged advice on artmaking techniques, materials, pricing and promotion. Shirley Moorhous e suggested, for instance, that the women always attach a tag - like a business card - to their finished work. She finds this a useful promotional tool in the marketing of her art.

One evening, the artists held a roundtable discussion on the transmis­sion of cultural and artmaking skills to young people in their communiti es. Artists appreciated hearing what other communities were doing, and most of the women thought their communities would benefit from what they were hearing in Ottawa. As one said: "Inuit can really learn from each other."

The artists also visited the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC), where many were moved by the exhibition Between Two Worlds: Sculpture by David Ruben Piqtoukun. Lucy Meeko said after the tour that she felt "reinspired" to try working with different materials and subject matter. Coincidentally, some of the women had met Piqtoukun several days earlier when he dropped into the Ottawa School of Art. He spoke with the women carvers who shared their studio space with him, and he gave some carving tips to Josephine Felix.

InuitArt Q U • R T E R L Y

The women's backgrounds were as diverse as their art. Elisapee Inukpuk, a unilingual Inuktitut elder who has been making dolls and grass baskets since the I 960s, worked alongsid e Josephine Felix, an English-only speaker who has been carving for just two years. Many women expressed great interest in the art practised by others. Maudie Ohiktook was fasci­nated with the ceramic work of Lucy Sanertanut and Rhoda Karetak. Most women knew only one or two others at the outset. But after sharing their skills, knowledge and studio space for two weeks, some referred to the group as a large family, the beginning of an important network of women helping each other. As Rhoda Karetak said, "Women have to keep working to keep our art forms alive."

Contributions from the Canada Council for the Arts, First Air, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Government of the Northwest Territories (Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development and Kivalliq Partners in Development), Hamlet of Rankin Inlet, Inuvialuit Community Economic Development Organization, Jackman Foundation, Kitikmeot Corporation , Makivik Corporation, Joan A. Martin,

David Ruben Piqtoukun discusses finishing techniques with Josephine Felix . The women artists later toured Between Two Worlds : Sculpture by David Ruben Piqtoukun at the Canadian Museum of Civilization .

Videomakers Mary Kunnuk and Susan Avingaq and dollmaker Elisapee lnukpuk discuss beadwork in the sewing studio .

Molson Companies Donation Fund, National Aboriginal Achievem ent Foundation, the Henry White Kinnear Foundation and the Tuktoyaktuk Development Corporation were essen­tial to the success of the workshop.

This introduction and the following profiles of the participating women artists include information from files provided by Marybelle Mitchell, Clare Porteous-Safford and Shirley Thompson.

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The Artists

MAUDIE OHIKT00K

Maudie Ohiktook from Taloyoak in the

Northwest Territories has been carving since 1968. Although it is her primary source of income, Ohiktook has not been able to pro­duce much work lately because, like others in her community, she has prob­lems getting stone from dis­tant quarries . Ohiktook's predicament was com­pounded when her family recently lost its skidoo. Several examples of Ohiktook's work are included in the Samuel and

Top photo: Maudie Ohiktook (I) looks on as Rhoda Karetak works on a ceramic pot.

Esther Sarick Collection, donated to the Art Gallery of Ontario. Another Ohiktook piece, in the col­lection of the National Gallery of Canada, was on exhibit when the women toured the gallery. While the other artists were pleased to see the work of a colleague displayed, Ohiktook said she felt "embarrassed" by the piece because she used "only a chisel and an axe." A tour of the exhibition Between Two Worlds: Sculpture by David Ruben Piqtoukun at the Canadian Museum of Civilization was inspira­tional for Ohiktook . She was so touched by Piqtoukun's struggle

that she "just had to" carve him - "now big and free and strong," able to focus on doing his art (symbol­ized by a man waving a fish, his toe bursting out of his kamik - seep. 16). Ohiktook , a quiet and reserved woman, was one of the most enthusiastic artists at the workshop. She was eager to try new materials and techniques and learn from others about their work. She completed sev­eral carvings in Brazilian soapstone, her first chance to carve in the imported materials. Ohiktook said one highlight of the work­shop was meeting with the other women and getting positive feedback about her own work. That interaction, she said, will inspire her to resume carving when she returns home to Taloyoak.

AKITIQ SANGUYA

An accomplished dollmaker (an example of her work

was shown in IAQ Fall 1996:8), Sanguya spent much of her workshop time in the sculpture studio. She worked closely with some of the other women carvers - espe­cially Lucy Meeko, Okpik Pitseolak and Maudie Ohiktook - comparing tech­niques and sharing advice. Her preferred subject matter was the polar bear. Sanguya said she hadn't carved much recently because of the poor mark et and a lack of stone in her community, Clyde River. Watching the other women work, she said, lifted her spirits and she left for home more inspired to work. Sanguya was also grateful to meet Elsie Klengenberg , who she said was extremely helpful and taught her a new jewellery-making tech­nique . Sanguya, a unilinguaJ Inuktitut speaker, flew from Clyde River with Lena Iqaqrialu, a young bilingual woman upon whom she depended while travelling. During the workshop, the two decided to work and socialize separately so that they would each have a dif­ferent experience to take home to Clyde River, wher e artists are now trying to secure stone and develop a market .

Vol. 13, No. 1 Spring 1998

LENA IQAQRIALU

lqaqrialu , in her late twen­ties, designs kamiks,

hats and mitts for crochet. Iqaqrialu learned to crochet because she didn 't know how to make kamiks for her five young children. She adapted a crochet pattern to make slipper boots because she w anted her childr en to "have something I made." Iqaqrialu said she was ''proud" to have been selected by her community to attend the wom en's workshop and hadn't expected to "learn so much." She enjoyed her role in helping elders with

InuitArt Q U A II; T E R L Y

translation so they could understand "what was going on." Iqaqrialu crochets for her family but also sells her work to residents, pri­marily miners and teachers, in the northern Baffin com­munities of Clyde River, Arctic Bay and Nanisivik. While Iqaqrialu has modest ambitions for selling her work - she doesn 't fee l ready to market herself to a southern audience - the Clyde River resident found the record-keeping work­shop most useful because it taught her about photo­graphing her work and maintaining a portfolio.

ELISAPEE ITULU

Elisapee Itulu of Kimmirut nearly made use of her

graphic art supplies before the workshop had started. When she arrived in Ottawa for the Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop, she and her greeter, the Inuit Art Foundation's Clare Porteous-Safford, didn't immediately meet up at the busy airport terminal. When Porteous-Safford later asked Itulu what she would have done if forced to wait much longer in the unfamiliar surroundings, the artist replied, "I was going to take my art supplies out and make a sign!" Itulu 's art career began when she did finishing work for her father, the well-known carver and printmaker Davidee Itulu. This led Itulu to carve soapstone for a short while until she decided to pursue printmaking. She moved to Iqaluit to attend Arctic College and graduated with distinction from the print­making program in 1994. At the women's workshop , Itulu worked closely with Elsie Klengenberg and Susie Malgokak, both origi­nally from Holman Island. Itulu attended a print· making session, led by Ottawa School of Art instructor Naz lkrarnullah , which dealt with techniques and the use of tools and paper. Another seminar

led by OSA director Jeff Stellick covered particulars such as the handling of artist s' proofs , documenta­tion and storage. Itulu says she is having difficulty pursuing printmaking in Kimrnirut: there isn't a stu­dio she can use, and she can't make prints at home without a business licence.

During a tour of the National Gallery of Canada, the women saw a carving by Davidee Itulu on exhibit. Itulu later said she felt very proud to have seen her father's work on public display and was looking forward to telling him exactly where it was: "He had been told that one of his pieces was in Ottawa, but he didn 't know where. Now I can tell him."

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OKPIK PITSE0LAK

Okpik Pitseolak said she believes that helping

young people with their art is good for her own spirit and those of the young peo­ple of Cape Dorset. The Cape Dorset artists' association secured a grant from the Inuit Art Foundation in early 1997 to provide tools, safety masks and goggles for a workshop for young artists organized by Pitseolak. She volunteered five weeks of her summer to lead the course. "Some students," she said, "were afraid to try carv­ing but the course helped them move beyond their expectations." Pitseolak, who served as a resource person at the Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop, was eager to pass on her knowl­edge to other carvers. She

worked closely in the sculp­ture studio with Josephine Felix, Lucy Meeko, Maudie Ohiktook and Akitiq Sanguya. Pitseolak does not shy away from depicting controversial stories in her sculpture. Much of her work incorporates themes of abuse and hardship, but it also includes messages of hope and resilience. One carving Pitseolak completed at the workshop (seep. 16) con­veyed those sentiments. Henry Kudluk translated Pitseolak's description of the work: "The woman was abused by her spouse and is not happy living as a human anymore. Therefore, she is twisting her hair into the shape of a narwhal tusk to change herself into a nar­whal. She is going to live out her life as a narwhal."

JOSEPHINE FELIX

Josephine Felix, a 28-year­old from Tuktoyaktuk, has

carved for just two years. Her introduction to the art came in 1994 when the community's Ibiuk Artists' Association organized carv­ing classes for beginners. The course covered basic carving techniques and the use of various tools and materials. It was during that workshop that Felix com­pleted her first work, a muskox horn carving of birds. The artist approached her first few days at the Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop tentatively, con­scious of her unilingual status and her relative inex­perience as a carver. Soon, however, she became one of the most enthusiastic

participants, showing a keenness to learn from the workshop instructors and the other women artists. "I was so happy after the trans ­mission of skills workshop," she said, "I wanted to cry. I would like the opportunity to have these women as teachers at home," she said. When David Ruben Piqtoukun dropped by the Ottawa School of Art on a chance visit, Felix didn't hesitate to ask for his advice on finishing techniques. Sculpture studio technician William Gruben also showed her how to use a grinder properly. Felix was a keen student in Mattiusi Iyaituk's workshop on inlay techniques, and her work persuaded him that she was an artist wilh a promising future. Felix likes to carve wildlife, the polar bear in particular. She has heard stories from her family that her great-grandfather was transformed from a bear. A carving she completed in Ottawa entitled History of My Family depicts several family stories and includes a bear's head, a drum dancer, a hunter and a face with different-coloured eyes, a characteristic of the Felix family.

Vol. 13, No. J Spring / 998

ELSIE KLENGENBERCi

Elsie Klengenberg, a print­maker at the Holman co-op

since 1970, has made a con­certed effort to seek out pro­fessional development opportunities. In the last four years she has moved twice from Holman Island to attend art courses in other communities. In 1995 Klengenberg and her daugh­ter, Helen, moved to Inuvik for a year to attend the fine arts program at Aurora

lnuitArt Q U A R T ( A. L Y

College "to try new things." There, she learned to carve and work in a variety of new media. In the fall of 1997 she again moved from Holman, this time to Cambridge Bay for a two-year jewellery course at Nunavut Arctic College. Klengenberg would like to set up a printmaking studio to work in while she is there. At the Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop, Klengenberg divided her studio time between print­making and jewellery work.

In the print studio, she was reunited with her long-time Holman colleague Susie Malgokak, and she also worked with Elisapee ltulu of Kimmirut. Several other artists, including Akitiq Sanguya and Shirley Moorhouse, credited Klengenberg with being very helpful in their work. During a tour of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the women came upon a large hand­sewn sealskin wall hanging, Scenes of Traditional Inuit Life, produced over three years in the mid- l 980s by 15 Holman women, including Klengenberg's mother. Klengenberg took pleasure in explaining to the others how the massive work (192 square feet) had been con­structed, and the meaning behind some of the many images it contained.

SUSIE MALGOKAK

Susie Malgokak is keen to pass on her knowledge of

Inuit culture to her children through her prints. "It lets them know where they came from," she said. Malgokak was also glad to make new friends and share experiences with the other women artists. At mealtimes during the workshop the women enjoyed comparing dialects and word mean­ings. On one occasion, the Inuktitut variations for "fork" were being

discussed. The Holman version, kakioyak, put forth by Malgokak and Elsie Klengenberg was deemed the most elegant choice by the other Inuktitut speakers. Malgokak enjoyed helping others with stencil printing. She spent much of her time in the printmaking studio with Klengenberg and Elisapee Itulu. She also found a session for print­makers with OSA director Jeff Stellick to be informa­tive. Stellick discussed the purpose of artists' printing proofs. Instead of keeping all of her proofs in the past, Malgokak has occasionally sold them, leaving herself no version of a particular print.

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Lucv MEEKO

Lucy Meeko has "always wanted to participate" in

an event like the women's workshop. Her emhusiasm was evident in her desire to try working with new mate­rials. The artists had access to plaster for aluminum cast­ing projects, and Meeko asked to have a block prepar ed so she could try carving it: its use in the metal casting process was unimportant to her.

Meeko declared herself "reinspire d" by the David Ruben Piqtoukun exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Civilization: the works she saw, made of African won­derstone, Brazilian soap­stone and Italian crystal alabaster, among other carv­ing materials, motivated her to work with different mate­ria ls and attempt new sub­ject matter. Meeko was also

interested in Mattiusi Iyaituk's portfolio, which features his abstract carvings in soapstone, alabaster, mar­ble and wood. Meeko looked forward to taking some new ideas home to Kuujjuaraapik, where she and others have a big problem acquiring stone. In spite of this, she said, many residents want to learn to carve.

ELISAPEE INUKPUK

Elisapee Inukpuk was looking forward to the life

drawing class at the women's workshop until she got settled in front of her easel. "I always told my children that they had to go to school and do whatever the teacher asked," Inukpuk says. "But when I started to draw , I got scared. I didn't know what to do on that paper so when the teacher turned around, I grabbed my bag and ran out." Inukpuk says she enjoyed being with the other women, even those who didn't speak Inuktitut. She said by the end of the two­week session, she thought of all the women artists and coordinators as family. At the beginning of the work­shop, Inukpuk only knew fellow IAF directors Elsie Klengenberg and Shirley Moorhouse, and elder Akitiq Sanguya of Clyde

River . Inukpuk is very active in the Inukjuak art community. She organized a women artists' group that secured two grants to erect a canvas tent in which the women will be able to work. The wooden base was finished in the fall, but the group is waiting for other supplies and an oil heater to arrive in the spring to com­plete the project. Meanwhile, Inukpuk's plans for the winter include leading a class for Inukjuak youth interested in learning how to make karniks. Inukjuak elders are asked to teach in the local school, a role Inukpuk says she is proud to play.

Vol. l 3, No. l Spring /9 98

SUSAN AVINCiAQ

Susan A vingaq is regarded as a leading seamstress in

the eastern Arctic. In Igloolik, she sews clothes, kamiks and mitts for family, friends and orphans. She says she doesn't have much interest in marketing her work outside Igloolik but will occasionally fill a spe­cial order from a tourist. A vingaq is interested in passing on her skills to younger people in Igloolik. She recently went on the local radio to recruit st u­dents for a sewing class and ended up with a full house. Her sewing work is closely tied to her motivation for involvement with the Tariagsuk video group. Tariagsuk, she says, is about women working together and women show­ing and recording what they do.

MADELINE IVALU

Five years ago, Igloolik elder Madeline Ivalu was

afraid to touch a button on a video editing machine for fear of breaking it. Now, Ivalu and the other women in the Tariagsuk Video Workshop are marketing their work as an educational resource for Inuit. Ivalu says the main goal of the video

Sewers and videomakers Susan Avingaq (L) and

Madeline lvalu of lgloolik, November 1997.

InuitArt Q U A It T E 11. l Y

group is to validate Inuit women's activities as impor­tant to the culture. "I get ideas for projects when I am doing other things ," Ivalu said in an imerview two years ago. "Mainly when I'm out in the camp, inside the tent and preparing cari­bou skins. I think of things that I would really like to have on video." Ivalu and fellow Igloolik videomake rs Mary Kunnuk and Susan A vingaq presented their most recent production, Taravut!Our Reflections, at a debut screening in the South. The women were especially ple~sed and

proud to present their work to an Inuit audience. One woman said after the screen­ing, "I had no idea that what I do every day was so important." Ivalu enjoyed the interaction with other women. Despite a langu age barrier, she learned new sewing techniques from Shirley Moorhouse of Labrador. In Igloolik, Ivalu wants to start a sewing "group of seven" but lacks a building in which to work. Banding together in a group, Ivalu said, would help organize the sewers and better connect them with marketing opportunities.

MARY KUNNUK

Mary Kunnuk looked around the clean, bright ,

well-equipped printmaking studio at the Ottawa School of Art and said, "I wish we had this in Igloolik ." An art and elementary school teacher, she would love a place in which she could teach stencil printmaking to young Igloolik students. Kunnuk lamented the loss of funding to continue a full­time art class in the local school. Kunnuk also leads after-school programs for Igloolik children and says she learned a lot at the Pan­Arctic Women's Workshop

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to pass on to the children. Kunnuk was one of three arlists at the workshop rep­resenting the Igloolik women's video movement. The workshop featured a screening of Taravut!Our Reflections, their most recent production. Clare Porteous­Safford, workshop coordina­tor for the Inuit Art Foundation, said: "The screening seemed to come at a critical point in the work­shop. It showed so many aspects of Inuit life that it appeared to reassure the women about home." Kunnuk also videotaped an evening session in which the 17 women discussed the transmission of Inuit cul­tural skills to the younger generation .

