Design Final

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Design Final Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Foreword The United Nations has declared 2012 the International Year of Co-operatives, with the theme “Co-operative enterprises build a better world.” In Canada’s north, the “craft shop” constructed in Cape Dorset in 1956 led to a pan-Arctic co-operative development program that now supports thirty-one community co-operatives across Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. The West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative in Cape Dorset was the first to be incorporated under the federal program in 1959. Wholly owned by the Inuit residents of the community, the Co-operative model made possible their active participation in all aspects of community development. In Cape Dorset, one of the most important elements of community life is this unique art form that has sustained both the economy and culture of the people and captured the imagination of the world. Since the release of the first catalogued print collection in 1959, the annual print collection has been the mainstay of the the Kinngait Studios. This year’s collection of thirty images represents twelve artists, including three newcomers. Pudlo Samajualie is a confident young artist whose still life of brushes (2012 - 23) has been beautifully enhanced by the application of chine collé to the etching process. Qaluituk Kingwatsiaq is also new to the studio stable, as is her choice of subject - a butterfly (2012 - 24). We look forward to both women’s continued contribution. Cee Pootoogook is not new to the studios, having been training as a stonecut printer for the past two years. This year he is represented as an artist with one image, Nanuit Puijurtut (Bears Swimming) (2012 - 1), of a polar bear and her cub suspended in a graceful, undersea dance. We are fortunate indeed to have Kenojuak Ashevak represented once again in the annual print collection. She is Canada’s preeminent Inuit artist and her contribution to the Kinngait Studios has been extraordinary. The seven images included here represent her full range of stylistic sensibilities. Red Fox (2012 - 4) is a nice example of reductive printmaking in stonecut, with the red body of the fox inked and printed first, then cut away leaving the outline to be inked and printed in black. Owl’s Consort (2012 - 3) is also a fine example of this technique, which was first introduced in Cape Dorset in 1984 by visiting artist, Noburu Sawai, and is now being embraced by the printers in the stonecut studio. 2 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 3 2012 Collection Qiatsuq Niviaqsi is the senior veteran printmaker in the stonecut studio and this year, he is responsible for two of the most striking images in the collection - Tim Pitsiulak’s Whale Sounding (2012 - 29) and Arvik Amuasijartuq (Bowhead in Amautik) (2012 - 28). Tim is a hunter and his respect for the natural world and its wildlife is fundamental to his artistic sensibility. He is particularly inspired by the whales that frequent the cold, Arctic waters - the beluga and the bowhead - because, as he says, nobody really knows much about them. The bowhead in particular is a majestic and mysterious creature, beautifully captured here in both the scale and sophistication of Qiatsuq’s printmaking. Qavavau Manumie is an experienced stonecut printmaker and artist in his own right. He has two images included in this collection, both printed by young printmakers training in stonecut and stencil. We welcome Ashoona Ashoona and Napachie Ashoona to the studios; both have done an excellent job in tackling the amalgam of stonecut and stencil that is the signature of this studio. The output of the lithography studio has been diminished by the on-going absence of Pitseolak Niviaqsi for health reasons. Nevertheless, Niveaksie Quvianaqtuliaq continues to rise to the challenges that this medium presents. The seemingly simple works by Papiara Tukiki are in fact complex lithographs requiring multiple plates to achieve the colourful results. These prepared aluminum plates are also transportable, allowing artists, like Pitaloosie Saila, to work at home if they prefer. Her Undersea Illusion (2012 - 22) lends itself to imaginings. In honour of this International Year of Co-operatives, this annual print collection is dedicated to the members, boards of directors, management and staff of the Co-operative - both past and present - who have supported the graphic arts studios over these past fifty-three years with purpose and conviction. There is no question that this enterprise at Cape Dorset has helped to build a better and more beautiful world. Leslie Boyd Ryan August, 2012 4 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 CEE POOTOOGOOK KENOJUAK ASHEVAK 1. CEE POOTOOGOOK Nanuit Puijurtut (Bears Swimming) Stonecut & Stencil Printer: Cee Pootoogook Paper: Moriko Kozo Green 51 x 45.2 2. KENOJUAK ASHEVAK Lustrous Owl Etching & Aquatint Printer: Studio PM Paper: Arches White 2. 