KENOJUAK ASHEVAK

Much loved and well respected, Kenojuak continues to add to her long list of accomplishments as she explores some of her favorite themes as part of inunoo’s first artistic collection of printed silk scarves and ties. Her captivating drawings have been incorporated in the scarf pattern “Enchanted Bird” and tie pattern “Strutting Birds”. A woman of many talents and honours in her lifetime, Kenojuak continues to excite us with her art.

“In addition to graphics, Kenojuak has worked as a sculptor over the years. "When I'm doing graphic work, sometimes I have to hold the paper and look at it and feel it, and then the work starts to come out," she explains. "It's easier to do the carvings because you can see the shape three dimensionally before it's formed. ... But I prefer to work on drawings; the stone can be hard, and you have to be outside carving."

Kenojuak is the recipient of two honorary doctorates and is the subject of several books and a film. She is a Companion of the Order of Canada, recipient of a Lifetime Aboriginal Achievement Award, and has a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame. In 2004 Kenojuak became the first Inuit artist ever to create imagery for a stained glass window, in a commission for the Chapel of Appleby College in Oakville, coordinated by Feheley Fine Arts. In 2008 she received the renowned $25,000 Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts from the Canada Council of the Arts.

KANANGINAK POOTOOGOOK

Kananginak Pootoogook has been involved with drawing and printmaking since the late 1950’s when the West Baffin Co-operative first initiated the graphic art program in Cape Dorset.  He was instrumental in the formation of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative and served for many years as President of its Board of Directors.  He is also a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts.

Kananginak’s work represents Arctic life, often-monumental in scale.  His drawing for Inunoo’s scarf pattern “Fisher Woman” was selected as an image that illustrated the material cultural of the Inuit, camping and hunting scenes.   The composition beyond the original drawing comes from the printed fabric used in the woman’s parka. The influence of the Hudson Bay store on Inuit life.  Kananginak will continue to provide us with his creative drawings for scarf and carpet designs in the future.

AOUDLA PUDLAT

Aoudla Pudlat was one of the younger Cape Dorset graphic artists when he began drawing in the early 1970's. He captured the attention of galleries and collectors alike with his highly stylized bird images, and is perhaps best known for his work in this theme. About the time Aoudla began to draw, he also began his apprenticeship in the lithography studio. As his mastery of the printing process progressed, he proofed and editioned many of his own works. His signature chop appears on many of the lithographs editions in the Kinngait Studios throughout the late 1970’s and 1980’s.

In 1980, Aoudla had a successful solo exhibition of original works on paper at the Waddington Galleries, Toronto and Montreal. Theo Waddington Inc. also commissioned a limited edition portfolio of six lithographs, released in 1981.

 In early 1982, Nordair adopted a Northern look for the cabin interior of its aircraft with a new upholstery fabric.  It features the design “Arctic Silhouettes”, created by Aoudla Pudlat, a young artist from Cape Dorset, Nunavut.

Inunoo has chosenAoudla’s skillfully drawn birds with their whimsical character and stylish plumes as part of its scarf and tie collection. 

NAPACHIE POOTOOGOOK

NINGEOKULUK TEEVEE

Born May 27, 1963, Ningeokuluk is the daughter of Joanasie Salomonie (deceased) and his wife Kanajuk. Her father, Joanasie, was a community leader and much loved in Cape Dorset for his sense of humour, mischief and compassion. Ningeokuluk now devotes her full time to her family and to her drawing, which she does at home.

Ningeokuluk is steadily emerging as a versatile and intelligent graphic artist. She is becoming more prolific as her experience and confidence grow, and is comfortable with both traditional and more contemporary themes and approaches.

She has a graphic style of drawing that relates to textiles like no other Inuit artist. Inunoo has chosen several of her works for scarves and now hand woven carpets.

“Nightly Churring” is a  new pleated scarf  in three colour-ways. “Ptarmigan”  and "Inukshuk"  designs are a series of 6, "One of a Kind"  hand tufted carpets . Her new carpet design "Arctic Flowers" is currently being re-coloured.

SHUVINAI ASHOONA

Original Art

Born in 1961, Shuvinai Ashoona began to draw in 1995. While never formally trained in graphic arts,Shuvinai Ashoona's drawings flip between closely observed naturalism and visions of the fantastical, monstrous, and strange. A third-generation Cape Dorset artist, Ashoona is descended from creative royalty: her grandmother was the acclaimed graphic artist Pitseolak Ashoona, and the sculptor Kiawak Ashoona was her father. Her cousin Annie Pootoogook is much admired in southern Canada for her unsentimental drawings of contemporary Inuit life. Still, Shuvinai stands distinct from them all, bestowing an eerie or unsettling mood upon even her most quotidian subjects.

These include obsessively worked landscapes in which Inuit families camp, hunt, and fish among barren expanses of pebbles, stones, and rocks; detailed townscapes where Inuit adults and children work and play amid prefab buildings; and canvas tents with wooden doors scavenged from shipping crates.