NORTH OF 60
1 of 7
"The Migration"
Joe Talirunili, "The Migration," 1964, stone and antler, 6" x 17" x 5". TD Bank Financial Group Collection.
2 of 7
"Baker Lake: Animals and Spirits"
Naomi Ityi (1928-2003), "Baker Lake: Animals and Spirits," 1993, wallhanging, 45" x 53".
3 of 7
"The Migration"
Joe Talirunili, "The Migration," 1964, stone and antler, 6" x 17" x 5". TD Bank Financial Group Collection.
4 of 7
"Baker Lake: Three Fishes"
Luke Anguhadluq, "Baker Lake: Three Fishes," 1976, silkscreen, 22" x 30".
5 of 7
"Cape Dorset: Two Sides"
Jutai Toonoo, "Cape Dorset: Two Sides," 2001, serpentinite, 17" high x 10.5" wide x 6.5" deep, inscription: "There's always two sides to a story, but the truth shall materialize inevitably."
6 of 7
"Yellowknife: The Loon Gives Lumaq His Sight"
Germaine Arnaktauyok, "Yellowknife: The Loon Gives Lumaq His Sight," 2003, etching and aquatint, 21" x 17".
7 of 7
Kenji Nagai
"Labrador: festivitea"
Michael Massie, "Labrador: festivitea," 2005, bloodwood, bone horsehair, sterling silver, brass, 10" x 12" x 12.75.
NORTH OF 60
By Amy Karlinsky
For many, an Inuit print or stone carving provides access to the mythic and authentic north. These powerful objects suggest a deep history and a relationship to the land which many Canadians, descending from immigrant cultures, lack. Inuit art has a deep association with Canadian nationhood. Host a foreign dignitary, and chances are he or she will be given the work of an Inuit artist upon departure. Among art patrons, notes John Webster of Webster Galleries in Calgary, “There is a hunger for Canadian icons.” And an appetite, it may be added, for objects of beauty and deceptive simplicity.
Nevertheless, Inuit art is a lesser-known Canadian art form and an often misunderstood one. Overwhelmed by choices, stymied by the institutional separation of Inuit art from contemporary Canadian art, some collectors ignore the field.
Over the last half-century, the explosion of Inuit art and its appeal in the south coincided with a period of optimism, economic prosperity, multiculturalism and an interest in Canadian sovereignty in the north. Today the dust has settled. Some of the great artists of the first andsecond generation have passed on, and there is unprecedented independence in artistic choice — for both the artists and their patrons.
A RIVAL NARRATIVE
Inuit art is no mere subset of Canadian art history. It is a rival narrative of renaissance, industry and imagination.
Consider the numerous artists, cooperatives and galleries across the Arctic that comprise the intricate weave of Inuit art making and economic sustainability. Add the fits and starts of government initiatives, and the sparks of creative ingenuity and economic motivation that have flared sporadically over a 60-year period, and you have an amazing art movement whose aesthetic successes defy all odds.
Witness ItuKiaga!, the stunning masterwork collection dating from 1945 to 1967 amassed by the Toronto Dominion Bank Financial Group. The National Gallery of Canada is currently circulating a representative sample of the collection, with western stops in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Victoria (see schedule in First Impressions). The diversity of the carvings and their innate power is breathtaking, calling to mind the apt metaphor of “life in the stone.”
THE ROLE OF JAMES HOUSTON
The Inuit have always carved, from the beautiful ivory talismans and harpoon heads of the Dorset period, to the carved sled runners of the Thule period, to the scrimshaw ivory walrus and narwhal tusks that were part of trade with the whalers during the Historic period, the first period of contact with non-Aboriginal cultures.
Most works in today’s gallery collections — and, indeed, those on the market — are contemporary. The Contemporary period dates from about 1948, and marks the origins of a Canadian art success story based on systematic production, marketing, circulation and interpretation. Carving in bone, stone and ivory was not new, but the development during the ’50s and ’60s of the arts and crafts industry in a growing number of permanent settlements through an infrastructure of buyers, cooperatives, arts advisers, advisory boards, marketing plans, and federal and territorial governments was. Of particular note was the impact of artist adventurer (and later Northern Services Officer) James Houston in Nunavik and Baffin Island.
The entrepreneurial Houston was instrumental in identifying and establishing the conditions for a wide-scale cottage industry in the north and its appreciation and acceptance by southerners. At that time, the label of authentic “Eskimo Art” — as distinguished from foreign look-alikes — was established. Houston, who died this year, was an impresario, writing countless articles and a manual on carving that circulated through the northern Hudson’s Bay Company stores. He contacted collectors and institutions, and helped pioneer the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative in Cape Dorset, source of the now-famous annual Cape Dorset print collection.
COLLECTING INUIT ART
To those just beginning to appreciate and collect this art form, the complexity of Inuit art can be overwhelming. There are as many communities, artists, media and approaches to art as there are in the south. Conceptual and cultural differences can make the art seem exotic or remote, separate from the urbanized and industrialized south. It seems, at times, that every northern man, woman and child has had a turn at making art.