66.3 x 64 3. KENOJUAK ASHEVAK Owl’s Consort Stonecut & Stencil Printer: Qavavau Manumie Paper: Kizuki Kozo Natural 62 x 99 3. 1. 6 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 7 4. KENOJUAK ASHEVAK Red Fox Stonecut Printer: Cee Pootoogook Paper: Kizuki Kozo Natural 53 x 68.8 5. KENOJUAK ASHEVAK Bird Fanfare Lithograph Printer: Niveaksie Quvianaqtuliaq 4. Paper: BFK Rives Tan 56.5 x 76.8 6. KENOJUAK ASHEVAK Bird Among the Cairnes Lithograph Printer: Niveaksie Quvianaqtuliaq Paper: Arches White 57 x 76.5 5. 6. 8 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 9 7. KENOJUAK ASHEVAK Raven’s Proposal Etching & Aquatint Printer: Studio PM Paper: Arches White 66.5 x 64.7 8. KENOJUAK ASHEVAK Clutch Etching & Aquatint Printer: Studio PM 8. Paper: Arches White 53.5 x 52 MALAIJA POOTOOGOOK 9. MALAIJA POOTOOGOOK Crisscross Lithograph Printer: Niveaksie Quvianaqtuliaq Paper: BFK Rives White 38.5 x 57 9. 7. 10 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 11 MAYOREAK ASHOONA NINGEOKULUK TEEVEE 10. MAYOREAK ASHOONA Caribou Gather Etching & Aquatint Printer: Studio PM Paper: Arches White 61 x 68.5 11. 11. NINGEOKULUK TEEVEE Bird’s Eye View Stonecut & Stencil Printer: Qiatsuq Niviaqsi Paper: Kizuki Kozo White 56 x 71.3 12. NINGEOKULUK TEEVEE Aasiva (Spider) Stonecut & Stencil Printer: Qiatsuq Niviaqsi Paper: Kizuki Kozo White 45.7 x 45.5 10. 12. 12 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 13 OHOTAQ MIKKIGAK 13. NINGEOKULUK TEEVEE Gliding Owl Stonecut & Stencil Printer: Cee Pootoogook Paper: Seichofen Kozo 50.2 x 64 14. OHOTAQ MIKKIGAK Playful Owl Etching & Aquatint Printer: Studio PM 14. Paper: Arches White 74.5 x 73 15. OHOTAQ MIKKIGAK Preening Bird Etching & Aquatint Printer: Studio PM Paper: Arches White 38.4 x 47.4 13. 15. 14 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 15 PAPIARA TUKIKI 16. PAPIARA TUKIKI Helping Hands Lithograph Printer: Niveaksie Quvianaqtuliaq Paper: BFK Rives White 57 x 76.5 17. PAPIARA TUKIKI Loon Spirit Stonecut & Stencil 16. Printer: Napachie Ashoona Paper: Kizuki Kozo White 56 x 71.5 18. PAPIARA TUKIKI Avingait (Many Lemmings) Stonecut & Stencil Printer: Cee Pootoogook Paper: Kizuki Kozo White 51 x 74 18. 17. 16 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 17 PITALOOSIE SAILA 19. PAPIARA TUKIKI Tundra Bear Lithograph Printer: Niveaksie Quvianaqtuliaq Paper: Arches Cover White 57.5 x 76.7 20. PAPIARA TUKIKI Crossing the Tundra Stonecut & Stencil Printer: Ashoona Ashoona 19. Paper: Kizuki Kozo White 46 x 62 21. PITALOOSIE SAILA Full Moon Etching & Aquatint Printer: Studio PM Paper: Arches White 66 x 63 20. 21. 18 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 19 QALUITUK KINGWATSIAQ 22. PITALOOSIE SAILA Undersea Illusion Lithograph Printer: Niveaksie Quvianaqtuliaq Paper: BFK Rives Tan 22. 38.5 x 56.5 PUDLO SAMAJUALIE 23. PUDLO SAMAJUALIE Amiarutiit (Brushes) Etching with Chine Collé Printer: Studio PM Paper: Arches White 40 x 30 24. QALUITUK KINGWATSIAQ Tarrilikitaarq (Butterfly) Etching & Aquatint Printer: Studio PM Paper: Arches White 38 x 42 24. 20 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 21 23. QAVAVAU MANUMIE 25. QAVAVAU MANUMIE Fish Story Stonecut & Stencil 26. Printer: Ashoona Ashoona SHUVINAI ASHOONA Paper: Somegami Yellow 25.5 x 45.7 26. QAVAVAU MANUMIE Siupiru (Shells) Stonecut & Stencil Printer: Napachie Ashoona Paper: Kizuki Kozo White 28.3 x 62.3 27. SHUVINAI ASHOONA Story Boots Lithograph Printer: Niveaksie Quvianaqtuliaq 25. Paper: BFK Rives Tan 65 x 49.8 27. 22 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 23 TIM PITSIULAK 28. TIM PITSIULAK Arvik Amuasijartuq (Bowhead in Amautik) Stonecut & Stencil Printer: Qiatsuq Niviaqsi Paper: Moriki Kozo Grey 99 x 64.5 29. TIM PITSIULAK Whale Sounding Stonecut & Stencil Printer: Qiatsuq Niviaqsi Paper: Moriki Kozo Black 76.4 x 55.5 28. 