Lori Idlout, owner of Carvings Nunavut, with a signed copy of the first new Igloo Tag license agreement in over 45 years. (photo courtesy Inuit Art Foundation)
Inuk gallerist Lori Idlout, owner of Carvings Nunavut, has signed the first new Igloo Tag trademark licence agreement in four decades, says the Inuit Art Foundation.
Carvings Nunavut is an Iqaluit-based, family-owned gallery that purchases work directly from Inuit artists and supports their professional development. It will be the seventh active licensee of the Igloo Tag. Works sold through the gallery will carry a small “12” at the bottom right corner of the trademark.
This is the first new licensee in 45 years and the first agreement signed since the Inuit Art Foundation accepted control of the trademark from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada in 2017.
Idlout said it was an honour to be the first Inuk licensee. “I am very proud of this gallery and the work we have put into supporting Inuit artists. This will go a long way to ensure we can continue to support Inuit artists, not just within Nunavut, but abroad as well."
She signed the Igloo Tag licence agreement in Inuktitut and English.
The Winnipeg Art Gallery, which holds in trust the world’s largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art, also recently signed on as an Igloo Tag trademark licensee.
The federal government created the trademark in 1958 to protect Inuit artists from international, mass-produced works. It issued licences to major distributors, allowing them to place the trademark on tags accompanying Inuit works.
Each distributor was given a number that is printed on the back of the tags. Of the original distributors, those still operating are La Guilde (1), La Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau-Québec (2), Arctic Co-operative Limited/Canadian Arctic Producers (4), West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative/Dorset Fine Arts (5), the Government of Nunavut (8), and Nunavut Development Coorporation (11).
A study conducted by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada in 2017 concluded that customers are willing to pay an additional $117, on average, for pieces carrying the trademark. It said the trademark adds $3.5 million annually to the Inuit arts economy.
The Inuit Art Foundation, established in 1987, supports Canada’s Inuit arts communities and is the sole national body mandated to promote Inuit art and artists within Canada and beyond. It is supported by the private sector and by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and other public agencies. A volunteer, Inuit-artist-majority board of directors oversees the foundation.
For more information, go to: http://iaq.inuitartfoundation.org/inuit-arts-economy/ or http://iglootag.inuitartfoundation.org/.
Source: Inuit Art Foundation