Aboriginal Works Exhibit: The First

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Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok, ᓗᓯ ᑕᓯᐅ ᑎᓯᑕ, "Faces," n. d.

bazalt stone, 11" x 10.5" x 6.5"

Aboriginal Works Exhibit: The First

Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok, ᓗᓯ ᑕᓯᐅ ᑎᓯᑕ is one of the featured artists in our upcoming exhibit The First, a selection of Indigenous artworks from Canada and Australia.

Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok, ᓗᓯ ᑕᓯᐅ ᑎᓯᑕ Settlement: Eskimo Point / Arviat (1934-2012) 

Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok, ᓗᓯ ᑕᓯᐅ ᑎᓯᑕ was an Inuit artist known for her sculptures.

Tasseor Tutsweetok worked principally with grey steatite, a hard stone local to Arviat on the Nunavit mainland where the artist moved following the closing of the North Rankin Nickel Mine in 1962. Always remaining close to the stone’s original form and leaving its surface unpolished her sculptures take maternal and family groupings as their principle themes. 

“One time a group of singers came to the community. My daughter was watching me as I was carving. She asked me if carving a sculpture was the same as singing. I replied, “Yes, it is.”

– Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok in an interview with Ingo Hessel in 1989

Tasseor Tutsweetok taught her daughter to carve, as she only trusted family to continue carving in her unique style, reflecting the relationship between the Inuit and their land.

Collections

Tasseor Tutsweetok ’s work can be found in major collections in Canada and the United States: the National Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Inuit Cultural Institute in Kangiqlliniq.