29. 24 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 25 2012 Spring Collection & Special Releases 30. TIM PITSIULAK Arqavitturq (Diving Whale) Etching & Aquatint Printer: Studio PM Paper: Arches White 71.5 x 68 30. 26 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 2012 2012 Spring Collection 3. ELEESHUSHE PARR 1. KANANGINAK POOTOOGOOK Boy Playing With Dogs Conference of Owls Stencil, 1966 Stonecut & Stencil, 1982 Printer: Lukta Qiatsuk Printer: Saggiaktok Saggiaktok Paper: Hamilton Andorra Paper: Kizuki Kozo Natural 66.5 x 71 63 x 86 Edition: 45 Edition: 50 1. 2. KENOJUAK ASHEVAK 3. 4. KIAKSHUK Mother Earth Chasing Geese Into Pens Stonecut, 1961 Stonecut & Stencil, 1964 Printer: Iyola Kingwatsiak Printer: Lukta Qiatsuk Paper: Kozo Natural Paper: Kizuki Kozo Natural 61.5 x 92 62.5 x 86 Edition: 45 Edition: 50 2.
Recommended publications
  • Contemporary Inuit Drawing
    Cracking the Glass Ceiling: Contemporary Inuit Drawing Nancy Campbell A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ART HISTORY, YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO. January 2017 © Nancy Campbell, 2017 Abstract The importance of the artist’s voice in art historical scholarship is essential as we emerge from post-colonial and feminist cultural theory and its impact on curation, art history, and visual culture. Inuit art has moved from its origins as an art representing an imaginary Canadian identity and a yearning for a romantic pristine North to a practice that presents Inuit identity in their new reality. This socially conscious contemporary work that touches on the environment, religion, pop culture, and alcoholism proves that Inuit artists can respond and are responding to the changing realities in the North. On the other side of the coin, the categories that have held Inuit art to its origins must be reconsidered and integrated into the categories of contemporary art, Indigenous or otherwise, in museums that consider work produced in the past twenty years to be contemporary as such. Holding Inuit artists to a not-so-distant past is limiting for the artists producing art today and locks them in a history that may or may not affect their work directly. This dissertation examines this critical shift in contemporary Inuit art, specifically drawing, over the past twenty years, known as the contemporary period. The second chapter is a review of the community of Kinngait and the role of the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative in the dissemination of arts and crafts.
    [Show full text]
  • Celebrating 30 Years of Supporting Inuit Artists
    Celebrating 30 Years of Supporting Inuit Artists Starting on June 3, 2017, the Inuit Art Foundation began its 30th Similarly, the IAF focused on providing critical health and anniversary celebrations by announcing a year-long calendar of safety training for artists. The Sananguaqatiit comic book series, as program launches, events and a special issue of the Inuit Art Quarterly well as many articles in the Inuit Artist Supplement to the IAQ focused that cement the Foundation’s renewed strategic priorities. Sometimes on ensuring artists were no longer unwittingly sacrificing their called Ikayuktit (Helpers) in Inuktut, everyone who has worked health for their careers. Though supporting carvers was a key focus here over the years has been unfailingly committed to helping Inuit of the IAF’s early programming, the scope of the IAF’s support artists expand their artistic practices, improve working conditions extended to women’s sewing groups, printmakers and many other for artists in the North and help increase their visibility around the disciplines. In 2000, the IAF organized two artist residencies globe. Though the Foundation’s approach to achieving these goals for Nunavik artists at Kinngait Studios in Kinnagit (Cape Dorset), NU, has changed over time, these central tenants have remained firm. while the IAF showcased Arctic fashions, film, performance and The IAF formed in the late 1980s in a period of critical transition other media at its first Qaggiq in 1995. in the Inuit art world. The market had not yet fully recovered from The Foundation’s focus shifted in the mid-2000s based on a the recession several years earlier and artists and distributors were large-scale survey of 100 artists from across Inuit Nunangat, coupled struggling.
