July 11, 2003
Inuit art leads summer
line-up at Toronto gallery
Four exhibits on Inuit
culture will be on display at Feheley Fine Arts
CHARLOTTE
PETRIE
Many Nunavut artists are
enjoying a high-profile summer down South this year.
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PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Dueling
Shamans, by printmaker Enookie Akulukjuk from a drawing by Lipa Pitsiulak, is
part of the 2003 Pangnirtung Print Collection.
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Between June and August,
Toronto's Feheley Fine Arts will host four back-to-back art shows featuring
artists from Pangnirtung, Cape Dorset, Baker Lake and many other communities,
including such names as Kananginak Pootoogook, Pudlo Pudlat and Mikisiti Saila.
Stencils, lino cuts and
etchings from the 2003 Pangnirtung collection opened June 20, and will be followed
by The Inuit Icon, opening June 21.
The Inuit Icon features
80 pieces, including sculptures and graphics from private collections. It includes
work of varied scale, age and regional origin and even boasts such well-known
pieces as Kenojuak Ashevak's Enchanted Owl.
It's the gallery's second
exhibition of this kind, presenting Inuit treasures that have achieved iconic
status and are instantly recognizable for their widespread popularity. Many
of the pieces are on loan from Canadian philanthropists Rose and Noah Torno.
A third exhibit entitled
Cold Current: Water Imagery in Inuit Art, featuring sculptures, prints,
drawings and wall-hangings, opens July 12. The exhibit, showcasing such images
as kayaks, walruses, seals and narwhal, reflects the close relationship between
Inuit and water.
Exploring the Dorset
returns in August to present the second half of a retrospective of Cape Dorset
printmaking from the past four decades.
Currently on display in
Iqaluit are prints from Pangnirtung artists Andrew Qappik, Lipa Pitsiulak, Towkie
Qarpik, Abigail Ootoova and Annie Kilabuk, part of the Pangnirtung Print Shop's
2003 offering.
Pangnirtung artists are
among some of the most celebrated in Nunavut and have grown in visibility since
the creation of the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts and Crafts in 1991.
Selections from the 2003
Pangnirtung print collection can be seen at the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit museum
until July 31.
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