SARAH APPAQAQ

"It is not a sideline, it is the way we live."

- Sarah Appaqaq

Sarah Appaqaq says that, in spite of the effort it takes

to be an artist in the remote community of Sanikiluaq, she enjoys dollmaking . "It is not a sideline ," she said during the Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop, "it is the way we live." Now in her late forties, Appaqaq first learned to carve from her father at the age of 15. She still carves occasionally but says getting soapstone is difficult as it requires travel by canoe and camp­ing overnight. Her dollmak­ing doesn't take any less effort. Appaqaq picks the lime grass for her doll bases in January. She says she spends much of the summer finishing them. She sells most of her dolls and bas­kets on consignment in Iqaluit - it is her only source of income. Appaqaq would like to try printmak­ing because "it looks like a lot of fun." She has done some drawing before, and she says one of her favourite sessions at the women's workshop was the life drawing class.

SHIRLEY MOORHOUSE

Shirley Moorhouse had her first solo exhibition in the

summer of 1997 at Arctic Artistry in Hastings-on­Hudson, a suburb of New York City. She says the pres­sure of working to exhibi­tion deadlines had taxed her inspiration - until she attended the Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop. Moorhouse credits meeting the many women artists with renewing her desire to sew and to work with new materials . She spent much of her time working on her wall hangings in the vicinity of the printmaking studio. Taken with the medium, she

hopes to learn more about printmaking from Elsie Klengenberg at a future workshop. Moorhouse thinks she can apply certain stencil principles to the pattern-making techniques she uses in her fibre art. Moorhouse played a major role as a workshop liaison and resource person. She passed on many sewing and marketing tips to the other artists, urging the women to attach a personal tag, like a business card, to any work that is sold. Moorhouse gained much of this knowl­edge from her experience of running her own business in Goose Bay, Labrador.

Vol. I 3, No. I Spring I 998

RHODA KARETAK

Rankin Inlet artist Rhoda Karetak was initially

unsure whether she would attend the Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop because of responsibilities at home. By the second week, she says, she was very happy she did because she learned a lot of new techniques to help with her ceramic and sewing projects. Karetak says that by the workshop's conclusion, many of the participants better understood the need to work together for the survival of their art: "This workshop has been a great experience to share the free­dom that we have gained in the last few years as women artists." Karetak has worked at the Rankin Inlet ceramic studio for four years.

InuitArt 0 U A R T E R L I"

"I think I'm quite successful with ceramics and I really enjoy it. I had thought a lot about ceramic making because I am aware that in the past Rankin Inlet had a place where people could go to work on ceramics. I often wondered how people worked on ceramics and I used to think that if I ever had the opportunity, I would definitely try it." Conscious of her role as a community leader, Karetak saw the opportunity to help Rankin youth by leading a work­shop of her own in the com­munity. Her notice that she would give a class on soft­ening and sewing skins resulted in 21 women showing up to participate. Her house was so full that some were working outside on the porch. In addition to sewing and jewellery mak­ing, Karetak used to carve, but now prefers ceramic work. She said the two media share many elements, but it still takes time to adjust to working in clay rather than soapstone: "It's like our mind is able to create things, but our ability to use our hands is another thing."

Lucv 5ANERTANUT

While working on a pot, Lucy Sanertanut was

asked where her clay came from. Most, it turned out, is shipped from the South, but some is more than 20 years old, left over from a previ ­ous ceramics project in Rankin. Ceramic work was first introduced to the com­munity by the federal gov­ernment in 1963 as a means of generating income fol­lowing the closure of the local mine the previous year. After years of equip­ment problems and mediocre sales, the project met its demise in 1975. The medium has experienced something of a revival in recent years with the encouragement of Matchbox Gallery owner Jim Shirley. Sanertanut has been work­ing in the Rankin Inle t ceramic studio for two years. She has also carved since 1969 but says she finds clay easier to work with. She agrees with Karetak that many elements of ceramic work and carving are similar. She likes to include wildlife images -polar bears, fish, narwhals and whales - and human faces on her clay pots. Sanertanut says the workshop had given her many new ideas to put into

Okpik Pitseolak's Woman

Juggling was considered an appropriate symbol

for the workshop.

practice at home. She thinks she progressed artistically during the two weeks in Ottawa, learning to put more thought into each work before she starts. A carving Sanertanut com­pleted at the workshop of a mother owl carrying a baby in an amauti prompted Mattiusi Iyaituk to call her "one of the most interesting artists here."

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The Art 1. Mother Holding Her One Year

Old Baby Who Still Doesn't Have

Enough Strength to Hold Its

Head Upright, 1997 , Lucy Meeko, Kuujjuaraapik (grey stone ; 25 x 17 x 16 cm ; Inuit Artists' Shop).

2. David Ruben Piqtoukun, 1997, Maudie Ohiktook, Taloyoak (Brazilian soapstone; 6 x 10 x 4 in. ; Inuit Artists' Shop).

3. Bears , 1997, Ak itiq Sanguya, Clyde River (green serpentine; private collection).

4. Woman Turning into a Narwhal,

1997, Okpik Pitseo lak, Cape Dorset (green soapstone; private collection).

5. Sp i rit, 1997, Maudie Ohiktook, Taloyoak (Ch inese talc; 10.5 x 4.75 x 4.0 in.; private collection) .

All photography by Tim Wickens unless

otherwis e stated.

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5

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3

Vol. /J , No. I Spring /9 98

6

7

8

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InuitArt Q U A R T E R L Y

... ,,. p~ ..

6. Young Seals at Play, 1997, Susie Malgokak, Holman {stencil) . Deni s Drever

7. Hunters of the Sea, 1997, Elsie Klengenberg, Holman {stencil). Deni s Drever

8. Man and Avataq, 1997, Elisapee lnukpuk, lnukjuak {sealskin, seal fur, stone, wood, grass, duffle, cloth; 15 in.).

9. Untitled, 1997, Rhoda Karetak, Rankin Inlet {clay, blue glaze; 6 x 7 .5 x 7 in .; private collection). Matthew Fox

10 . Woman Carrying Water, 1997, Sarah Appaqaq, Sanikiluaq {tie-dyed cloth, covered wire, yarn, acrylic paints, sealskin with and without hair, cotton thread, sinew, wood, grass; private collection).

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FEATURE

Inuit Art Attracts Cautious New Attention in

"The French public has certain expectations: they

want to see nice sculptures in bone and soapstone ...

they are not prepared to recognize art with an

ambiguous attitude to that tradition." - Catherine Bedard

By Cecile Pelaudeix

Although there is still not a single piece of contemporary Inuit art to be seen in a French museum,

Inuit art has found some ardent ambas­sadors in France among ethnologists and entrepreneurs. L'lglou Art Esquimau, an import and distribution company in Douai headed by Claude Baud and Michel Jacot, has been organizing exhibitions of con­temporary Inuit art across France for the last 12 years. The gallery arranged for the inclusion of several sculptures by Paulosee Kuniliusee in the controversial exhibi­tion Les Magidens de la Terre (Magicians of the Earth), held at the Musee National d'Art Moderne de Paris in 1989. In 1996 it lent Grand Corbeau (Big Raven), a magnificent and imposing piece by Johanasie Illauq tha t has attracted a good deal of notice, to the Fondation Cartier pour I' Art Contemporain for the thematic exhibi­tion Comme un oiseau (Like a Bird). That same year, L' Iglou Art Esquimau cele­brated its 100th exhibition, an event

attended by Emile Martel, Minister of Cullural Affairs from the Canadian embassy. Baud and Jacot are also co­authors of a recently published work on Inuit art (Baud, Brice, Jacot 1997).

A second gallery dedicated to Inuit art, Galerie Saint-Merri, opened in Paris seven years ago. Owner Martine Lena says her goal is to "have Inuit art recog­nized as a full-fledged art." Lena has also created an association called Inuksuk, l'homme debout, 1 wh ich, along with UNESCO, organized th e exhibition Itineraire inuit, rencontrer un peuple a /ravers sa culture (Inuit llinerary: Meeting a People through Its Culture). Organized as part of the International Decade of the World 's Indigenous People ( 1994-2004), this exhibition, which was held at the Palais de !'UNESCO in Paris in the spring of

Vol. 13, No. 1 Spring 1998

1997, brought together some 130 works from the Canadian Arctic. Aaju Peter of Iqaluit gave a concert of traditional songs at the opening, while Canadian researcher Norman Hallendy presented an exhibi­tion of photographs of the inukshuk and gave a talk entitled "Places of Power, Objects of Veneration."

In addition to these private initiatives, a few French museums are involved in the field of contemp orary Inuit art. This past summer, the Chateau-Musee de Boulogne-sur-Mer, which has the largest collection of Aleutian masks in Europe, presented the exhibition Things Made by Inuit, organized by La Federation des Cooperatives du Nouveau-Quebec in 1980. The exhibition, now travelling in Europe, was seen by 5,000 visitors during a two-month period. It enjoyed

"People are very hesitant about the contemporary art

of indigenous peoples." - Catherine Bedard

similar success with the French public in the spring of I 997, when it was exhibited by the Musee Portuaire de Dunkerque. According to the museum curator, Isabelle Roussel, Things Made by Inuit was presented from "an ethnological angle," and because "it dealt with a people who have survived in large part because of the sea," it fit right in at a maritime and port museum "open to all the maritime cultures of the world."

lnuitArt Q U A II T E R L 'f

AN "ARCHAIC ART" The ethnographic dimension predomi­nates in current .French exhibitions of Inuit art, and contemporary Inuit art is most often repres en ted in France by stone sculpture; lithographs are rarely mentioned. 2 The title of the latest exhi­bition at the Galerie Saint-Merri is Jene suis qu'une pierre (f Am Nothing but Slone). French organizers of Inuit art exhibitions especially prize what they describe as the "simplicity," "purity" of form and "authenticity" of Inuit sculpture. With its "archaic" style, Inuit art offers an "ulti­mately facile plastic language." Neither "intellectual ," "conceptual," "abstract" nor "hermetic," Inuit art is "addressed directly to the sensibi lity, to the heart." French aficionados describe it as "inhab­ited," "incarnate" and "regenerative," speak ing of "things that are essential for them [the Inuit] but perhaps for us as well." Where some contemporary French art seems to be "cut off from the roots of life," the art of the Inuit "reminds us that we are grounded." It is seen as embodying a balance between nature and a spiritu­ality which , along with various other attributes assigned to Inuit art by French enthusiasts, reflects its alienation from contemporary Western art, and from Western society itself. Inuit art is viewed as containing many of the distinctive traits that attracted modern artists to the art of indigenous populations at the beginning of this century.

ART AND CULTURE Inuit exhibitions are treated as an oppor­tunity to discover a neglected culture towards which the French public demon­strates an "immense curiosity," according to Michele Therrien, senior lecturer at the Institut des Langues Orientales de Pa.ris3 where she teaches Inuit language and culture. The expeditions and studies of France's Jean Malaurie and Paul-Emile Victor 4 created a definite interest in

Michele Therrien, senior lecturer for Inuit language and culture at the lnstitut des Langues Orientales de Paris: " Inuit art in France reinforces a positive image of Inuit culture."

Arctic culture in France. Therrien says that the Inuit art exhibited in France has helped "reinforce a positive image of Inuit culture," whereas "the media very often transmit negative images of destruction." She adds, "The Inuit are the reality; the Eskimos the fantasy." In France many

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An exhibition organized by L'lglou Art Esquimau at Musee d'Arras, 1987.

people still hold to a romantic, idealized vision of the North. After all, what is meant by the term "traditional culture?" Does it not all too often presuppose a static tradition divorced from history in which the only benchmark is the arrival of the white man?

Inuit art is viewed as a reflection of culture, but it is also seen as an expression of a people whose identity is threatened. Magazine articles on Inuit art bear such titles as "An Art of Memory and Survival" and "The Art of Survival."

The prevailing view is evident in such comments as: "The Inuit have not renounced their identity. And it is no doubt thanks to sculp ture and drawing that some among them can still bear wit­ness to it" (Nickel and Gabbey 1990); "Art has become an essential means of transmission of this culture in transi­tion" (Daubert 1997); and "Their [Inuit] artistic work gives a profound sense of the current search for political autonomy" (Ramonet 1989).

The Canadian embassy presents "the reality of

how things are changing for Inuit. There is no

question of presenting the Inuit as a static world."

- Catherine Bedard

LOOKING FOR FAMILIAR ARCHETYPES There is a wide variety of reaction to any evolution in Inuit art among exhibit organizers. Some seek works that invoke an ancient past and eschew any traces of modernity. Others who yesterday refused to admit its existence now declare them­selves open to new themes in Inuit art. They speak of interesting innovations and refer to works that deal with con­temporary themes as gutsy, rea l and strong. At the same time, they deny any possibility of Western influence on Inuit art.

As for the attitude of the French pub­lic, Catherine Bedard, who is in charge of visual arts for the cultural services at the Canadian embassy and is actively

involved in promoting Inuit art in France, says "the French public has certain expectations about Inuit art: they want to see nice sculptures in bone and soap­stone ... they are not necessarily pre­pared to recognize art with an ambiguous attitude to that tradition."

The focus on the idea that Inuit iden­tity is threat ened has helped forge the image of an art of "memory" or "narration from the past," which tends to exclude any innovation, formal or thematic , from the field of Inuit artistic creation. At the same time, the evolution of contemporary Inuit art practice is undoubtedly inter ­preted by some Western critics as the renunciation of their culture in the face of modernity and globalization . Pierre Dutrievoz, a French visual artist who has visited several Canadian Arctic commu­nities, says: "The creations of [Inuit] artists working with such new media as com­puters or exploring new materials not indigenous to the Arctic are not known in France, where they still avoid talking about Inuit artists using disc saws. The French look for familiar archetypes and reject new interpretations." Nonetheless , Catherine Bedard insists that the mandate of the Canadian embassy "is to present the reality of how things are changing for Inuit. What stays the same has as much value as what changes. There is no question of presenting the Inuit as a static world."

Denis Picard, assistant editor in chief of Connaissance des Arts, notes that the Inuit art presented in France is limited to "very traditional ethnographic objects." We do not see work that "renews the vocabulary or grammar of Inuit." Since the French are always interested in new artistic expressions, Michele Therri en suggests that "perhaps what is missing is

Vol. 13, No. 1 Sprmg 1998

extremely contemporary works" that are what she would call "free from their cre­ation." She wonders whether such works of Inuit art exist at the moment, or whether they are in the process of being created. Referring to Transitions, a recent exhibition organized by the Canadian government at the Canadian Cultural Centre, Therrien continues: "It contained works by young sculptors with what I feel is a new outlook ... Is this a movement in the offing? I think so."

A COLLECTIVE ART? The work of Inuit artists in France is presented as "Inuit art," a fine generic expression but one that leads to confu­sion . Claude Baud thinks that the gallery owners to whom he proposes exhibi­tions often "start with an unfavourable attitude and confuse it with 'primit ive' art or popular art." He adds: "You have to watch out for the second-rate commercial works that to some extent tarnish the image of Inuit art." For his part, Michel Daubert ( 1997) points out that it is "dif ­ficult to distinguish art [from] craft work in thi s overabundance of production."

To my knowledge, no solo exhibition of work by an Inuit artist has ever been organized in France. What is displayed is the output of a cultural community. Inuit artists appear only as members of that community and their work is appraised solely in light of collective conventions and values. Pierre Dutrievoz remarks: "I was seduced in Cape Dorset by the work of artists like Oviloo Tunnillie and Toonoo Sharky. They demonstrate a searching th at is both personal and visual. These are works that touch a univ ersal chord ... beyond any Inuit cultural specificity."

"Perhaps we need an Inuit commen­tary," suggests Therrien, who believes that "this can only be the fruit of a real col­laboration." She does not think it is the

lnuitArt Q U A. R T E R t Y

The no-man's land in which Inuit art languishes is a sign of the rigidity of

our conventional categories of classification and the obstinacy of an ethnocentric view of the purpose of art.

gallery owner's role to do this. "Rather, I think it is the role of an Inuk to present works in exhibitions around the world that he himself has selected for personal, and perhaps collective, reasons."

For Denis Picard the term "Inuit art" is justified for the purpose of communica­tion, but not from an artistic point of view. '1 am waiting for a great artistic temperament that would no longer be considered just an Inuit artist, just as we no longer care anymore if an artist is Swiss or black. He is an artist, that is all ... Since Inui t art is still relatively unknown , the people who propose and organize exhibitions, whether in galleries or travelling, or somewhere else, tend to pick pieces that are immediately famil­iar to the public. An artist who was less

French artist Pierre Dutrievoz and an assistant set up Talking with the Wind on the esplanade of the Pont d' Avignon : "I was seduced in Cape Dorset by the work of artists like Oviloo Tunnillie and Toonoo Sharky . They demonstrate a searching that is both personal and visual."

recognizable as Inuit might have a harder time getting noticed at this point - unless he had an extremely strong personality. There is a perversion here: when an artis­tic niche becomes too specific, it is difficult to get out of it."

WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR INUIT ARTISTS IN FRANCE? To date, there are no permanent displays of contemporary Inuit art in French museums. For Michele Therrien, this is a "very serious blindness, an ignorance that France must correct as quickly as possible." A debate has begun in France concerning President Jacques Chirac's proposed creation of a museum of Aborig­inal arts. "We don't have the equiva lent of the Canadian Museum of Civilization,'' Therrien says. "So will the next proposal get it right?" For all that, the issue of contemporary versus more "traditiona l" work does not seem to be at the centre of the debate.

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Martine Lena in Galerie Saint Merri: "I am trying to have Inuit art

accepted as a full-fledged art ."

As for the contemporary art world, Catherine Bedard notes, "people are very hesitant about the contemporary art of indigenous peopl es. For example, most of the people we usually get at our exhi­bitions of contemporary art did not come out for the Transitions exhibition. Some of the people in the contemporary art world came out, but often they weren't sure if this art should really be considered part of their field." She continues, "It is not clear whether Inuit art should be pre­sented in museums of contemporary art. Inuit art is an interesting problem. Is there a history of Inuit art? Obviously there is one, but one that is much younger."

Does art not become contemporary at the point where it breaks with tradition? ''Yes," says Picard. "There is no other

definition . We are no longer interested in French painters who continue to paint the way they did before the war, or in the 18th century. Why should we be? Unless they do it with exceptional style."

"There has been a particularly violent debate in our newspapers recently about the relevance and merit of the concept of contemporary art (and of the works that come under that heading) ," says art his­torian Pierre Paliard. Referring to an arti­cle by Cyril Jarton in Art Press International (1997) that listed criteria that could be used to define contemporary art, Paliard remarks (in Pelaudeix 1997):

There is an insistence on a sort of existen ce in the present and on the self-sufficiency of today's art and artists ... In short, there are no cri­teria except those that the procedure itself can impose. I see in all this a great despair and a certain naivet e. The death of modern utopias ... has not quenched the desire for utopia! The rejection of history, the rejection of a hierarchy of legiti­macy and cultures seems to go hand in hand with this "autotelique" (having or being a purpose in itself) conception of art. From such a per­spective, individualism can feed into the universal and into a morality that is safe; but it does so by avoid ­ing any conscious conflictual dialec­tic betw een the two terms. How can you introduce works from a com­pletely alien milieu - the milieu of non-Western societies and particu­larly, small groups with very con­fining structures and weak defences - into such a field, without strip­ping them of their original mean­ing? It's impossible of course. But this "stripping" always takes place as soon as the work travels - or is view ed - and, in terms of culture and symbol, there are, ultimately, no origins. There are only relation­ships, influences. The meaning is

never given. lt is always constructed throughout the work's life. There is perhaps no place for Inuit art: it would undoubtedly impose a mean­ing on it to which it could not be reduced. Its destiny must be worked out through the energy of its artists and the passion of its admirers.

Inuit art is compared to the works of Western

artists like Henry Moore and Picasso who took their inspiration from

primitive works.

The exhibition Les Magiciens de la Terre at the Musee National d' Art Moderne de Paris et de La VilJette set off a passionate debate. It mark ed the first time that the work of an Inuit artist (Paulosee Kuniliusee of Broughton Island) had penetrated one of the temples of modern French art. The ambition of curator Jean­Hubert Martin was to "challenge the received idea that contemporary art pretty much exists only in Europe, the United States and Japan, that there is nothing anywhere else anymore because we have killed it all" (in Picard 1989). Praised by some for its "open -mindedness," the exhibition was vilified by others who criticized what they saw as a colonialist vision of art.

The no-man's land in which Inuit art languishes is undoubtedly a sign of the rigidity of our conventional categories of classification and the obstinacy of an eth­nocentric view of the purpose of art. Thus,

Vol . 13, No. I Spring 1998

it is ironic that contemporary Inuit art is compared to the works of Western artists like Henry Moore and Picasso who took their inspiration from primitive works. Pierre Paliard wonders wh ether "we are prepared to move beyond statements of intention, to give up the Western model?"

The objective of the 1997 Transitions exhibition, as formulated by co-curator July Papatsie, a northern cultural research offic er at the Department of Indian Affairs and North ern Development in the Canadian government, was not just to present "recent avant-garde " works, but also to contribute to a "general rethinking of the general perception of Inuit art." There is definitely work to be done in this regard in Franc e where, in spite of the many and varied initiatives, one voice ha s yet to be ·heard: that of the Inuit artist.

Cecile Pelaudeix, a freelance arts writer living in Grenoble, has written several articles on Inuit art for the French press. She visited Cape Dorset in the summer of 1996.

InuitArt Q U >, R T £ P. l 'I'

Editor's note: This article was written in French. Readers may request a copy of rhe original version by con­tacting Inuit Art Quarterly at: 2081 Merivale Road, Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2G 1G9; Tel: (613) 224-8189; Fax (613) 224-2907; e-mail: iaf@inuitart.org

NOTES

The goa l of this association is to "encourage

and supp ort efforts to promot e respect for man in his culture and environment. "

2 This does not mean that there isn' t a keen interest in this mode of artistic expression. In 1995 L'Iglou Art Esquimau organ ized a

retrospe ctive of the works of Kenojuak

Ashevak and Kakulu Saggiaktok.

3 The Instilut des Langues Orientale s de Paris

is the only post-secondary institution that offers a four-year course in Inuit language

and culture.

4 Jean Malaurie is the author of the bestselle r Les Derniers Rois de Thule. The year 1997 was the 50th anniversary of the French polar

expeditions organized by Paul-Emil e Victor.

REFERENCES

Baud, Claude , Irene Brice, and Michel Jacot 1997 Art T11uit: la sculpture et l'estampe contempo­raines des Esquimaux du Canada. France: Editions

Fragments.

Daubert, M. 1997 ''L'art de surv ivre." Telerama 2464

(March):44-5.

Jarton, Cyril 1997 "L'an en train de se faire." Art Press International 222 (March):26-30.

Nickel, F., and R. Gabb ey

1990 "L'art nouveau des hommes du froid." Geo 142 (December):224-42.

Pelaudeix, Cecile 1997 Unpublished interview with

Pierre Paliard, Sept ember.

Picard , Denis

1989 "Liberte , Egalite, Magie ." Connaissance des Arts 449- 50 (July-August):56-65.

Ramonet , I.

1989 "Sculpter l'identite Inuit. " Le Monde Diplomatique (Jul y):27.

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ART SPACE G A L L E R y

• COLLECTIONS CONSULTANT

• EXHIBITIONS

• MUSEUM EDUCATION

• ART TOURS

PRESENTING A NA TIVE PERSPECTIVE THRO UGH TH E ARTS

InuitArt Q U A R T [ R t Y

Inuit & Iroquois s c u I p t u r e

• Cape Dorset Prints

• Western N.Y. Artists' Paintings and Drawings

• Established 1968

SHOESTRING GALLERY 1855 MONROE AVE./ROCHESTER, NY 14618/(716) 271-3886

Internet address:http//www.pgl .com/shoestring/

'Family of Five and Seal ', h: 5" w: 16" d: 10"

Copperm ine

... from private collections ...

Premiere on the Internet February 15, 1998

browse our gallery virtually, anytime ...

www.houston-north-gal lery.ns.ca 110 Montague Street , Lunenburg , Nova Scotia , Canada B0J 2C0

te l.: (902 ) 634-8869 fax: (902) 634-8 332 ema il: inuit @houston-north-gallery.ns.ca

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26

CURATOR'S CHOICE

(1920-1980) John Pangnarl{

E very museum collection of artifacts has its own history, its specialties, weaknesses and strengths. The

National Inuit Art Collection at the Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC) contains many treasures. Among them is a collection of 70 sculptures by John Pangnark of Arviat, 50 of which were bought in June 1969 by Dr. Bill Taylor, director of the mus eum from 1967 to 1983. Taylor purchased them from Canadian Arctic Producers to show in an exhibition, Oonark!Pangnark, paying an average of $10 to $35 for each piece (Pangnark's works now sell at auctions for $1,200 or more). Twenty-five of the 50 works purchased by Taylor were dis­played in the travelling exhibition, which opened in 1970. The other 20 works were bought in 1970, 1971 and one in 1974, again by the late Dr. Taylor. While the 1970 and 1971 prices remained in the

By Maria von Finckenstein

$50 range, the 1974 piece was bought at Lippe! Gallery in Montreal for $4 75. Evidentl y the price of Pangnark's work was increasing even during his lifetime.

While some of the pieces have been shown in various exhibitions over the years, most have remained hidden in the museum's vaults. The following selec­tion presents works mainly from the CMC collection, with two pieces from other public collections to round out the picture of Pangnark the artist.

Pangnark was born in 1920 at Windy Lake, about 200 miles west of Arviat. He settled in Arviat in the late 1950s after pursuing a semi-nomadic way of life during which he and his family endured periodic hardship and deprivation. Pangnark started carving in th e mid­l 960s and most of the CMC works belong to the period around 1968-69, halfway through his artistic career. In 1970 he travelled to Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan but returned home in six weeks,

overwhelmed by the noise and confusion of a world fair. He seems to have been productive until about 1975, five years before his death at the age of 60.

fig. 1: Woman, c. 1968, John Pangnark, Arviat (black stone; 14.0 x 11.5 x 7.0 cm; Canadian Museum of Civilization) . Pangnark 's condensi ng of the human figure to a few basic shapes appeals to our modern formal sensibili­ties. He has often been compared to Brancusi. Both artists distil the human figure lo its very essence, and their works radiate a mood of stillness and archaic strength. In this piece the slight incline of the head and shoulders to one side creates a sense of movement and prevents the piece from being cold and aloof.

Photo credits: top centre, George

Swinton; right, Canadian Mu seum

of Civilization.

Vol. 13, No. l Spring 1998

28

fig. 2: Man, 1968, John Pangnark , Arviat (black stone; 16.5 x 10.2 x 9.6 cm; Canadian Museum of Civilizat ion). The base of Lhis figure is uneven, which renders the carving somewhat wobbly. When told that a carving was not stable, Pangnark would joke and move it around on the table until he found a place where it would stand, or he would bend over and squint at the table or floor, saying that one or Lhe other was uneven. Inevitably, he had to give in and file a flatter spot on the bottom of the carving (Oonark/Pangnark 1970) . (Photo: Canadian

Museum of Civilization)

fig. 3

fig. 3: Man, 1968, John Pangnark, Arviat (black stone; 10.5 x 9.8 x 10 .5 cm; Canadian Museum of Civilization). Pangnark' s semi-abstract style seems to work besl when he uses crisp edges to define the contours of his figures. In this piece he has reduced the figure to a series of rectangular hard-edged planes. The reduction of the human figure to pure, stark form imbues this carving with a formal dignity reminiscent of Jessie Oonark 's designs. (Photo: Canadi an Museum of

Civi lization)

fig. 4: Woman, 1968, John Pangnark, Arviat (dark grey stone; 15.0 x 8.0 x 16.5 cm; Canadian Museum of Civilization). It seems Lhat Pangnark often allowed himself to be inspired by the natural shape of the stone, only refining what was already there. Here the edges and planes of the original stone have been accentuated and rounded sufficiently to create the impression of a woman wearing a parka. The surface of the stone in front has been left untouch ed. It is as smooth as pebbles that have been washed and polished by the sea. (Photo: Canadian

Muse um of Civilization)

Vol. I 3, No. I Spring I 998

fig . 4

fig . 5: Female Figure, 1969, John Pangnark, Arviat (grey-black stone; 14.3 x 14 .7 x 7.5 cm; Winnipeg Art Gallery). Pangnark' s sculptures are the result of a strugg le with a hard , unyielding stone, a problem he shared with other Arviat carvers . Unable to rely on surface detail, beautiful texture or colour in the stone, Pangnark was forced to express himself through sheer form. In this tiny piece, the body of the mother figure is reduced to a rectangle with two protruding blocks as arms. Despite its size, it exudes strength and has a sense of monumentality. (Photo:

Ernest Mayer , Winnipeg Art Gallery)

InuitArt Q V A R T E R L Y

fig . 6: Man, c. 1969, John Pangnark , Arviat (black stone; 10.7 x 9.7 x 5. 7 cm; Canadian Museum of Civilization). Self-contained and self­absorbed , this figure does not interact with the space around it, nor does it reach out to the viewer. Within his for­mal vocabulary, Pangnark finds many ways to vary his one and only theme, the solitar y human figure. Here he uses curves and broad planes sparingly to compose an image of arresting clarity and integrity. (Photo : Canad ian Museum

of Civil ization)

fig. 5

fig. 6

29

30

fig. 7: Untitled (Standing Figure), before 1971, John Pangnark, Arviat {stone; 12.3 x 6.0 x 11.0 cm; Twomey Collection, Winnipeg Art Gallery, with appreciation to the Province of Manitoba and Government of Canada). Pangnark was a kind­hearted, tiny man with a shrivelled face, aged before his time because he had experienced periods of severe star ­vation while he was growing up. His gentle character is expressed in his carvings , through soft curves and sim­plified forms. The outstretched arms and the face turned upwards give this piece a spiritual quality , as if the figure had been captured in the act of prayer. (Photo: Ernest Maye r, Winnip eg An Gallery)

fig . 8

fig. 8: Figure, befo re 1969, John Pangnark, Arviat {grey stone; 10 x 13 x 7 cm; Canadian Museum of Civ ili zation) . The rounded shape, bor ­rowed from nature , and the minimal facial features give Pangnark's figure an anonymous, timeless quality. The slight hollows and undulations in the stone and the chips and scratches from chisel marks imitate imperfections and textures found in nature. This small figure, rounded to fill the hollow of the hand, invites touch and has a strong emotional appeal. (Photo: Canadi an Mu seu m

of Civiliza tion)

fig. 9: Woman, 1970, John Pangnark, Arviat {grey sto ne; 14.2 x 15.1 x 6.8 cm; Canadian Museum of Civ ilizati on). The most stunning of the works bought for the CMC collection in 1970 is this depiction of a man or woman , ambiguous as to which gender but remarkable in its class ic elegance and serenity. The porous stone,

polished to an unusual degree, adds to its appeal. It is no accident that the piece was included in two major exhibitions , Pure Vision (1986) and In the Shadow of the Sun (1988). (Photo : Richard Garn er)

fig. 10: Mother and Child, 1974, John Pangnark, Arviat {dark grey stone; 31 .3 x 28 .2 x 23.0 cm; Canadian Museum of Civilization). This is the largest of the 50 works in the CMC col­lection . After seeing most of the works , whi ch are small enough to hold in one hand , it is a surprise to realize that Pangnark was capable of working suc­cessfull y on a larger scale. The peaks and valleys of the rocky landscape that constitute the mother's body create a gentle rhythm in harmony wi th the theme. As usual, Pangnark seems to have adapted his concept to the natural shape of the ston e. (Photo: Canadian

Museum of Civili zat ion)

Vol. 13, No. l Spring I 998

fig. 9

REFERENCE

National Museum of Man

1970 Oonark/Pangnark. Ottawa: National Museum

of Man.

FURTHER READING

Hessel, Inga

1998 "John Pangnark." St. James Guide to Native North American Artists. Detroit: St. James Press.

1990 "Arviat Stone Sculpture: Born of the S1ruggle

with an Uncomprom ising Medium." Inuit Art Quarterly 5, I (Winter) :4-15.

Swinton, George

1972 "Eskimo Art Reconsidered." Artscanada 27

6 (December/Jan uary):85-9 4.

Winnipeg Art Gallery

1982 Eskimo Point/Arviat. Winnipeg: Winni peg

Art Gallery.

Zepp. Norman

1986 Pure Vision: The Keewatin Spirit. Regi na:

Mackenzie Art Gallery.

1985 "Pa ngnark." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Edmonton: Hurt ig Pub lishers .

InuitArt Q U A II. T [ R L Y

fig. 10

i r John Pangnark in his Arviat studio, undated.

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32

AT THE CANADIAN

CULTURAL CENTRE

PARIS, FRANCE

JANUARY 22 TO

FEBRUARY 20, 1997

AND THE WAIKATO MUSEUM

OF ART AND HISTORY

HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND

OCTOBER 11 TO

DECEMBER 31, 1997

(O•CURATED BY BARRY ACE

AND JULY PAPATSIE

All photography by the Department of Indian Affairs and

Northern Development.