    [Show full text]
  • Visionary Inuit Artist Kenojuak Ashevak Dies at 85 - the Globe and Mail 1/24/13 5:42 PM
    Visionary Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak dies at 85 - The Globe and Mail 1/24/13 5:42 PM INUIT ART Visionary Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak dies at 85 SANDRA MARTIN The Globe and Mail Published Tuesday, Jan. 08 2013, 11:07 AM EST Last updated Tuesday, Jan. 08 2013, 9:05 PM EST The Inuit had been communing with the natural and spiritual world for thousands of years by drawing and carving images. They had no concept that they were making art, however, until southerners, such as the artist and dealer James Houston, travelled to the North in the late 1940s and recognized the beauty of the objects they were making. In the past 60 years, the world has come to recognize and revere Inuit art and artists, none more so than Kenojuak Ashevak, the premier artist and guiding visionary who died Tuesday of lung cancer at her home in Cape Dorset. “She was the star of the Dorset artists but she was also a national icon transcending Inuit art,” said her long-time dealer and friend, Pat Feheley, of Feheley Fine Arts. Ms. Ashevak’s art was “the backbone” of the annual collection of prints from Cape Dorset, Ms. Feheley said, noting her work appeared in most releases stretching from 1959 until 2012. “Everybody knows the image of the The Enchanted Owl and everybody knows her name,” but “what mattered to her most was to make the picture beautiful,” Ms. Feheley said. “It was all a desire to create what was in her head, but to do it in a beautiful way.” Ms.
    [Show full text]
  • Shuvinai Ashoona's Singular Style and Bold Artistic Experimentation
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Shuvinai Ashoona’s singular style and bold artistic experimentation, including collaborations with Shary Boyle, has overturned stereotypical notions of Inuit art. Today she is an internationally renowned artist. The Art Canada Institute announces the publication of its free online art book about innovative Inuit artist Shuvinai Ashoona. LEFT: Shuvinai Ashoona, Happy Mother, 2013, coloured pencil, graphite and ink on paper, 123 x 127.5 cm, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. RIGHT: Photograph of Shuvinai Ashoona, c. March 2, 2005. Photograph by William Ritchie. TORONTO, ON – In the tiny hamlet of Kinngait, Nunavut, Shuvinai Ashoona (b. 1961) is a pearl—an artist protected from the world at large, who relishes the daily routine and support of working at Kinngait Studios. She is the granddaughter of iconic Inuit artist Pitseolak Ashoona and the daughter of renowned sculptor Kiugak Ashoona. In the mid- 1990s Shuvinai began producing detailed drawings that were made into lithographs, etchings, and stonecut prints. Her early works were primarily monochromatic depictions of natural landscapes and traditions of the North, but by the late 1990s, her attentions shifted to depictions of fantastical creatures, dream-like landscapes, and aerial- perspective representations of a global community, expressed in vivid colour. Shuvinai is an artist of superlative talent, her work characterized by full and elabo- rate depictions of the natural landscape and social networks of the North. Shuvinai Ashoona: Life & Work celebrates the influences of an artist whose rich graphic imagery conveys an intricate and textured interior world. Her distinctive style situates her in a category apart from other contemporary artists.
    [Show full text]
  • Goose Lane Books Have Come out with Their Fall Line-Up and There Are Lots of Fabulous Canadian Books for All Readers. If You
    Canada's oldest independent publisher has the books you want to read Ottawa Life Magazine By: Chloé Statham August 25, 2020 Original URL: https://www.ottawalife.com/article/goose-lane- books?c=18#:~:text=August%2025%2C%202020- ,Canada's%20oldest%20independent%20publisher%20has%20the%20books%20you%20want%20to,Can adian%20books%20for%20all%20readers Goose Lane Books have come out with their fall line-up and there are lots of fabulous Canadian books for all readers. If you feel the pull from your artistic side you can explore the work of Alex Colville or see some of the world class works from the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton or get immersed in a superb book on Inuit art. If you love travel and history you can pick up Restigouche to learn about this spectacular region of New Brunswick or read ‘From the Forest to the Sea’ about the spectacular work of British Columbia’s Emily Carr.The choices are endless. Here are some of our favourites. Read em and reap! Author: Philip Lee Paperback: 272 pages ISBN: 9781773100883 The Restigouche River flows through the remote border region between the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, its magically transparent waters, soaring forest hillsides, and population of Atlantic salmon creating one of the most storied wild spaces on the continent. In Restigouche, Philip Lee follows ancient portage routes into the headwaters of the river, travelling by canoe to explore the extraordinary history of the river and the people of the valley. They include the Mi'gmaq, who have lived in the Restigouche valley for thousands of years; the descendants of French Acadian, Irish, and Scottish settlers; and some of the wealthiest people in the world who for more than a century have used the river as an exclusive wilderness retreat.