Given the spectrum of souvenir shops and high-end galleries, sorting out quality is challenging. The best advice for would-be collectors of Inuit art, however, is the same as for collectors of any art form: look carefully, attend curated exhibitions, explore the vast literature, and talk with knowledgeable dealers. Derek Norton of Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver, with its ambitious publishing program, views educating the public as part of his role. “Good work,” he notes, “will always find a home.” Art dealers Robert Kardosh of Marion Scott Gallery in Vancouver and Richard Kroeker from the Nunavut Gallery in Winnipeg would concur; each seeks out and cultivates long-term relationships with promising young artists.
The romance of the North — harsh extremes, sublime beauty, isolation and reliance on sometimes scarce resources — provides the complex undercurrent for Inuit art making. Even though canvas tents have replaced caribou ones, and soapstone lamps are more symbolic than practical, the themes of the oral tradition still circulate. Observers note the distinct iconography that pervades much Inuit art, particularly the relationship to the land and animals, the rituals of shamanism and the close family connections.
Although the old ways have vanished, many contemporary artists understand their work to be about preserving cultural memory. Yet, the best Inuit art is not just an emblem of Canadian nationalism or a set of signs that conveys a racial identity. Some collectors seek out signs of acculturation beyond the hunter, harpoon and seal. Images of a culture in transition abound and bear fascinating witness to rapid change — the reclining nude, Christianity, automobiles and realist portraiture. The constant evolution of media, personal expression and opportunities for advanced training has helped the art movement flourish. Consider the enormous creative success of Inuit director Zacharias Kunuk from Pond Inlet with his impressive film, Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner, 2001), which circled the globe. Although many commentators decry the tendency to mimicry and repetition in weaker artists, great Inuit art is made by distinct individuals and is filled with humour, terror, beauty and skill.
There is immense range within the terrain of Inuit art. Southern Canadian artists rarely have the burden of representing their southern Canadian status — whatever that might look like! Three artists whose work is on display this fall are a case in point. David Ruben Piqtoukun, represented by Canada House in Banff, lives in the south. His monumental carvings have been influenced by travel to Africa where he met with other artists and exchanged ideas about carving. Michael Massie, from Labrador, featured at the Spirit Wrestler Gallery, has focussed his three-dimensional work on the teapot where metalworking, carving and the oral tradition collide. Jutai Toonoo from Cape Dorset, whose semi-abstract works at Marion Scott may appear traditional, engraves his surfaces with graffiti. All three are as different as Matisse from Picasso, or Emily Carr from Tom Thomson.
CAPE DORSET / KINNIGAIT, NUNAVUT
Many Canadians recognize the name Kenojuak Ashevak, the artist behind The Enchanted Owl, but few will know that the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative in Cape Dorset is the longest continuously running printmaking studio in Canada. It made experimental prints as early as the late 1950s and introduced an annual print collection by 1960.
Other collective printmaking endeavours followed in Povungnituk, Baker Lake, Holman and elsewhere, specializing in such printmaking techniques as stone cut relief, stencil, aquatint, etching, silkscreen and lithography. Arctic prints, unlike other economic development initiatives such as dog hair sweaters or parka factories, have been a relative success. It was not uncommon in the 1960s and ’70s for anxious patrons to line up outside gallery doors to secure their early purchase from the annual print collection of their favourite cooperative and artist. The editions remain very small, ranging from 25 to 50 prints in each.
This year, Canada House in Banff, Alberta, is the official Canadian host for the 2005 Cape Dorset collection, which is released the third week in October to designated galleries across Canada.
Some printmaking cooperatives, such as Baker Lake, with its shamanic imagery, strong narrative and riveting colour, no longer produce collections. This fall, the Nunavut Gallery in Winnipeg features a retrospective print exhibition of the Sanavik Cooperative in Baker Lake, emphasizing works by such artists as Luke Anguhadluq and Jessie Oonark.
WHERE TO LOOK
Here are some galleries specializing in Inuit art:
Vancouver
Appleton Gallery
Eagle Spirit Gallery
Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
Marion Scott Gallery
Spirit Wrestler
Spirits of the North
Banff
Canada House Gallery
Calgary
Webster Galleries
Edmonton
Bearclaw Gallery
Northern Images Gallery
Winnipeg
Bayat Inuit Gallery
Northern Images Gallery
Nunavut Gallery
The Winnipeg Art Gallery Gift Shop
Arts and crafts are made across the Arctic: in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Arctic Quebec (Nunavik) and Labrador. Most locales have English and Inuktituut or Dene names. Many locales are now known by their Inuktituut names, such as Iqaluit for the former Frobisher Bay. Although the Arctic is filled with small towns and hamlets, traditionally the Inuit migrated, following the animals in accordance with the seasons and in relation to their vast resource areas. Many families move out onto “the land” in summer.