CURATORIAL NOTES

Transitions: Contemporary Canadian Indian and Inuit Arl Curatorial notes by Barry Ace

Transitions officially opened on January 22, 1997 at the newly ren­ovated Canadian Cultural Centre

in Paris, France. Prime Minister Jean Chretien, former minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Developm ent Ron Irwin, French minister of Culture Phillipe Douste-Blazy and Canadian ambassador to France Jacques Roy were in attendance. The exhibition was sched­uled to travel to severa l other European venues, but many of these sites lacked adequate exhibition space, resulting in the cancellation of a more extensive European itinerary. Despite the brevity of the European leg, the month-long Paris exhibition generated enthusiasm and support throughout Europe .

Following Paris, Transitions opened on October 12, 1997 at the Waikato Museum of Art and History in Hamilton, New Zealand. Canadian High Commissioner Valerie Raymond, Hamilton mayor Margaret Evans and Waikato Museum director Jenny Cave officially opened the exhibition. To celebrate the 10th anni­versary of the Waikato Mus eum, a major suite of Tainui Maori exhibitions was displayed beginning in October. The first, Tainui: The Journey, presented the untold history of Tainui Maori and the colonial occupancy of the Waikato region. The exhibition featured the permanent instal­lation of a Tainui waka (canoe) in the museum. Since it thematically comple­ments the other exhibitions, the Waikato curatorial team felt that October was also an appropriat e time to open Transitions.

Prior to the opening, Barb Moke , Maori curator of Tainui: The Journey, and I spoke at length about our histories, cultur es and spirituality, sharing stories and legends and thoughts on the art of our peoples. We were both surprised by

Walrus Composition, 1996, Jobie Arnaituk, Kangiqsujuaq (fossilized walrus skull, caribou antler, soapstone; 58.5 x 36 .5 x 38.0 cm; National Indian and Inuit Art Collection, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development).

Vol. 13. No. I Spring 1998

the similarities in our experience as col­onized Aboriginal peoples. Showing me the exhibition she was then working on, Moke described in detail the mean­ing of the waka and motifs carved into the canoe and wall panels. As she explained, the canoe is very significant to the Maori, for they trace their family lin­eage back by these vessels, in some cases as far as 30 generations. A warrior canoe was on display with a figure of the war­rior after which the waka was named carved on the front. The warrior's face bore traditi onal moko (tattoo) motifs, which identified him as belonging to the Waikato region and revealed infor­mation about his family and stat us. Many Indian and Inuit peoples also wore tattoos in the past.

I noticed tha t a Maori always approaches a work of art with great respect. Voices are lowered and one hand, held out flat, moves in slow motion a few inches above the art. Moke explained that the Maori refer to their traditional art as taonga (highly respected art imbued with meaning) and that the medium becomes taonga through the artistic process and the talent of the artist as well as from the viewers interacting with the work. Taonga whakairo means something that is beautifully decorated and highly valued.

I visited a vault that stored centuries-old taonga that had only recently been returned to the Waikato region. Many of the taonga were green­stone carvings of mythological figures and faces. The greenstone artwork is sim­ilar to the serpentine used in Inuit sculp­ture. Sacred to the Maori, greenstone is imbued with taonga and korero (a story) .

lnuitArt Q U A ~ T E R L 'f

Moke approached these pieces with great respect and, holding her hand over the taonga, would remain speechless, as if absorbing the korero, or power and his­tory of the taonga.

Moke explained that upon the arrival and unpacking of Transitions, her uncle Waea, a Maori elder and Waikato Museum board member, treated the Canadian works in the same manner as they treated their own taonga. Speaking to each work in Maori, he said that, although the sculptures may not under­stand what he was saying, they would understand the spiritual welcome and prayer he was reciting. He told Moke that these works were the taonga of Indian and Inuit peoples and that it was extremely important that they be treated with the same respect as their own taonga. The uncle returned when the exhibition was packed up to speak and pray to each piece before it went on its journey.

In the gallery the night before the open­ing two women elders were gathered around Toonoo Sharky's Inner Spirit. They seemed extremely interested in the work. They told me that they were drawn to it

Atanaajuat (Naked Man), 1996, James Ungalaq, lgloolik (fossilized whale bone, caribou antler; 58.5 x 20.3 x 56.0 cm; National Indian and Inuit Art Collection, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development).

Standing in a Circle, 1996, Mike Massie, Happy Valley-Goose Bay (sterling silver, tulip wood; 7.7 x 11.1 x 11.1 cm; National Indian and Inuit Art Collection, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) .

Unity, 1996 , Alex Alikashuak, Whale Cove (fossilized walrus bone; 25.5 x 5.2 x 6.2 cm; National Indian and Inuit Art Collection, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) .

33

Landscape , 1996 , Janet Kigusiuq , Baker Lake (pencil crayon; 75.7 x

90.2 cm; National Indian and Inuit Art Collection, Department of Ind ian Affairs and Northern Development) .

Shaman, 1996, George Arlook,

Arv iat (soapstone, caribou antler; 34.3

x 23.S x 30.S cm; National Indian and Inuit Art Collection,

Department of Ind ian Affairs and

Northern Development).

Inner Spirit , 1996, Toonoo Sharky (ser­

pentine; 47 x 14 x 16.S cm; National

Ind ian and Inuit Art Collection,

Department of Indian Affa irs and Nort hern

Development).

34

because it was a powerful taonga, that the face bears striking similarities to Maori carving. I had myself noticed that the faces of the figures on the wall in the waka installation shared an uncanny resemblance in shape and form to Sharky's work . Elements common to both include facial features, inlaid eyes, flared nostrils (which, on Maori carvings, were adorned with moko) and an open mouth revealing teeth. The elders were also curious about the colour of the stone. They said they recognized similiarities with their greenstone but were awestruck by the crystallized texture and brownish glow. During our walk around the exhi­bition, the elders approached each piece with great respect, pausing to absorb the korero of the taonga. It was later explained to me that the women were highly respected Maori elders from the Waikato region, one bein g the aunt of the Maori queen Te Ata i Rangikaahu .

At the exh ibition opening, the Maori performed a ceremony welcoming guests and the taonga. Before guests could enter the gallery space, elders sang traditional Maori songs and spoke about the sign ifi­cance of hos ting an exhibition of Indian and Inuit taonga. £ was told that the elders' songs and words were creating a marae, a sacred ground containing a meeting hous e and taonga. I had earlie r visited Moke's home commun ity of Kawhia, a coastal marae on the Tasman Sea. The

The Thigh of Caribou with Bits of Fat, 1992, Mattius i lyaituk, lvujivik (ser­pentine, caribou antler; 26.7 x 19.8 x 48.4 cm; Nationa l Indian and Inuit Art Collection, Department of Indian Affa irs and Northern Development) .

marae was surrounded by a wooden fort­like structure with an elaborately carved and decorated meeting house at its centre. The canoe that brought her peop le to that sacred place is buried on the marae site. Carved stone markers are situated at the bow and stern of the buried canoe. The marae is a very special and sacred space, and it is this sacred feeling that the elders created in the Waikato gallery for the Indian and Inuit taonga.

Once the marae was created, the guests were invited to enter. Guests who spoke each had a special song performed for them before they could address the group. When I got up to speak, the elders sur­rounded me in a circle and sang a Maori song to bring the spirits of the ancesters into me. I was told that this would give me strength to speak . After speaking, the elders repeated the song, singing the spirits out of me. I was told that it was very important not to sit down until they had finished , for my sp irit was still in a vulnerable state. The exhibition was offi­cially opened when an elder spoke and blessed the guests and works of art at the end of the ceremony. Once the ceremony was finished, the spirit of each piece was welcomed into the marae and the sacred space for the taonga was created.

Although there is great physical dis­tance between the Maori and the Inuit and North American Indians, the art, cul­ture and spirituality are not so distant. -...

Vol. I 3, No. I Spring I 998

OWL, OSU!TOK IPEELEE CAPE DORSET, 1964, 7.25 x 7 x 4" ILLUSTRATED: SCULPTURE/ INUIT, 1971

On March 1, 1998 FEHELEY FINE ARTS

is moving to 14 HAZELTON AVENUE -Our special exhibition

in May 1998 will be THE RYAN COLLECTION -

A selection of rare early works, collected over thirty years of Terry Ryan's life and work

with the artists of Cape Dors et.

Please contact us for information or catalogue.

Fehelei FmeArts (416) 323-1373 • Fax: (416) 323-0121 • feheley@ istar .ca

lnuitArt Q U A R T E R L Y 35

36

AT THE WINNIPEC

ART GALLERY

SEPTEMBER 20, 1997 TO

APRIL 5, 1998

CO-CURATED BY DARLENE

COWARD WICHT AND

DYANE CAMERON

Kud/oopudlooallook, 1970, Jessie Oonark, Baker Lake (stonecut; 55 .6 x 76.0 cm; Winnipeg Art Gallery, gift Indian and Northern Affairs Canada).

CURATORIAL NOTES

Unil<:aat • tor1es Curatorial notes by Darlene Coward Wight and Dyane Cameron

Unikaat/Stories features 30 prints and drawings from the Winnipeg Art Gallery's Inuit Art Collection.

Work by 12 artists from four different communities reveals the artist in the role of storyteller, interpreting a wide range of animal fables, creation myths, epic quest legends and stories concerning shamanic mythology. These stories come from the oral traditions of distinct cultur al groups living in different geographical regions. Some are unique to a specific culture while others are told throughout the Arctic with regional variations.

Twelve of the works are by Agnes Nanogak, a prolific artist and storyteller from the community of Holman in the western Arctic. Nanogak's repertoire of stories has been enriched by contact with three distinct western Arctic cultural groups, the Alaskan Inuit, the Copper Inuit and the Mackenzie Delta Inuit. Her subject matter encompasses poignant ani­mal tales such as The Owl and the Ptannigan; creation myths such as The Thunder Spirits and The Two Sisters; and animal-human transformation stories such as Woman Kidnapped by a Walrus. Nanogak's style is characterized by swirling shapes and vibrant colour in The Owl and the Ptannigan and Etiktayok. In other works, such as The Blind Boy and the Loon, Vengeance and Kidnapped by a Walrus, she emphasizes

dramatic composition and flowing lines to portray a climactic incident from the story.

The artists of Baker Lake are repr e­sented in the exhibit by 13 drawings and prints which highlight thematic concerns of a darker nature. It is significant that all of the prints and drawings that depict supernatural creature s and monsters are from the Baker Lake artists. Using a vari­ety of aesthetic approaches, these artists reveal a world in which people are con­stantly menaced by malevolent spirits.

Ruth Annaqtuusi Tulurialik's vigor­ous lines and painterly layers of colour created an expressive portrayal of an evil ogress who steals children in the Legend of the Amautalik. Jessie Oonark interpreted a similar creature, Kudloopudlooallook, who lurks underwater near the shore to snatch unsuspecting children and adults. It is depicted in a stylized technique that emphasizes the decorative pattern of the creature's octopus-like body.

Two drawings by Janet JGgusiuq focus on violent encounters between humans and predatory monsters. In Scene with Giant Birds, a bold diagonal composition contrasts the immense size of the birds with their puny human opponents,

Vol. 13, No. I Spring 1998

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heightenin g the tension of the scene. While the other Baker Lake art ists por­tray spir its and monsters derived from traditional In uit legend s and stories, Nancy Pukingrnak Aupaluktuq has cre­ated a unique race of bizarre canniba l creatures from her own imagination. In her drawing, appropriat ely called Story of Murder, the grisly scene reveals one of the creatures gleefully drinking the blood of its decapitated victim.

The journeys of the epic hero Qiviuq have also been a recurrent theme of the Baker Lake artis ts in recen t yea rs. Victoria Mamnguqsualuk illustrates three episod es from the Qiviuq saga in her drawing Qiviuq's Search for His Bird Wife. In anot her drawing about Qiviuq 's adven ­tures, called The Boy and His Grandmother Tricks the Mean People, th e ent ire story

Legend of Amautilik, 1972, Ruth Annaqtuusi Tulurialik, Baker Lake

(coloured pencil and graphite; 52.7 x 75.5 cm; collection of Mr. and Mrs.

K.J. Butler, courtesy of the Winnipeg Art Gallery).

InuitArt Q U A ~ T f R L Y

" 0

unfolds sequen tially from right to left across the image. Simon Tookoome's sur­realistic treatment of the complex inter­relationship between animals and humans in the print Qiviuq Dreams of Wolves and Men is enhan ced by the electric colour of the print.

Each of th e artists in th e ex hi b it, through the medium of their own per­sonal graphic sty le, has continu ed the tradition of storyte lling. Thus, the rich oral culture of the Arctic can be appreci­ated and und erstood through the visual imagination evident in their art. ..,.

The Blind Boy and the Loon, 1975, Agnes Nanogak, Holman (stonecut; 45. 7 x 61.1 cm; Winnipeg Art Gallery, gift of Holman Eskimo Co-operative).

c The Two Sisters, 1969, ~ ;§ Agnes Nanogak , Holman ~ (stonecut ; 45.6 x 61.0 cm; ~ '"" Winnipeg Art Gallery, .9- gift of Holman Eskimo C

~ Co-operative).

37

38

CURATORIAL NOTES

Pencil to Paper: Early Drawings by Parr

AT THE NATIONAL

CiALLERY OF CANADA

OTTAWA, ONTARIO

NOVEMBER 28, 1997 TO

MARCH 29, 1998

CURATED BY

CHRISTINE LALONDE

Hunt ing Scene, 1960-65 , Parr, Cape Dorset

(graphite on wove paper; 50.5 x 46.0 cm; National

Gallery of Canada, g ift of M.F. Feheley, 1984) .

Curatorial notes by Christine Lalonde

At the time Parr was born, in abou t 1893, Inuit lived self-sufficiently "on the land ," travelling over the

open expanses of the arctic tundra to fol­low the seasonal migration of animals. Parr lived on Baffin Island as a successful hunter and trapp er until an unfortunat e hunting acciden t partly incapacitated him. As a consequence, he moved al the age of 68 to the communit y of Cape Dorset , wh ere he died in 1969.

In 1961 Parr made his first drawings in pencil on a simple sketch pad . Along with such artist s as Kenojuak Ashevak ,

Pudlo Pudlat and Pitseolak Ashoona, he was encouraged to try his hand at making images for the annual Cape Dorset print collection. His earliest drawings, pro­duced without any training or instruc­tion, are remarkable for their lack of hesitation and directness of thought and expression. According to Terry Ryan, advisor to the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative, "From the very first, [Parr] was obviously intrigued and totally com­mitted to the undertaking, for he drew on both sides of the sheets, completely fill­ing the very sizeable area ... In his hum-

\

ble fashion, Parr would simpl y sit on .g his sleeping platform, balancing sheets of ~ paper on his outstretched legs, drawing 0 intently" (Parr: A Print Retrospective. Cape ~ Dorset: Kingait Press, 1979, p . 4). 8 The many scenes of hunting that Parr

loved to depict are drawn in a strong and gestural line, with the stylized figures of humans and animals minimized to their essential features . Because of their sim­plicity, his drawings are often compared to prehistori c Dorset art or pictographs,

Vol. 13, No. I Spring 1998

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and it may be th at his work does evoke powerful and eternal associations. Yet Parr lived in the 20th century , and these w ork s repr ese nt a point of cont act betwe en two world s - the tradition al Inuit world in which he grew up and the world of Inuit art, whi ch would later claim him as one of its greats.

...,__

Over 200 of his drawin gs ha ve been made into prints and issued as part of the annual Cape Dorset print collection s. While Parr ' s sty le did not radi cally change over the years, the introduction of colour pencils and felt-tip pens after 1965 did give a slightly different focus to his work. This selection of drawin gs from the National Gallery's collection is taken from his earliest works and reflects Parr's remarkable first attempts to create images of Inu it life as he kn ew it best.

Christine Lalonde is (acting) assistant curator of lnuir Art at the National Gallery of Canada.

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Newport Beach, California 92663 Tel: 1714) 723-1922 Fax: (714) 723-4882

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lnuitArt Q U A R T [ i l Y

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Walrus and Seal Hunting with a Sled and a Boat,

--_,___ c. 1961, Parr, Cape Dorset (graphite on wove paper ; 6 1.0 x 45.8 cm ; National Gallery of Canada, gift of an anony­mous donor).

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39

40

High Arctic Voyage "Celebrating Nunavut" with Robert Bateman

Join wildlife artist Robert Bateman and The Royal Canadian Geographical Society for our annual Environmental Discovery Voyage. Visiting Arctic Canada and Greenland for ten days departing August 27,

1998 celebrating the arrival of Canada's newest Arctic Tcrritory­Nunavut. Also featuring: Inuit oral historian Ann Meekitjuk Hanson, Inuit cultural specialist John Houston, RCGS President Denis St-Onge,

adventure photographer Mike Beedell, musician Ian Tamblyn, art historian Carol Heppenstall , marine biologist Dennis Mense and

ecologist Sabina Leader. Only 54 cabins aboard the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov. From $3,495 CDN. Air Extra.