    [Show full text]
  • Arctic Community Exploration Tour August 5 - 12, 2020 Join Host Dr
    Arctic Community Exploration Tour August 5 - 12, 2020 Join host Dr. Darlene Coward Wight on a Discovery Tour of Inuit Art in Canada’s Arctic Winnipeg Art Gallery Arctic Community Exploration Tour 5 – 12 August 2020 In the lead-up to the opening of the WAG Inuit Art The Winnipeg Art Gallery holds in trust more than Centre in fall 2020, this tour will be escorted by Dr. 13,000 Inuit artworks – each one with stories to tell. Darlene Coward Wight, who has been the Curator of Sharing these stories with the world is at the core of Inuit Art at the WAG since 1986. Darlene has received the WAG Inuit Art Centre project. The WAG Inuit Art a BA (Hons) in Art History and an MA in Canadian Centre will be an engaging, accessible space where Studies from Carleton University and an honorary you will experience art and artists in new ways. Doctor of Letters from the University of Manitoba in On this tour you will visit two of the main centres for 2012. She has curated over 90 exhibitions and written Inuit art, Cape Dorset and Pangnirtung. You will also 26 exhibition catalogues, as well as many smaller have a chance to meet several of the artists and publications and articles. She is also the editor and engage with them as you learn about the inspirations major contributor for the book Creation & for the tremendous art they create. Transformation: Defining Moments in Inuit Art. Inclusions: • Includes tour escort Darlene Coward Wight, Curator of Inuit Art at the WAG • Round trip airfare Ottawa – Pangnirtung – Cape Dorset – Iqaluit – Ottawa • One-night accommodation Hilton Garden Inn Ottawa Airport • Two nights accommodation Auyuittuq Lodge Pangnirtung, with full board • Two nights accommodation Cape Dorset Suites, with full board • Two nights accommodation Frobisher Inn Iqaluit (no meals included) Exclusions: • Boating excursion to Auyuittuq National Park (duration approx.
    [Show full text]
  • 3-6 Oct . 2019 Montréal
    3-6 OCT. 2019 MONTRÉAL 2 21st Inuit Studies Conference 21e Congrès d’Études Inuit October 3rd–6th, 2019 | du 3 au 6 octobre 2019 Université du Québec à Montréal Montréal, Québec, Canada Preliminary Programme | Programme préliminaire (September 22, 2019 | 22 septembre 2019) 2 3 Important Notes | Informations importantes Pre-Final Version | Version pré-finale Please note that this is not the final version Veuillez noter quʼil ne sʼagit pas de la ver- of the schedule and that some information may sion finale du calendrier et que certaines infor- change between now and the conference. Ad- mations peuvent changer dʼici le congrès. Des ditional information can be found on the con- informations supplémentaires se trouvent sur le ference website. site Web du congrès. Logo The conference logo was designed by Le logo du congrès a été conçu par le graphic artist/designer Thomassie Mangiok. graphiste et designer Thomassie Mangiok. Digital Version | Version numérique An interactive version of the schedule is Une version interactive de lʼhoraire est available online and on the Grenadine Event disponible en ligne, ainsi quʼavec lʼappli Guide app (App Store and Google Play), us- «Grenadine Event Guide» (App Store et ing the code ISC2019. Google Play), en utilisant le code ISC2019. Smart Phone App | Appli pour téléphone intelligente Vous pouvez télécharger et obtenir des Vous pouvez télécharger et receveoir ver- mises à jour sur la conférence à lʼaide sion interactive de lʼhoraire est disponible en de lʼapplication pour smartphone Grenadine ligne, ainsi quʼavec lʼappli «Grenadine Event Event Guide (App Store et Google Play), en Guide» (App Store et Google Play), en utilisant saisissant le code ISC2019.