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Top of the Earth Science Mu seum of Virginia, Richmo nd, VA

The H olman M emorial Print Collection: old print s by Kalvak & Em erak

Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newp ort News, VA Affiliate of the Virginia Mu seum of Fine Art s

Judith Varney Burch Arctic Inu it Art, Richmond, VA

T elephone : (804) 285-0284 Fax: (804) 285-9628 E-mai l: inuitjvb@erols.com

HOLMAN 1998 33RD ANNUAL GRAPHICS COLLECTION

Participating Galleries/Venues Albers Callery San Francisco, Californ ia 415 -391-21 ll

The Arcti c Experience Callery H am ilton , Ont ario 905 -522-9443

Arctic Inuit Art Richmond, Virgi n ia 804-285-028 4

Boutique aux Multipl es Quebec City, Quebe c 418-692- 1230

Canada House Banfi, Alberta 403-762-3757

Dancing Bear Galler y Newpor t Beach, California 714-723 -1922

Galerie d 1 Art Vincent Ottawa, Ontario 613 -24 1-1144

Guild Shop Toron to, Ontar io 416 -921-9415

Holman Eskimo co.o perative Ho lman, Northw esl Terri tories 867 -396-3531

Hou ston North Callery LunenbLirg, Nova Scotia 902-634-8869

Igloo Art Montreal, PQ 514 -481 -3313

Elsie Klengenberg Imitating lnukshuks , 56x38 cm

lkaluklutiak Co-operative Cambridge Bay, Northw est Territories 867-983 -220 1

The lnnuit Callery London London, Ontario 519-672- 7770

Native Art Callery Oakv i lle, Ontar io 905-845-5577

Northern Imag es Churchill , Manitoba 204 -675-2681

Northern Image s Edmonton, Alberta 403 -444-1995

Northern Image s lnuv ik, Northwes t Territories 867-777-2786

Northern Image s Winnipeg, Manitoba 204 -942-5501

Northern Images Yellowkn ife, Northwes t Territories 867 -873-594 4

Numisart Services Timmins , Ontario 705 -267-7514

Ozawa Canada Richmond Hill, O ntario 416-229-6343

Spirit Wrestler Callery Vancouver, BC 604-669 -8813

The Upstairs Callery Winnipeg, Man itoba 204-94 3-2734

For further information: Canadian Arctic Producers l -81!8-468-482 7 From Frozen Shores

Westport , Connecticu t 203-227-7551 Official openings: Friday, February 27, 1998

Canadian venue: Guild Shop, Toronto, Ontario American venue: Albers Gallery , San Francisco, California

Vol. / 3, No. I Spring 1998

uitArt In '" '" Q O A

118 Cumberland Street · M5R 1A6

Toronto,t~~~;~ 921_1721

fax (416) 921-3688

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BOOKS

Images of. us ice

BY DOROTHY HARLEY EBER

MONTREAL, KINGSTON,

LONDON, BUFFALO:

Mc<ilLL•QUEEN'S

UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1997,

224 PP., $39.95

Reviewed by Desmond Brice-Bennett

In the novel Sophie's Choice the dreadful decision Sophie was compelled to make was which of her two children

to sacrifice to the Nazi executioner that the other might live. Whatever choice she made she was doomed to a life of torment. K.ikkik, little more than a decade after the period of Sophie's Choice, had to decide which of her five children to leave to die that the others might live. The executioner in Kikkik's case was the awful famine described by Farley Mowat in The Desperate People. Kikkik, after stab­bing to death her husband's murd erer, in a camp broken by hunger, set off for the Hudson's Bay Company post at

Padlei. At a point on the trail, separa ted from her original companions, she left two of her children in a snowhouse and continued with the other three, the small­est one in her amaut i. Her companions had meanwhile reached Padlei and told of the hunger and killing . Soon Kikkik and the three children with her were rescued but a policeman's professional eye saw significance in Kikkik's glancing away when saying that her other two chi ldren were dead. As a result, there was a search and one of the two survived. Kikkik had two trials and was acquitted in both, the jury in the murder trial tak­ing just IO minutes to reach a verdict.

The trial in R.v.Kikkik was held in Rankin Inlet, Northwest Territories in 1958. Three of the Yellowknife Court­house collection of Inuit carvings depict the events of Kikkik and it is one of the dozen or so of the case histories associated with that collection that Dorothy Harley Eber writes about in Images of Justice. The book is a fine achievement. Excellent, simple photographs of the carvings intro-

Shooyook outside his igloo at Fort Ross, c. 1965.

Vol. 13, No. I Spring 1998

duce the chapters telling their stories, all titled with the legal descriptions of the cases: Regina v. Kikkik, Re Noah's Estate, and so on. The events behind several of these cases are of heroic proportions, Like Kikkik. In Shooyook and Aiyoot a camp ter­rorized by a woman gone mad reluctantly put her to death; one of the two appointed killers was her own son. Aiyoot, the son, remains in touch by radio with Shooyook, the actual killer, who got a suspended sentence and still live s in an outpost camp. Aiyoot explained to the author the extreme adversity of the camp in those days between break-up and freeze­up: "The hard times were in June , July , August, I think until October. We couldn't travel and we had no radio. That was the real problem . . . we had no radio." Today, Inuit and other Arctic travellers could testify to hundreds of instances when th e ubiquitous trail radio has saved the day.

The author has drawn on many sources, very often the participants themselves, to tell the whole story of each case - to the extent that this is ever possible. It makes as compelling reading as the best of the "true crime" genr e. Subtitled : A Legal History of the Northwest Territories as Traced through the Yellowknife Courthouse Collection of Inuit Sculpture, the book is also a survey of the history of the courts and the administration of justice in the Northwest Territories (chiefly the Nunavut area) today. But the reader need not fear a legal text. Instead , we have a portrait of the courts and their professional players over the past 40-odd years, from the appoint ­ment of Mr. Justice Sissons, who cre­ated the collection , to th e gradu ation from law school of Paul Okalik of Pan gnirtung in 1997. Current questions concerning interpretation , alternative

InuitArt Q O A R T E R L Y

justice systems and sentencing policy are, on the whole , discuss ed with accu­racy and balance. One question that receives significant attention is the results of trials with Aboriginal juries. There is a school of thought in the North, cited in the book, which believes that many of the acquittals obtained are contrary to the law and the facts of the cases. It is an unfortunate gap in the book that the opposite view, held by many with equal experience to the author 's sources, was not also canvassed.

There are many enjoyable anecdotes. Bob Pilot, the investigating officer in Amaq, Avinga and Nangmalik, talked Sissons out of imposing a jail sentence in a cosy pre-sentencing chat. Ayalik, where the accused killed a policeman, caused much tension in Cambridge Bay. The trial was before Sissons. The lawyer s were both future judges of the Territorial Supreme Court, William Morrow for the defence and Mark de Weerdt for the Crown. The poli ce had arranged very uncomfortable accommodation for the defence ; the Crown rejected his own more congenial arrangement and bunked down in comradely spirit with his col­league. Mark de Weerdt , an important source for the author , has served with distinction the administration of justice in the Arctic for longer than anyone, as

R. v. Shooyook and Aiyoot, n.d ., Bernard Ekutartuq, Pelly Bay (ivory, antler, stone; 26.0 x 28 .5 x 12.5 cm; Yellowknife Courthouse Collection of Inuit Sculpture). Richard Harrington

Jayko took Judge J.H. 5issons to court by skidoo in Taloyoak for the 1966 trial of Shooyook and Aiyoot.

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Courtroom scene during R. v. Shooyook and Aiyoot, Taloyoak,

1966. One of the defendants is on the left; Judge Sissons presides at

the front desk of the classroom.

Crown, defence lawyer, magistrate and Superior Court judge. It is to be hoped that he leaves a memoir. Dorothy Eber has met the woman who was once the lit­tle girl in Kikkik's amauti. She has named a son Sterling, after her mother's lawyer, Sterling Lyon, later premier of Manitoba. The child rescued from the snowhouse by the police took many years to overcome her rejection.

Most read ers will have the sense that, in the cases related in the book, justice was done. There seems also to have developed, from th e early part of the period to the present, a partnership betw een the Inuit and the courts with

the objective of obtaining just results, in spite of enormous cultural differences. Widespread current dissatisfaction with the administration of criminal justice has to do, not so much with the foreign nature of the tribunal , but with the inad­equacy of the system in coping with the social problems that lie behind so much of what comes before the courts. Elijah Erkloo of Pond Inlet has looked after many youngsters sentenced to open cus­tody. He told Eber: "They're not crimi­nals as such - just confused kids . Their parents lived out on the land and then came into the set tl ement. The camp leader became the garbage collector. Everything is upside down for their par­ents." Of the idea of community justice, which he supports, Erkloo said, ''I might not call it that - in my mind it is social development." It is likely that commu­nity justice councils of some kind will become common in the settlements and deal with much of what now comes before the courts. For several years

Judge Beverley Browne in the Baffin region has invited elders to sit with her and advise her in sentencing. A striking, but not unexpect ed, feature of this advice is the knowledge of the commu­nity and the individual that such people bring to the hearing. One may hope that partnership with the superior courts will continue to be a feature of justice at the community level.

The final chapte r of the book explores the provenance of the 25 carvings in the collection . Only one was made by an accused, that in Kaotak. Alec Banksland is the only carver known to be still living. All the carvings are from the western and central Arctic, the great majority from Coppermine. Even the carvings that depict events from the eastern Arctic show their figures in western Arctic dress. All but three of th e collection were acquired by Sissons himself and the rest by Morrow. Banksland made the carving in Re Katie's Adoption. Until Eber told him, he did not know that it was in the Yellowknife Courthouse.

Dorothy Eber, whose association with the Arctic is a long one, has woven several strands into an attractive and thoughtful book : Inuit carving, harsh but compelling tales of people in extremis and a valuable journalistic snapshot of the administra ­tion of justice in the Arctic today.

Desmond Brice-Bennett , a lawyer, worked for IO years out of Pond Inlet for Maliiganik Tukisiiniakvik Legal Services.

Vol. I 3, No. I Spring I 998

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lnuitArt Q U A R T [ R L Y

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46

BOOKS

Sinews The Living of Survival: Legacy of Inuit

Bv BE'M"Y

KOBAYASHI ISSENMAN

VANCOUVER: UNIVERSITY OF

BRITISH COLUMBIA PRESS,

1997, 224 PP.,

HARDCOVER, $49. 95

Reviewed by Jill Oakes

Clothing Sinews of Survival: The Living Legacy of

Inuit Clothing takes a thorough look at the skin clothing of Canadian Inuit

from various regions. Based on an exten­sive literature review, which includes significant contributions by Inuit authors as well as historic and current writings of non-Inuit, the book reviews Inuit arti­facts and photographs in private and public collections located in Europe and North America.

Sinews of Survival examines the styles and construction techniques of all type s of Canadian Inuit clothing including parkas, pants, boots, bonnets and mit­tens. Brief summaries of clothing styles in Greenland, Alaska and Russia pro­vide interesting points of comparison. The book is divided into six main sec­tions. The first explains where the differ­ent groups of Inuit are from and discusses Inuit archaeology, providing examples of prehistoric tools and clothing used in the circumpolar region. The second sec­tion describes the most commonly used skins and preparation procedures and introduces the basic prin ciples of skin clothing design , as well as the tools and techniques used to produce the clothing.

The largest section of the book out­lines the key style characteristics of Inuit clothing in each region of the Canadian Arctic. This is followed by a short section on the sp iritual and symbolic meaning conveyed throu gh Inuit clothing, and on its cultural significance in general. The

evolution of Inuit clothing styles and contemporary trends in Inuit fashions are also surveyed.

The appendices include a list of col­lections drawn on by the author, while a glossary of place names in Inuktitut and English is a useful tool for readers who are unfamiliar with Inui t terminology. Sinews of Survival is easy to read and well illustrat ed with lots of black-and-whit e photographs (both archival and contem­porary), and maps and diagrams that help to clarify concepts presented in the text. Photograph captions are informative and, whenever possible, the people in the photographs are identified. Dorothy Burnham 's illustration s of selected Inuit patterns are remarka ble .

For thousands of years, skin clothing has protected the people of the North. It has also provided a kind of code to Inuit identity from pre-contact days to the present. Sinews of Survival is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the significance of Inuit clothin g as a means of spiritual, cultural, physical and eco­nomic survival in the Canadian Arctic.

Jill Oakes, who specializes in Aboriginal material cul· lure, teaches in the Department of Native Studies, University of Manitoba.

Vol. 13. No. I Spring 1998

fig. 1

fig. 2 fig. 3

fig. 4

InuitArt Q O A rt T ( rt l V

fig. 1: Sealskin kamleika (gutskin), sewn with sinew by a Siberian Yup'ik in the late 19th or early 20th century. A ritual gutskin with a verti­cal strip arrangement, the garment is trimmed at the edges and seams with dark red cloth and cinnamon ­coloured ringed-seal skin. Dyed hair strips ornament the chest and simu­late a belt at the waist, possibly a reference to that of the shaman . UBC Press

fig. 2: Inner and outer amauti of cot­ton, duffle, dogskin, tape, braid and wool (190 cm), made by Napachee and the Pangniqtuuq (Pangnirtung) Sewing Co-operative, 1979. UBC Press

fig. 3: Mary Luuku of lvujivik produced these women's sealskin boots (37 cm) in 1981.

UBC Press

fig . 4: Sea lskin applique on bleached caribou hide (36 .4 x 18 .3 cm)

probably from lnukjuak or Puvirnituq, c. 1950 . UBC Press

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Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak­Lindell (centre) met with direc­

tors of the Inuit Art Foundation on November 3.

(1-r) Maudie Ohiktook, Elisapee lnukpuk, Gayle Gruben (IAF

staff), Elsie Klengenberg, Shirley Moorhouse, Susie Malgokak,

Lucy Meeko, Pam Stellick (IAF staff), Sarah Appaqaq, Shirley

Thompson (IAF staff) and Elisapee ltulu toured Parliament

Hill only to discover that the gift shop sold fake Inuit art.

UPDATE

NUNAVUT MP TACKLES "FAKE LORE"

Nunavut Member of Parliament Nancy Karetak-Lindell add ressed the issue of imitation Inuit art in a statement to the House of Commons on October 22. Imitation Inuit art is commonly referred to as "fakelore," meaning work depicting "Inu it" scenes or images but not pro­duced by an Inuh artist. While it is not illegal for non-Inuit to create Inuit -like work, some producers and sellers make

the origins of the work ambiguous. Karetak-Lindell took up the cause when several artists from the Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop - most of whom live in Karetak-Lindell's constituency­toured the Parliament Buildings on October 19. Visiting the Centre Block souvenir shop, they were dismayed to discover fakelore offered for sale. The artists wrote to Karetak- Lindell, notifying her of the imitation art. "As Inuit artists visiting Ottawa," they stated in the letter , "we were sadd ened to see no original work by Inuit artists in the shop at all, and are concerned that tourists will be purchasing work that they think is authentic." In an interview carried in major newspapers across Canada, Shirley Moorhouse of Goose Bay, Labrador described the presence of tacky fakelore on Parliament Hill as "a slap in the face." In her statement to the House of Commons, Karetak-Lindell said: "An industry producing imitation carvings and prints ... is making it harder and harder for legitimate artists to sell their work. I am pleased to inform the House that following our conversation, Mr. Speaker, we will be exploring options to promote legitimate Inuit art in the parliamentary gift shop." Making fakelore art illegal would be difficult, but at a November 3 Inuit Art Foundation board meeting , Karetak-Lindell told the artist/direc­tors: "Awareness alone has done a lot. Public education can work wher e legislation won't."

Vol. 13, No. I Spring /998

1998 NATIONAL ABORIGINAL ACHIEVEMENT ~W~RDS

"Never doubt the power of the dream" was John Kim Bell's message to the Canadian Aboriginal community as he launched the nomination process for the 1998 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards at a September 25 reception on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Now in their fifth year, the annual awards, bestowed by the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation (formerly the Canadian Native Arts Foundation), recognize outstanding career achieve­ments by individua ls of First Nations, Metis and Inuit ancestry in diverse occupations. Recent Inuit recipients have included Cape Dorset artists Kiawak Ashoona and Kenojuak Ashevak, Canadian ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs Mary May Simon and the Inuit Circumpolar Conference's Rosemarie Kuptana. The achievement awards are "a great program and a wonderful opportunity," said Jane Stewart, minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. "The achievers who will be selected are role models for Canadians of all ages." Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Secretary of State, Children and Youth, said the awards "recognize many unsung heroes." The awards foundation received more than 900 nominations by the October 10 deadline. The jury for the 1998 awards is composed of 19 individuals, including Natsiq Alainga-Kango of Iqaluit , Northwest Territories and Senator Charlie Watt and Zebedee Nungak

lnuitArt Q U A R T ( R. l Y

UPDATE

John Kim Bell, executive director of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, at the launch of the nomination process for the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, Ottawa , September 25.

of Nunavik. The 1998 winners will be announced at a gala evening on March 12 in Toronto. A week later, CBC will broadcast a national network one-hour special showing highlights from the event.

VVINDS OF CHANGE

The federal government's Indian Art Section and the Canadian Inuit Art Information Centre have merged to become the Indian and Inuit Art Centre within the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND). Viviane Gray, former

manager of the Indian Art Centre, takes over as head of the new body. Ingo Hessel, who is no longer wi th the department, was formerly responsible for the Inuit section. The new centre's activities will be geared more towards the needs of artists , providing them with such information as a mailing list of dealers (for those who want to pursue their own marketing oppor­tunities), tool and stone sources." A combined [Indian and Inuit art) centre has much more strength in dealing with the public and the decision­makers for the betterment of Aboriginal artists," said July Papatsie, northern cultural research officer. "We seem to work well together." The Indian and Inuit Art Centre has also established an artist-in-r esidence program, making its gallery space in the main lobby of the DIAND building in Hull available to Aboriginal artists for selling exhibi­tions. The Inuit Artists' Shop organized two small exhibitions in November: Inuit Art of Nunavik and Inuit Women Artists. This was followed by Images of Inuit, an exhibition of 14 sculptures by William Gruben. A solo exhibition is "something as an artist you always dream of having," Gruben said. "It's a relief that the department gave me the flexibility of an open-ended theme for the exhibition ." All three exhibition openings attracted large crowds, perhaps partly due to the fact that it was the first time since the mid- l 980s that Inuit art had been displayed in the DIAND lobby. The art centre plans to alternate monthly exhibits with Indian and Inuit art.

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The Story of Baker Lake, 1997, Nancy Sevoga, Baker Lake (reductive wood­cut on kozo paper; 52.0 x 64.25 cm).

Woman Gathering Kelp, 1997, Mary Pudlat, Cape Dorset (lithograph on BFK Rives paper; 77 x 57 cm).

UPDATE

ftlE:W COMMUNITY PRII\IT COLLECTIONS

For the first time since 1990 a Baker Lake print collection was released on September 12, 1997. The 20 limited edition prints that comprised the collection were produced by long­established artists familiar to southern collectors: Philippa Iksiraq, Janet Ikuutaq, Victoria Mamnguqsualuk Kayuryuk, Nancy Sevoga, Magdalene Ukpatiku and Janet Kigusiuq Uqayuittuq. The Sanavik co-op's financial problems resulted in the ter­mination of the printmaking program in the late 1980s. But, in 1995, at the invitation of some of the printmakers, Nunavut Arctic College organized a two-year drawing and printmaking course under the direction of Kyra Fisher. In spite of poor working con­ditions at an abandoned municipal building that featured a leaky roof, cracked floors and rusty beams, the group succeeded in producing the 1997 collection of 20 prints. In November 1997, the Baker Lake

Family, 1997, Philipa lksiraq, Baker Lake (relief woodcut/stencil ; 54 x 66 cm).

Printmaking Society, led by presi­dent Thomas Iksiraq, resumed work on a new collection at a location in the community arena. The space is on loan to the group for one year. -The 1997 Cape Dorset Graphics Collection was released on October 24. The collection included work by estab­lished artists Arnaqu Ashevak, Kakulu Saggiaktok, Kananginak Pootoogook, Kavavaow Mannomee, Kenojuak Ashevak, Mary Pudlat, Nikotai Mills, Pitaloosie Saila and Sheojuk Etidlooie, and two dry-point etchings by a new artist, Suvinai Ashoona, daughter of carver Kiawak. Qiatsuq Niviaqsi, Pitseolak Niviaqsi and Aoudla Pudlat, as well as Paul Machnik and Mewa Armata of Studio PM (a Montreal studio spe­cializing in etchings that has worked with such contemporary artists as Betty Goodwin and Jack Shadbolt), were the printers. "In spite of the concerns expressed in the past few years by some - including those senior artists who ponder the future of the print stu­dios - creative progress persists," wrote Terry Ryan in the catalogue foreword. "This is due in no small part to the tal­ents of the resident printmakers, and also to the more recent involvement of Studio PM and other visiting artists." The 1997 Dorset collection, consisting of 34 graphics, was carried by nearly 40 galleries worldwide. The official opening sites were Houston North Gallery in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and Ancestral Spirits Gallery in Port Townsend, Washington.

Vol. 13, No. J Spring /998

INUIT EXPLORE OPTIONS IN CULTURAL SECTOR

The third session of the Inuit Art Foundation's Cultural Industries Training Program (CITP) is nearing completion. The eight students in the seven-month program are: Kim Brown (Pangnirtung), Marion Blake (Goose Bay), Heather Campbell (Rigolet), Karen Ijjangiaq (Igloolik), Ina Kaunak (Pond Inlet), Janet Komaksiutiksak (Rankin Inlet), Jeffrey McRae (Pond Inlet) and Billy Okalik (Pangnirtung). CITP is designed to introduce Inuit to the range of career options in the cultural sector, with the long-term goal of involving them in the care and handling of their art. The program is divided between formal classes, group and individual projects, tours of art and cultural institutions, and work placements. Classes in arts administra­tion, art history, the sociology of Inuit art and computer training comprise

William Gruben of Tuktoyaktuk leads a session on cultural awareness with students of the Cultural Industries Training Program, October 1997.

InuitArt Q U A fl: T E R l Y

UPDATE

some of the formal instruction . Parks Canada, the Canadian Museum of Civilization , Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, Earthlore Communications, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa School of Art and the Inuit Art Foundation were work placement sites in October. The program is funded by the Kagita Mikam Local Delivery Mechanism.

NORTHERN MUSEUM I\IEVVS

In October, the old Rankin Inlet air terminal building was moved a few hundred metres to a site next to the learning centre where it will become the community's first museum. The move, which was held up when the building got stuck between two poles, blocking a road for three days, came shortly after the new owner, Inuit Cultural Institute (ICI), purchased it for $1 from the federal government. "We're pleased with how things are going," ICI executive director Norman Ford told Kivalliq News. "We've been looking for a building for 10 years." The Nunavut Heritage Centre, as it will be called, will include a display area, a retail store, a resource centre and office space for ICI. A June 1993 feasibility study determined that the building needed $150,000 in renovations. ICI is now looking at ways to raise the money.

• Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit, Northwest Territories was the recipient of a large donation of miniature carvings in September. Mary Morrison Davis, a major in Canada's armed forces during World War II and a member of the Order of Canada, bequeathed her collection of

more than 100 ivory, whale bone and caribou antler carvings to a place where the work would be "kept together, secure and used for educational pur­poses," said BilJ Sloan, Davis's nephew and executor of her estate (Davis died on December 30, 1996). The collec-tion includes work from communities throughout the North. Museum curator Dorothee Komangapik told Nunatsiaq News (September 12, 1997) that the donation comprises one-third of the museum's permanent collection.

• A new museum in Baker Lake is expected to open in the summer of 1998. Baker Lake's Inuit Heritage Centre and its manager, David Webster, are currently working on fundraising and renovation. Webster told Kiva/liq News (October 8, 1997) that the idea originated three years ago with a group of elders while they were on an archae­ological dig near the Kazan River, north of Baker Lake. The museum will focus on the community's history and its people .

• In November, Nunatsiaq News reported that Inukjuak residents Alicie Napartuk and Simeonie Weetaluktuk were chosen to represent the community's elders on a newly formed museum committee that will determine the programs of Inukjuak's Daniel Weetaluktuk Museum. Selected members of the local municipal coun­cil and the education and youth com­mittees will also serve on the museum committee. The Avataq Cultural and Historical Society, which operat es the museum, is currently cataloguing its collection. The Weetaluktuk museum is the only one in Nunavik. Puvirnituq's museum was demolished in 1996 because the building was in poor repair.

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Okpik Pitseolak carves with several onlookers at Qaggiq Fall '97.

Lucy Sanertanut consulted with Mattiusi lyaituk about a carving of a mother and a baby owl on which she wished to use an inlay carving

technique to create eyes, Qaggiq Fal/ '97 , Ottawa, November 1997.

UPDATE

QAGGIQ FALL '97

The Inuit Art Foundation hosted Qaggiq Fall '97 at its offices in Nepean, Ontario on November I and 2. More than 20 artists, including directors of the Inuit Art Founda tion and partici­pants in the Pan-Arctic Women's Workshop (seep. 6), gave demonstra­tions in carving, printmaking, fibre art, ceramics, jew ellery making and doll­making. The artists answered ques­tions from the public about their art and worked with each other on new techniques and materials. The free event, which drew about 1,000 people during the weekend , also included demonstrations of Inuit games, drum dancing and ayaya singing. Proceeds from sales during the event go directly to the Inuit Art Foundation artists ' programs.

ABORIGINAL V'OU,-H VVIN FILM P.VVP.RD

A Canadian Aboriginal youth video entitled Balance - Healing through Helping won the American Indian Film Festival Award for Best Public Service Video at a ceremony held at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, California on November 8. More than 50 First Nations, Inuit and Metis youth partici­pated on a voluntary basis in the writing, acting and producing of the video. The 45-minute video examines the lives of Aboriginal youth with candid discus­sions on family values, goals, personal health and peer pressure." Aboriginal

youth have focused on positive mes­sages which portray healthy lifestyle choices," said Ethel Blondin-Andrew , Secretary of State, Children and Youth, at the video's launch in Ottaw a on November 6. "Their accompli shments are truly commendable." The video was developed within Health Canada's Aboriginal Wellness Campaign, a program that promotes healthy living through culturally sensitive vehicles. The video is being distributed nation­ally to 1,600 youth organizations, Aboriginal high schools, friendship centres, health organizations and com­munity centres. It is expected to reach more than one million Aboriginal people in Canada. Copies of the video may be obtained from the publications department of Health Canada. Tel: (613) 954-5995; Fax: (613) 941-5366 .

NUNAVIK EDITION OF NUNATSIAQ IIIEVVS

Nunatsiaq News, the eastern Arctic's weekly newspaper based in Iqaluit , began publishing a Nunavik edition on Septemb er 5. "We felt that a Nunavik edition of Nunatsiaq News would bridge [a perceived] information gap and give the people of Nunavik a stronger voice and increased representation ," said publisher Steven Roberts. A distri­bution hub is based in Kuujjuaq to facilitate Air Inuit's distribu tion of the paper to all Nunavik communitie s.

Vol. J 3, No. J Spring 1998

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE VVINNERS

The Inuit Art Foundation's 1997 Draw­by-Mail was held on November 9 at the Ottawa School of Art. OSA Director Jeff Stellick drew the three winning entries. The sale of 130 tickets raised more than $3,200 for programs of the Inuit Artists' College. The Inuit Art Foundation congratulates the winners and thanks all supporters of the fund­raising program, including those who donated works for the draw. First Prize: N. Haslam, Willowdale, Ontario, winner of Weaved in Silver, an ulu bowl by Mike Massie; Second Prize: Ruth G. Stern, Stamford, Connecticut, winner of Seal by carver Gideon Qauqjuaq; Third Prize: Michael Lerch, Westmount, Quebec, winner of a commemorative bound set of Inuit Ari Quarterly.

PEOPLE

lnuitArt Q U A R T l R l Y

UPDATE

On October 31, Jessica Tomic­Bagshaw, a graduate of the Cultural Industries Training Program, was named the first recipient of the Inuit Art Foundation's CuraLOrial Scholar­ship. She was presented with a cheque for $600 by Inuit Art Foundation president Mattiusi Iyaituk . "I feel honoured to have been chosen as the first recipient of this scholarship," Tomic-Bagshaw said. "My studies in my first term of univ ersity are going very well, and I intend to maintain a high level of achievement." The 24· year-old is enrolled in the art history undergraduate program at Carleton University in Ottawa. The scholarship program was established by Dorothy Stillwell and Virginia Watt in 1996 to support Inuit wishing to pursue post· secondary education in the care and interpretation of art. It is administered through the Inuit Art Foundation Endowment Fund. -In September , Okalik Eegeesiak was elected to a three-year term as president of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC)

& by delegates attending ITC's annual ~ general meeting in Inuvik, Northwest -5 Territories. She defeated incumbent ~ Mary Sillett. Eegeesiak will also serve

as Canadian vice-president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference. -Kimmirut carver Simata Pitsiulak vis-ited Jerusalem, Israel from November 6 to November 17. He participated in a trade show called A Taste of Canada to promote tourist visits to Canada.

Inuit Art Foundation president Mattiusi lyaituk presents Jessica Tomic-Bagshaw with a $600 cheque on October 31. Tomic-Bagshaw is the first recipient of the foundation's Curatorial Scholarship.

Pitsiulak staffed the Nunavut booth and gave carving demonstrations, showing some examples of raw stone and four carvings in various stages of production. He was interviewed on Israeli television and delivered a lecture to high school students on Inuit art. Prior to leaving for his trip, Pitsiulak could hardly conta in his enthusiasm: "It's part of the world that I've always wanted LO go to," he said. "I grew up in a Christian family, so I studied all about the Christian lifestyle. I probably know more about Israel's geography than northern geography!" -Elsie Klengenberg (Holman Island), Okpik Pitseolak (Cape Dorset/ Iqaluit) and Oviloo Tunnillie (Cape Dorset) were featured in an hour-long segment emitled "Woman's Work" on the tele­vision program Adrienne Clarkson Presents. The show was broadcast nation ally on CBC television on November 12. An Inuktitut version was broadcast on the CBC North network. In her program introdu ction, Clarkson said: "I was particularly intrigued by the differ­ences between their creations and those of the more familiar male artists. These women examine themes of love and survival from a distinctly feminine, and sometimes feminist, perspective. In Okpik Pitseolak's own words, 'Women are very capable. They have been very capable for a long time. But it is just now that their capabilities are coming out in the open."' -Long-time Rankin Inl et resident Peter Ernerk moved with his family to Yellowknife in September to become the assistant director of heri tage cul­ture for Nunavut. He will work out of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife. Ernerk is also a commissioner with the Nunavut Implementation Committee . ..,...

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IN MEMORIAM ~LIVI~ HOUSTON

Alma Houston, gallery owner and one of Inuit art's most ardent supporters, died in Halifax, Nova Scotia on December 17, 1997. She was 70. Born Alma Bardon in Stewiacke , Nova Scotia, Houston au.ended King's College at Dalhousi e University in Halifax in the late 1940s. She moved to Montreal to work at the Montreal Star, and in July 1950 met her future husband , James Houston, at a sell­ing exh ibiti on of Inuit carvings at the Canadian Handicrafts Guild on Peel Street. The chance meeting, according to Alma in a 1985 intervi ew with Shelagh Mackenz ie of the National Film Board, occurred on the very day she was to sign a five-year contract to teach in Venezuela. Hedging at making such a Jong-term commitment at the age of 23, Alma was talk ed into joini ng James on a trip to the Arctic th e next winter, leading instead to a lifelong relationship with Inuit and the Arctic.

Within six months of meeting, the couple was marri ed and living on Baffin Island. Alma was one of the first white women to cross the island by dogsled. She liv ed at Cape Dorset until 1962, working directly with the Inuit commu­nity, who christened her Arnakutaak (tall lad y). The Houstons raised two sons, John and Samuel, in Cape Dorset.

Alma Houston (I), husband James (r) and Captain C.A. Chouinard of the

CGS C.D. Howe return ing from the North , July 1951.

C:

~ = 0 :i:: C: ..c:: 0

'"'

UPDATE

After leaving the North, Houston was a dri ving force behind the creat ion of Canadian Arctic Producers, the marketing agency for Northwest Territories co-ops. She served for many years as head of the fine arts division. In 1975 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her role in pro­moting Inuit art in Canada and abroad. In 1981, Houston opened the Houston North Gallery in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The gallery, in which she shared ownership with her son, John, is known for its selection of Inuit prints and sculp­ture . Alma Houston was "as much responsible as anyone for putting Inuit art on the national agenda," said jour­nalist and author Edit h Iglauer Daly. "I really loved her as a person - she was wonderful, kind , generous and beauti­ful." Retired chair of the Eskimo Arts Council Mary Sparling commented that "there was not a major Inuit conference anywhe re that did not wan t to have Alma there because of her history in the beginning and because she was such a crackerjack dealer."

"She will always be remembered for helping Inuit," said respected Cape Dorset carver Kananginak Pootoogook, only a teenager when Houston moved to Cap e Dors et. "She used to call me Anikuluq [brother]. I am grateful that she helped me become recognized as an artist." Pootoogook said Houston spoke last summer of wanting to visit Cape Dorset and camp in a tent, as she did with her young family in the 1950s.

A memorial service held December 20 at King's College Chapel in Halifax was attended by many from the In uit art world. Longtime friend and colleague Terry Ryan of Dorset Fine Arts deliv­ered the eulogy. Joanas sie Salamoni e of

Alma Houston (I), her grandson Hart Houston and her mother Viola Bardon, Octobe r 1997.