    [Show full text]
  • Wigwam Wigwam
    VOLUME 21.03 WIGWAM TO WIGWAM YOUR HOUSE TO HOUSE NEWS ONE TINY INVESTMENT SMALL STEPS NOW; BIG REWARDS LATER See page 2 for a job opportunity and some reminders WHAT’S A WAY FORWARD? IDEAS FOR WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY See page 3 for information on career coaching and more GOT SOME RAW TALENT? MAKE THE MOST OF THESE RESOURCES! See page 4 for more information FERTILE FOUNDATIONS BE INSPIRED BY THOSE WHO’VE GONE AHEAD Featured artist and craft ideas on page 5! 1 WIGWAM TO WIGWAM WHAT ONE TINY INVESTMENT? Summer Recreation Jobs with City of Toronto Want to be a Rink Guard? A Tram Driver? A Youth Leader? A Special Needs Coordinator? A Visual Arts Instructor? A Personal Trainer? A Lift Operator? You can find job descriptions and qualifications for these roles and more on https://jobs.toronto.ca/recreation/ • Some positions hire at 14 years of age • Most positions pay higher than minimum wage • Hours of work are flexible (after school and weekends) • Seasonal and year-round opportunities are available Commit to some new responsibilities, save up some cash, and gain valuable skills and experience to use in even bigger roles and responsibilities in the near future! Friendly Reminders for All Wigwamen Tenants 1. Report changes in your income, assets or household composition. A household receiving RGI assistance must report and provide documents of an increase in income or assets of more than $33 per month, within 30 calendar days of the change. Households who do not report changes may lose their eligibility for RGI assistance.
    [Show full text]
  • Astral Bodies Shuvinai Ashoona Karen Azoulay Shary Boyle Spring Hurlbut Pamela Norrish
    Mercer Union, a centre for contemporary art 1286 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M6H 1N9 Canada T 416-536-1519 F 416-536-2955 www.mercerunion.org Astral Bodies Shuvinai Ashoona Karen Azoulay Shary Boyle Spring Hurlbut Pamela Norrish 25 November 2016 – 4 February 2017 The group exhibition Astral Bodies brings together works that imagine spaces beyond the physical – emotional, mythological, cosmological – tracing efforts to understand the nature of divinity and how we fit into the universe. Featured practices connect to ideas of being, animism, and the power of making the imagination take form. In works that span drawing, sculpture, and video, these artists court intoxicating historical visions that haunt modern imagination in our perpetual quest for knowledge and enlightenment. Here, the night sky recreated with candle flame, hypnotic swirls of human ash, and daydreams on eternity evoke personal positions in relation to the vastness of the world. They also offer fantastical reflections on the juncture between reason and dreams, existing at the meeting point of perception, awareness and philosophy. In the context of Astral Bodies, this assembly of viewpoints results in an exploration of contemporary Western pathologies, contradictions, and anxieties about what lies beyond our immediate reality. Curated by York Lethbridge Artist Biographies Shuvinai Ashoona was born in Cape Dorset in 1961, the daughter of artists Kiawak Ashoona and Sorosilutu. She began drawing in 1996, and was first included in the Cape Dorset annual print collection in 1997. Ashoona’s work has appeared in exhibitions including: Three Women, Three Generations, McMichael Canadian Collection (1999); Toronto’s Nuit Blanche (2008); Justina Barnicke Gallery, Toronto (2009); The 18th Biennale of Sydney and Sakahans, National Gallery of Canada (both 2013), and SITElines 2014: Unsettled Landscapes, Sante Fe, New Mexico.