Cape Dorset, who flew to Halifax to attend the service, told researcher

and photographer Norm Hallendy, "I had to say goodbye to Arnakutaak, who was like a mother to many of us ." Hallendy, who visited Houston in Lunenburg in September 1997, wrote to IAQ: "My last­ing memory of Alma was shaped when we recently sat together in a litt le cafe where we shared reminis cences of the Arctic and fond memories of old friends . Her bewitching smile, her passion for the North, her love of those she knew in Cape Dorset burn ed as brightly as it did in the springtime of her life. There is an old expression in Tnuktitut so befit­ting Alma. It translates into 'one who will be remembered for a very long time."' In accordance with her wishes, Alma Houston's ashes will be spread over the hills above Cape Dorset, fulfill­ing her promise to return to the commu­nity she was associated with for so much of her life.

Editor's note: Prior to her death, Alma Houston had wanted to turn her energy to the increasing problem of teen suicide in the Arctic, per capita more than five times the national avera,ge. Readers wishing to make a donation in memory of Alma Houston may want to consider the Baffin Regional Yauch Council of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association. The youth council conducts suicide prevention workshops in Baffin Island commu­nities and is planning ro publish a compilation of writ­ing and drawings from youth about suicide. The Inuit Art Foundation is accepting donations on behalf of the youth council and will issue all Canadian and American donors a tax rec.eipt. Please make your cheque payable to the Inuit Art Foundation and note that your donation is for the Baffin Suicide Prevention Fund in memory of Alma Houston. Donations can be made by credit card by

calling (613) 224-8189 ext. 26 or by mailing a cheque to: Inuit Art Foundation, 2081 Merivale Road, Nepean, Ontario K2G I G9 Canada. Donations will be acknow­ledged in Inuit Ari. Quarterly.

Vol. 13, No. I Spring 1998

AT THE PUBLIC GALLERIES Transitions: Contemporary Canadian Indian and Inuit Ari was presented at the Waikato Museum of Art and History in Hamilton, New Zealand from October 11 to December 31. New Zealand is the second stop on the itin erary for the travelling exhibition that was organized and curated by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (see TAQ Summer 1997:58 and this issue p. 32 for details on the openings in France and New Zealand and examples of the art). A revised edit ion of the catalogue was published for the New Zealand open­ing. Barry Ace, curator of the Indian art segment, travell ed to Hamilton for the exhibition opening. It was , he says, a fascinating experience. Each work was prayed for before anyone could touch it, and the Maori thought of each work as having its own spirit. Songs were sung to create a sacred area and to bring out the spirits in the art. ''Everything was done with a lot of care and a lot of respect," said Ace, an Ojibway from Manitoulin Island in Ontario. The image of David Ruben Piqtoukun's Rebirth of the Spirit Bear was reproduced on a flag outside the Waikato to celebrate the museum 's 10th anniversary. Ace says the New Zealand experience has prompted some initial discussions for an exhibition of Indian , Inuit and Maori art for the year 2000. Cities with confirmed

InuitArt Q I) ~ R T E R L Y

AT THE GALLERIES

venues for Transitions include Mexico City, San Juan (Puerto Rico), New York City, the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthro­pology in Vancouver, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Ana (California), the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles and the Heard Museum in Phoenix , Arizona .

• Images of Childhood: Inuit Art from the Permanent Collection opened at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre in Guelph, Ontario on September 30, 1997 and will be on display until July 1998. Exhibition curator Sheila Ord gave a gallery talk on September 23. This exhibiti on focuses on images and con­ceptions of the child in Inuit society. Traditional nomadic Inuit life demanded a unique role for children, and as that society has changed so too have the dynamics of Inuit children's lives. Before Inuit settled in communities in the l 950s, living on the land meant keep­ing a close and respe ctful relationship with the physical environment. Survival was the first priority and the goal to which all activity was oriented. Children were expected to contribute to the effort for survival, and their social role was often limited only by their physical size. Skills specific

Rebirth of the Bear Spirit, 1996, David Ruben Piqtoukun, Paulatuk/Toronto (soapstone; 63.3 x 67.5 x 9.5 cm; National Indian and Inuit Art Collection, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development).

to each gender were learned through play . Through stories, children were taught elements of survival and prepared for the harshness of adult life. The artists in this exhibition address child­hood using both historical and contem­porary references . Jessie Oonark and Pitseolak Ashoona express childhood memories of life on the land. Ruth Annaqtuusi Tulurialik and Kavavaow Manomee address the effects of the transition from nomadic to community living as well as the increasing influence of Western culture on their lives. For instance , Tulurialik's untitled drawing includes a reference to "Barney," the popular children's entertainment character. Among the new acquisitions in this exhibition are Martha Kugvik's oversized cari­bou and skin sculptures of a family, Man, Woman and Child, and Nancy Kangeryuaq's Nunavut, a wa ll hanging exploring issues surrounding the soon­to-be-established Inuit self-governed territory. (Information supplied by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre)

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Shaman, 1988-89, Nick Sikkuark, ,,, Pelly Bay (bone, antler, fur, sinew, E

ivory, black inlay; 61 .0 x 31.5 x w

31.5 cm; Winnipeg Art Gallery , gift of Tradition Fine Foods Ltd.).

Amayuqyuq and Qallupilluq, 1996, Judas Ullulaq, Gjoa Haven (whale bone, antler; 30.5 x 14.5 x 8.5 cm

and 26.5 x 12.5 x 7.5 cm; Winnipeg Art Gallery, acquired with funds

from the Winnipeg Art Gallery Foundation Inc.).

Ari and Expression of the Netsilik, curated by Darlene Coward Wight, opened at the Winnipeg Art Gallery on December 7 and will be on display until April 26. This major exhibition surveys the art of the Netsilik Inuit, a distinct cultural group now living main ly in the Central Arctic commu­nities of Taloyoak, Gjoa Haven and Pelly Bay. In 1977 the Winnipeg Art Gallery present ed the sculpture of

AT THE GALLERIES

highly acclaimed Netsilik artist Karoo Ashevak (1940-1974) in a solo exhibi ­tion. While Ashevak remains one of the bes t known of the Netsi lik artists, much original sculpture has been created by a number of other artists from the area .

The Netsilik Inuit, or Netsi/ingmiut ("people of the seal") in Inuktitut , do not have a long histor y of contact with non-Inuit since their area was not fre­quented by whalers or traders. In 1923 important cultural information was col­lected in the region by visiting anthro ­polog ist Knud Rasmussen , published as Volume 8, nos.1-2 of his report of the Fifth Thule Expedition (1921-24). A complex shamanic belief system was revealed by Rasmussen at a time when accultura tion had undermin ed traditional culture in many other areas of the Arctic.

By the mid-1960s, most Netsilik in the Boothia Peninsula/King William Island region had moved into commu­nities. The creation of sculpture wa s encouraged by the federal government as a means of economic self-sufficiency

in a wage-based environment. The resultant carvings were of a highly spirit ual nature, depicting shamanic subjects. While shaman ic activity has been overtly discontinued, a strong inter est remains in the depiction of shamanic subjec ts and traditional legends which form the basis of a rich oral culture.

This exhibition presen ts an overview of contemporary carving production in the Netsil ik region, from its beginnings in the early 1960s to the present. Over 30 artists are represented by 165 sculp­tures from the Winnipeg Art Gallery collection and other public and private collections. The work s are carved from a variety of materials. Whale bone was first made available to carvers in the 1960s, before a stone quarry was dis ­covered, and bone continues to be a favoured mat erial of Netsilik carvers. In fact, the use of "organic" materials has become a distinguishing feature of Netsilik sculpture.

This exhibition pre sents their art in a cultural context, rather than by associa­tion with a specific settlement or theme. The exhibition was prepa red in close consultation with Inuit artists and elders, and with the help of two curatorial assistants of Netsilik origin. It will tour to other venues, including the Netsilik communi ties of origin. (Information supplied by the Winnipeg Art Gallery) -On August 27, Celine Saucier gave a talk at the Musee du Quebec in Queb ec City entit led "Le refus de l'oublie: la sculpture de la femme Inuit" (Sculptur e by Nunavik Women: Their Lifeline to the Past).

Vol. 13, No. I Spring 1998

AT THE COMMERCIAL GALLERIES Images of the North in San Francisco, California presented Ancestry-Sym­bolism - Spirituality: Sculpture by Susie Silook from October 3 to October 23. Silook, a Yup'ik artist living in Anchorage, Alaska, works in ivory, antler, whale bone , wood and beads . Silook attended receptions at the gallery on October 3 and 4.

• A selection oflnuit sculptur e and prints was up for auction in Edison, New Jersey on October 23. Many of the carvings were unid entified, although a promotional postcard for the event indicated that the art was from Baffin Island and Nunavik com­munities and dated to the 1970s. Two 1978 Cape Dorset prints, by Kenojuak Ashevak and Ikayukta Tunnillee, were also included. The auction was conducted by EG&G Dynatrend on behalf of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Treasury department is responsible for the sale of assets seized from American citizens.

• Whistler Inuit Gallery in Whistler , British Columbia present ed West vs. East - Image and Form from January 1 to February 1. The exhibit contrasted Baker Lake and Arviat sculpture and prints with those from Cape Dorset and Iqaluit. The gallery has a space dedicated to the display of works from its perman ent collection. Osuitok Ipeelie, Kenojuak Ashevak, George Arlook and David Ruben Piqtoukun are among the artists included in the collection.

lnuitArt Q IJ A R T E R L Y

AT THE GALLERIES

Seal Spirits, 1997, Susie Silook, Anchorage (walrus ivory, whale bone, sinew, purpleheart peg; 12.0 x 6.0 x 3.5 in.; Images of the North) .

• Feheley Fine Arts in Toronto , Ontario exhibited Windows on the Soul: Faces, Personifications, Masks in Inuit Sculpture from November 8 to 28. Much of the art dated from the 1960s and 1970s and included work by Pudlo Pudlat , Ovillu Tunnillie, Johnny Inukpuk and John Kavik. The gallery is moving to new quarters at 14 Hazelton Avenue in Toronto in March.

• Sculpture and Drawings: Baffin Artists in Two Mediums was present ed from November 8 to 29 at Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia. The exhibition, for which a colour catalogue was produ ced, cons isted of prints and drawings, and stone, antler and ivory sculpture. Such Cape Dorset artists as Kenojuak Ashevak, Kiawak Ashoona, Iyola Kingwatsiak, Paulassie Pootoogook, Tikitu Qinnuayuak, Pitaloosie Saila and Tayaraq Tunnillie were repre­sented. The gallery is planning two solo exhibitions for early 1998: works by Taloyoak artist Joe Kiloonik will be featured in February , whil e the work of Cape Dorset artist Mathewsie Saviadjuk will be shown in March.

• The Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec in Montreal exhibited Sculpture Inuit from November 22 to December 31. Twenty- eight artists, including Nowdla Aqpik, Stanley Felix, Paul Kavik, Juda Natanine , Nuna Parr, Toonoo Sharky and Ashevak Tunnillie, were represented .

• In November , the Inuit Artists' Shop in Ottawa, Ontario organized two exhi­bitions in a gallery space at the Depart­ment of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) in Hull , Quebec. Inuit Art of Nunavik was displayed from November 4 to 14. The exhibition opening was marked with a prayer and the lighting of a kudlik by Igloolik elder Zippora Inuksuk. Robbie Watt and Lisa Qoperqaluk gave a performance of throat-singing, which is usually performed by women . The exhibition of Nunavik work was fol­lowed by a presentation of women's art in the same space from November 18 to 28. "Inuit women have always had to struggle to do their art," said DIAND's July Papatsie in his intro ductor y remarks. The works on display are "a resul t of their strength."

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-The gallery space at the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs (DIAND) was also host to Images of Inuit, a solo exhibition of carvings by Tuktoyak­tuk artist William Gruben, from December 2 to December 31. Orga­nized by DIAND's Indian and Inuit Art Centre, the collection consisted of 14 works in marble, serpentine, caribou antler, ivory and muskox horn. -Snow Goose Associates in Seattle, Washington displayed Green Owls and Strange Beasts from September 27 to October 18. The exhibition of sculpture and prints focused on transformation and spirit figures from Cape Dorset and Arviat in the Northwest Territories and King Island and Shishmaref in Alaska.

AT THE GALLERIES

Sarah Huxford attends to the kudlik-lighting at the opening of Inuit Women Artists at the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development on November 18.

-Loondance Gallery in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec exhibited A Woman's Touch from December 20 to February 1. Cape Dorset's Oviloo Tunnillie and Omaluk Oshutsiaq were among the featured artists. -Cape Dorset artist Kellypalik Qimirpik had a solo exhibition at Inuit Galerie in Mannheim, Germany from November 23 to December 20. -Isaacs/Innuit Gallery in Toronto, Ontario featured older work in Fifty from the Archive from November 29 to the end of January. Dolls, sculpture, wall hangings , drawings and prints created over the last 45 years were included . -In January, Arctic Artistry in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York fea­tured a retrospective exhibition of work by wall hanging artist Malaya Akulukjuk of Pangnirtung. Twelve tapestries from 1995, the year the artist died, were included. -Geronimo's Studio, a German gallery that carries Inuit and other Native art, has moved to: Maximilianstr. 38, D-80539 Munich, Germany. In December , the gallery featured prints and carvings by Lucassie Tookalook of Puvirnituq, as well as carvings by Aqjangajuk Shaa and Mannumi Shaqu from Cape Dorset.

-Gallery Phillip in Don Mill s, Ontario will be featuring a retrospective exhi­bition of work by Cape Dorset carver Qaqaq Ashoona in January and Februar y. The collection will focus on sculpture the artist produced shortly before his death in November 1996. -Abraham Anghik will be featured in a solo exhibition at Maslak-McLeod Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico from January 15 to February 28. In 1997 the gallery moved to: 225 East DeVargos, Santa Fe, NM, 87501. Tel: (505) 820-6389; Fax: (505) 989-1477. -On November 1, the owners of Galerie d' Art Vincent in Ottawa, Ontario opened Kulik Art Inuit in Quebec City, Quebec. The gallery is carrying Baffin Island, Keewatin and Nunavik sculpture and original prints. It is man­aged by Isabelle Masse, formerly of Arts Induvik, an Inuit art wholesaler based in Iqaluit and Montreal. The gallery can be contacted at: Chateau Frontenac , 1 rue des Carrieres, Que­bec QC G lR 4P5; Tel: (418) 692-6174; Fax: (418) 692-6175.

Information compiled here is submitted by the galleries. Ni?WS of recent or upcoming exhibitions, presentations and symposiums should be sent lo: Inui t Art Quarterly, 2081 Merivale Road, Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2G 1G9; Fax: (613) 224-2907 e-mail: iaf@inuitart.org

Vol. 13, No. I Spring 1998

FROM ACROSS THE ARCTIC AND ACROSS TIME

Dancing Bear Pauta Saila Cape Dorset 1987; 171/2"H

Fine Inuit An from the 1950's to the 1990's.

INUIT IMAGES OF BOSTON

Call or write for our schedule of travelling exhibitions . P.O. Box 2501, Quincy, MA 02269 (617) 471-2626

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• .Inuit Artists: Shop Puvzrnztuq nnts

Limited editions

~ -~LL,,__} -

PV-PQ-1

PV-PQ-2

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PV-L T-1

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60

., PV-PS-1

Polar Bear and Seal, 1990, Peter Qaritaiyuk (blue, ivory, black stencil; 33.5 x 27.5 cm). Item# PV-PQ-1 $80

Loon Nesting in the Middle of the Lake, 1988, Peter Qaritaiyuk (dark green stonecut; 48.0 x 36.0 cm). Item# PV-PQ-2 $120

The Legend of the Loon that Helps the Blind Man See, 1990, Lukassie Tukalak ( dark green stonecut; 37.0 x 37 .5 cm). Item# PV-LT-1 $100

Bringing Bearded Seal and Fish, 1985, Sarah Joe (dark blue stonecut; 26.5 x 20.3 cm). Item# PV-SJ-1 $75

Mother and Daught er Fishing, 1984, Sarah Joe (dark blue stonecut; 24.0 x 26 .0 cm). Item# PV-SJ-2 $75

Sledding in the Spring , 1984, Sarah Joe (dark blue stonecul; 19.5 x 24.0 cm) . Item# PV-SJ-3 $75

Otters Beside the Lake, 1988, Paulosie Sivuak (blue stencil; 29.8 x 47.0 cm). Item# PV-PS-1 $120

These limited edition (50) prints from Puvirnituq are available exclusively through the Inuit Artists' Shop. All profits go directly to Inuit Art Foundation artists' program s.

Vol. 13, No. I Spring 1998

NORTHERN PUBLICATIONS

A Legacy of Arctic Art, Dorothy Jean Ray (1996) Item# 9320 softcover $35.00

Inuit Women Artists, Odette Leroux, Marion E. Jackson and Minnie Aodla Freeman (1994) Item# 9321 softcover $29.95

The Inuit Imagination, Harold Seidelman and James Turner (1993) Item # 9322 hardcover $65.00

In The Shadow of the Sun, Perspectives on Contemporary Native Art ( 1993) Item # 9323 softcover $29.95

Between Two Worlds: Sculpture by David Ruben Piqtoukun ( 1996) Item# 9324 catalogue $12.95

From Talking Chiefs to a Native Corporate Elite: The Birth of Class and Nationalism among Canadian Inuit, Marybelle Mitchell (1996) Item# 9326 hardcover $49.95

Confessions of an Igloo Dweller, James Houston (1995) Item# 9332 hardcover $29.95

When the Whalers Were Up North: Inuit Memories from the Eastern Arctic, Dorothy Harley Eber ( 1996) Item# 9327 softcover $24.95

Our Boots: An Inuit Women's Art, Jillian E. Oakes and Rick Riewe (1995) Item # 9328 hardcover $50.00

The 1998 Nunavut Handbook, an essential guide for planning an arctic adventure ( 1997) Item # 9334 softcover $26.95

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Ancient People of the Arctic, Robert McGhee (1997) Item# 9338 hardcover $35.95

Images of Justice, Dorothy Harley Eber (1997) Item # 9339 hardcover $39.95

Sinews of Survival: The Living Legacy of Inuit Clothing, Betty Kobayashi Issenman ( 1997) Item# 9340 hardcover $49.95

Things Made by Inuit, Marybelle Mitchell, ed. ( 1980) Item # 9341 softcover $12.50

Joe Talirunili: "a grace beyond the reach of art", Marybelle Mitchell, ed. (1977) Item # 9342 softcover $18.00

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Tudjaat, the blended sound of modern pop and Inuit throatsinging Item# 9310 CD Item # 9319 Cassette

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Shaping Our Future A 12-minute video in which severa l Inuit artists talk about their lives and hopes. Item# 9360 $19.95

Exhibitions of Inuit Art at Public Institutions An annotated list of public exhibitions from 1951 to the present. Available on disc or in printed form. Item# 9361 Disc Item # 9362 Printed

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In addition to mailing or faxing 1he order form on this page, orders may be placed: • by lelephone at (613) 224-8189 exl. 33 • by e-mail at iaf@inuitarl.org • by visiting the Inuit Artists' Shop at 2081 Merivale Road, Nepean,

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MANY VOICES

You are to be commended on your two­part essay "Inuit Art is Inuit Art" (IAQ

Spring and Summer 1997). The essay makes an eloquent case for recognizing chat, despite its commercial origins, Inuit art is, in fact, Inuit an. Further, you argue convincingly that there are barriers pre­venting Inuit artists from moving beyond the traditional subjects and media into new arenas, and from obtaining an art education and professional development. You right ly call for greater Inuit input into defining their own artisti c production, and for greater Inuit partic­ipation in deciding how their own works are to be display ed in galleries and museums .

However, in yom zeal to legitimize the less traditional art of the Mike Massies and the David Ruben Piqtoukuns, you risk creating a false dichotomy of your own: "memory art" vs. "Inuit art." In so doing, you have unwillingly contributed to a monolithic view of what should be considered Inuit art. This is, as I see it, every bit as dam­aging as the southern orientation you are attempting to destabilize, nam ely that we in the South have decided that we want to freeze-frame this art. Only that which is "traditional" is to be con­sidered "Inuit."

The voices you privilege in your article are those that yearn for education and the freedom to use new material. There are other Inuit voices that also deserve to be heard: "I really committed to my drawing as a way of communicating om old way of life to youth" (Simon Tookoome, IAQ Fall 1997:26); and "I see some Inuit trying to get into the white way of life. I'm trying to call them back

FROM OUR READERS

to the Inuit way. " (Nutaraaluk Iyaituk in Marybelle Mitchell [Myers] "The Iyaituk Brothers: Nutaaraluk and Mattiusi ," Inuit Art: An Anthology, 1988:68). Also, "I feel that the arts are the core of a cultur e. We are trying to pre­serve it for ourselves and to make it better for our kids" (Stanley Felix, IAQ Spring 1997:23); and, finally, "The drawings I do are my heritage to my children, my grandchildren, and futm e generations. I draw so the Inuit traditional way of life can be preserved on paper . . ." (Pitaloosie Saila in Odette Leroux et al., Inuit Women Artists, 1994:165)

Referring to art that promotes the pre­l 950s cultme as "memory an" or as a "snapshot that does not tell us anything about how the cultural practices are trans­forming" is to trivialize it. "Memory art" can more profitably be described as offer­ing condensed symbo ls of a way of life that many Inuit artists are committed to preserving for their children and grand­children who will never experience it for themselves ... and that makes it valuable, Inuit, and art.

You also advance the proposition that southerners are trying to exoticize the Inuit

and prevent them from experim enting and developing artistically . This argu­ment is, in fact, a two-edged sword. In what can be viewed as another instance of colonialism, southerners can be seen as diluting Inuit values and traditions by attempting to bring their art closer to the Western model through "professional development" and "art education ."

It is greatly to your credit that you have opened a dialogue with your essay. You have express ed well the need for some Inuit artists to move on co new methods, materials and subjects. This position needed to be stated explicitl y. It is one that I do not dispute. However, what I am calling for is a more embracing, more all-encompassing view of "Inuit art" than the one promoted in your essay. No use­ful purpose is served by denigrating "memory art" in order to elevate the art of those Inu it who do wish to develop and pursue less traditional avenues of artistic expression. Th ere is room for many points of view and many Inuit voices.

Mara H. Washurn

West Lafayette, Indiana

Advertiser Index Acart, Ottawa, Ontari o ............... ................ 2 Adventure Canada, Toronto , Ontario ...... 40 Alaska on Madison, New York,

New York ... .................. ................. ......... 23 Albers Gallery of Inuit Art,

San Francis co, Californi a ...................... 24 Arct ic Artistry Inc., Hastin gs-on- Hudson,

New York ................. ........................ ...... 59 Arctic Co-operatives Limited,

Missi ssauga, Ontario ....... .......... I.F.C. , 40 Arctic Inuit Art, Richmond,

Virginia ................ .... ................... ........... 40 Art Investm ent In ternational ,

White Rock, British Colurnbia ............. .35 Art Space Gallery , Toronto , Ontario ........ 25 Arts Induvik , Montrea l, Que bec;

Vancouver, British Columbia; Mississauga, Ontari o .......... ........ .......... .41

Beauregard , Ottawa , Ontari o ................... 24 Dancin g Bear Gallery , Newport Beach,

Californi a ........... .................... ............. ... 39 DJ Sensations, Iqaluit,

Northwest Territories ............ ......... ....... 39 Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario ....... 35

GaJerie d'Art Vincent/Kulik Art Inui t, Ottawa , Ontario; Quebec City, Quebec ............................................... . B.C.

Galerie Saint Merri, Paris, France ........ ... 35 Gallery Phillip, Don Mills, Ontario ......... 45 Guild Shop (The), Toronto , Ontario ........ 41 Houston Nort h Gallery, Lunenburg ,

Nova Scotia ............................................ 25 Image s Art Galler y, Toronto , Ontario ....... 4 Inuit Art Foundation, Donor Ad,

Nepean, Ontario ................................... ... 5 Inuit Artists' Shop, Nepean,

Ontario ......... ..... ......... .............. .......... 60-I Inui t Images of Boston , Quincy,

Massachusetts ........................................ 59 Macdo nald Stewart Art Centre ,

Guelph, Ontario ............... .................. ... 24 Native Art Gallery, Oakville, Ontario ..... 45 Oomingma k Musk -ox Produ cers'

Co-ope rative, Anchorage , Alaska ........ .41 Orea Aart Gallery, Chicago, Illinoi s ..... ... 45 Shoestr ing Gallery, Rocheste r.

New York ........................................... .... 25 Upstairs Gallery, Winn ipeg, Manitoba .... 59 Waddington's, Toronto, Ontario ........ .1.8.C

Vol. 13. No. 1 Spring 1998

RESPONSE TO MARA H. WASBURN Thank you for engaging with the ideas in my article and for your cogent summary of the argument. There can be no dichotomy between "memory art" and "Inuit art." Clearly, all art made by Inuit is Inuit art. "Memory art" is a tem1 I have heard used to describe subject matter drawn from a past way of life. The mem­ories of the new generation will, of course, always be different from those of previ­ous generations. It is unrealistic to expect Inuit to continue recreating images from a past they never lived, the so-called "tra­ditional" art. (We try to avoid this term at JAQ because it refers to a static, unchanging image of Inuit art as it became known in the middle decades of this century. Not only does it exclude contemporar y art, but it also excludes what went before.)

Like all cultural groups, Inuit are doing things in different ways. (Tookoome, by the way, expressly did take except ion to the idea that Inuit art and culture is threatened by new ways of doing things, a position many oth ers support.) Although Inuit Art Quarterly has a com­mitment to present the contemporary artists, we do not denigrate the work of earlier generations (three of the four quotes you used in your letter were drawn from IAQ or from my work). Theirs was a glorious moment in the his­tory of Inuit art, but I am one of those optimists that always believes the best is yet to come.

As for whether or not Inuit should be provid ed with professional development opportunities , in the interest of brevit y I will say only that the debate is irrele­vant, since contact has happened. Never passive receptors of Western ideas, many Inuit are declaring themselves ever more determined to make their own choices and to be in control of their destinies. The last word is deliberately pluralized to emphasize the fact that, as you note, there are many Inuit voices.

InuitArt (l O A ill: 1 ( ~ L Y

Marybelle Mitchell

Ottawa, Ontario

FROM OUR READERS

A PLEASURE TO DONATE

Thank you for your hospitality during my recent visit to Ottawa. I enjoyed meeting you all, and found the information on current Inuit art exhibitions in Ottawa and Toronto very helpful in making my short trip a great success. It was a plea­sure to make a small donation to the Inuit Art Foundation, to support a cause from which I derive so much enjoyment, and to do some Christmas shopping at your shop. Keep up the fine work and a wonderful magazine - I'm already impa­tient for the next issue.

Paul Conroy (by e-mail)

Vanco uver, Briti sh Columbi a

WORK BY MARY YUUSIPIK UNCOVERED

In her article on the work of Mary Yuusipik (IAQ Fall 1997:4-9) Maria von Finckenstein requested that any reader having a work by this artist com­municate the information. For that rea­son, I am enclosing a photocop y of an unfortunately poor catalogue photo of a charming Yuusipik sculpture that I have. This particular sculpture was exhibited in The Family in Inuit Art at the University of Alberta's McMullen Gallery in the summer of I 989 and in The Human Form in Contemporary Inuit Art at the Edmonton Art Gallery in the summer of 1997.

Charles Moore

Edmonton, Alberta

I was delighted to come upon the Fall 1997 issue and Maria von Finckenstein's article on Mary Yuusipik . I am a very proud owner of one of Yuusipik's early wall hangings, and it was a treat to see some of her more recent work. Mine is a scene of a summer camp. It is applique, on blue stroud (I think), mea suring approximately 54 x 182 cm. Among the activities depicted are men spear ing fish in a square pen, building an inukshuk and hunting geese, and women preparing caribou and fish. I obtained this hanging in 1973 at the Baker Lake co-op.

Paul Kay

Toronto , Ontario

IAQ reader Paul Kay purchased this Mary Yuusipik wall hanging in 1973 at the Baker Lake Co-op.

Editor's note: These two letters have been forwarded to Maria von Fi11ckenstei11. The catalogue photo of Yuusipik's sculpture did not meet publishing standards but both photos are now in IA Q's file on Mary Yuusipik.

Inuit Art Quarterly edits letters for grammar, length and clarity. We do not publish form letters or copies. Address fellers to: The Editor, Inuit Art Quarterly,

2081 Merivale Road, Nepean, Omario, Canada K2G IG9.

CORRECTIONS In Almost 50 Years of Inuit Art Exhibitions (lAQ Winter 1997:3-9), we should have referred to Jean Blodgett and Marie Bouchard as co-curators of Jessie Oonark: A Retrospective. And, in addition to the Inuit art courses taught by various instructors at Carleton University in Ottawa , Sheila Butler has taught Inuit art at the University of Manitoba. In the same issue (p. 39), Inuit II : From the Collection of Frederick and Lucy S. Hemian at the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg , Virginia was an exhi­bition of drawings , not prints. JAQ regrets these errors.

An unidentified 195 5 carving in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario (IAQ Fall 1997:46) was rec­ognized by Timothy Nayoumealuk as the work of his grandfather, Sanuny Nayoumealuk of Inukjuak. This information has been forwarded to the AGO.

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64

Every effort is made to ensure that informa­tion in this calendar is correct, but readers are advised to check dates and times with event organizers.

EXHIBITIONS Art and Expression of the Netsilik, cura ted by Darlene Coward Wight, Winnipeg Art Gallery, 300 Memorial Boulevard, Winnipeg , Manitoba, December 7, 1997 to April 26, 1998. Tel: (204) 786-6641.

Unikaat/Stories , curated by Darlene Coward Wight and Dyane Cameron, Winnipeg Art Gallery, 300 Memorial Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba, September 20, 1997 to April 5, 1998. Tel: (204) 786-6641.

Germaine Arnaktauyok, curated by Darlene Coward Wight , Winnipeg Art Gallery, 300 Memorial Boulevard, Winni­peg, Manitoba, February 1 to August 23, 1998. Tel: (204) 786-6641. A catalogue is available. To order, call (204) 786-6641 ext. 222.

Pencil to Paper: Early Drawings by Parr , curated by Christine Lalonde, Nation al Gallery of Canada, 380 Sussex Drive, November 27, 1997 to March 29, 1998. Tel: (613) 990-1985.

In Celebration, curated by Christine Lalonde, National Gallery of Canada, 380 Sussex Drive, April 10 to October 18, 1998. Tel: (613) 990-1985.

Arctic Odyssey, Canadian Museum of Nature, 240 McLeod Street, Ottawa, Ontario, June 14, 1997 to June 1998. Tel: (613) 566-4700.

Selections from the Permanent Collection , curated by Sue Gustavison , McMichael Canadian Art Collection , 10365 Islington Avenue, Kleinburg, Ontario, January 17 to May 31, 1998. Tel: (905) 893-0344 .

CALENDAR

Images of Childhood: Inuit Art from the Permanent Collection, curated by Sheila Ord, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, 358 Gordon Street, Guelph, Ontario, September 30, 1997 to July 1998. Tel: (519) 837-0010.

TRAVELLING EXHIBITIONS Transitions: Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art, curated by July Papatsie and Barry Ace, Indian and Inuit Art Centre (DIAND), Hull, Quebec. Itinerary: Museum of Contemporary Art, San Jose, Costa Rica, February 1998 (tentative); Canadian Consulate General, New York, New York, March 1998 (tentative); Uni­versity of British Columbia , Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, British Columbia, June through December 1998; Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California, April through June 1999; Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, California, July through September 1999. For updated information please contact the Indian and Inuit Art Centre. Tel: (819) 997-8308.

Between Two Worlds: Sculpture of David Ruben Piqtoukun, curated by Darlene Coward Wight, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Itinerary: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec, April 17, 1997 to March I, 1998.

Lost Visions, Forgotten Dreams: Life and Art of an Ancient Arctic People, co-curated by Robert McGhee and Pat Sutherland, Canadian Museum of Civili­zation, Hull , Quebec. Itinerary: Danish National Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark, February 27 through May 1998; National Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow, Russia, June through September 1998; Ubersee Museum, Bremen, Germany, October 1998 through January 1999.

Contemporary Inuit Drawings, orga­nized by the Muscarelle Museum of Art, Williamsburg, Virginia . Itinerary: Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, Corpus Christi, Texas, January 10 to March 8, 1998.

Qamanittuaq: Drawings by Baker Lake Artists, co-curated by Judith Nasby, Marion Jackson and William Noah, orga­nized by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario and open ed in Baker Lake. Itinerary: Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, Alabama, April 18 to June 14, 1998; Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, November l, 1999 to April 30, 2000. Catalogue is available from the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. Tel: (519) 837-0010; Fax: (519) 767-2661.

Prairie Region Exhibition, curated by Don DeGrow and organized by the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Itinerary: MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskat­chewan, June 19 to August 16, 1998.

Thoughts of Birds, curated by Marie Rout ledge, National Gallery of Canada. Itinerary: West Parry Sound District Museum, Parry Sound, Ontario, June 27 to September 7, 1998.

PERMANENT EXHIBITIONS Ontario

Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto) Chedoke-McMaster Hospital

(Hamilton) McMichael Canadian Collection

(Klein burg) National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa) Toronto Dominion Gallery of

Inuit Art (Toronto)

Quebec Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec

(Montreal) McCord Museum of Canadian

History (Montreal) Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

(Montreal)

Manitoba Crafts Museum, Crafts Guild of

Manitoba (Winnipeg) Eskimo Museum (Churchill) Winnipeg Art Gallery (Winnipeg)

United States Dennos Museum Center

(Traverse City, Michigan) Alaska Gallery, Anchorage

Museum of History and Art (Anchorage, Alaska)

Vol. J 3, No. J Spring I 998