    [Show full text]
  • Shuvinai Ashoona
    REVIEWS / APRIL 23, 2019 Shuvinai Ashoona The Power Plant, Toronto, January 26 to May 12, 2019 Shuvinai Ashoona, Composition (People, Animals, and the World Holding Hands, 2008. Photo: Brad van der Zanden, Feheley Fine Arts. by Adrienne Huard Shuvinai Ashoona draws inspiration from blockbuster films and monstrous entities for her drawings of Arctic landscapes. Her exhibition “Mapping Worlds” departs from what may be considered traditional, and pushes the boundaries of Inuit art in a global contemporary art context. She comes from a long lineage of artists (Annie Pootoogook is her cousin) yet she deviates from the style for which her family community has become known. The artist invokes her dynamic imagination to create a series of fantastical scenes, seen, for example, in her unique portrayals of hybrid creatures and women giving birth, as well as recurring depictions of fictional globes. Among the immense illustrations that make up the exhibition, Sinking Titanic (2012) sits modestly in the back corner of the gallery. The coloured-pencil-and-ink drawing is influenced by James Cameron’s 1997 film adaptation, and reveals Ashoona’s imaginative reflections on pop culture. In the image, the sinking ship sits at an angle while lifeboats float away and screaming patrons plummet into the icy water. It’s a truly horrific image. And yet, inside the sinking “Unsinkable Ship,” the band continues to play, except, in Ashoona’s version —and with her characteristic tongue-in-cheek humour—there’s peculiar imagery: the classical band has been replaced by a rock-and-roll band, complete with electric guitars, amps and drums—rocking out as the capsizing ship meets its fate.
    [Show full text]
  • Brave New Worlds Shuvinai Ashoona’S Art
    ART CANADA INSTITUTE INSTITUT DE L’ART CANADIEN BRAVE NEW WORLDS SHUVINAI ASHOONA’S ART Shuvinai Ashoona has forged a fantastical, elaborate style of drawing by fusing Inuit tradition and Western popular culture with her extraordinary imagination. ACI’s new online exhibition explores how her astonishing images of surreal settings and otherworldly creatures have made this Nunavut-based artist an internationally celebrated name. Shuvinai Ashoona, Composition (People, Animals, and the World Holding Hands), 2007–8, Collection of Edward J. Guarino In 2017, the Art Canada Institute published Shuvinai Ashoona: Life & Work by Nancy G. Campbell, a book about the internationally acclaimed Kinngait (Cape Dorset)-based talent whose startlingly original work defied expectations of what Inuit art should look like. The star of Shuvinai (she is known by her first name), b.1961, continued to soar and one year later she became the first Inuk recipient of the Gershon Iskowitz Prize, an accolade accompanied by a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario that will open this winter. In 2019, the artist was the focus of a multi-venue exhibition organized by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery: Shuvinai Ashoona: Mapping Worlds. Today ACI launches its related online counterpart, the second in our new series of virtual gallery shows. For your enjoyment, here’s an excerpt of the exhibition, which reveals why Shuvinai is one of the most extraordinary artists in this country. Sara Angel Founder and Executive Director, Art Canada Institute AN EYE TO POP CULTURE Shuvinai Ashoona, Sinking Titanic, 2012, Winnipeg Art Gallery Now 59 years old, Shuvinai grew up in Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset) with access to Western popular culture that she often brings into her art.
    [Show full text]
  • ASHOONA, Shuvinai
    SUVINAI ASHOONA (SUVENAI) Date of Birth: August 5, 1961 Male/Female: Female E7-1954 Place of Birth: Cape Dorset Mother: Sorosolutu Ashoona Father: Kiawak Ashoona Shuvenai was born in Cape Dorset in August, 1961. She is the daughter of Kiawak Ashoona and Sorosilutu, both well known for their contributions to the arts in Cape Dorset. Shuvenai began drawing in 1993. She works with pen and ink, coloured pencils and oil sticks and her sensibility for the landscape around the community of cape Dorset is particularly impressive. Her recent work is very personal and often meticulously detailed. Shuvenai’s work was first included in the Cape Dorset annual print collection in 1997 with two small dry-point etchings entitled Interior (97-33) and Settlement (97-34). Since then, she has become a committed and prolific graphic artist, working daily in the Kinngait Studios Shuvenai’s work has attracted the attention of several notable private galleries as well as public institutions. She was featured along with her aunt, Napachie Pootoogook, and her grandmother, the late Pitseolak Ashoona, in the McMichael Canadian Collection’s 1999 exhibition entitled “Three Women, Three Generations”. More Recently she was profiled along with Kavavau Manumee of Cape Dorset and Mick Sikkuak of Gjoa Haven in the Spring 2008 issue of Border Crossings, a Winnipeg-based arts magazine. In an unusual contemporary collaboration, Suvinai recently worked with Saskatchewan-based artist, John Noestheden, on a "sky-mural" that was exhibited at the 2008 Basel Art Fair and was shown again at Toronto’s 2008 "Nuit Blanche". It later traveled to the 18th Biennale of Sydney in 2012 and in 2013 it was part of ‘Sakahans’ an exhibition of international Indigenous art at the National Gallery of Canada.
    [Show full text]