Inuit Peoples Inuit peoples are from Arctic areas

Inuit Peoples • Inuit peoples are from Arctic areas of North America • Inuit means “the people” in Inuktitut, the Inuit language.

Inuit Art • Inuit art is primarily an art of observation; with animals, hunting scenes, and people being the most recurring themes. Kenojuak Ashevak, The Enchanted Owl, 1960, Stone cut

Kenojuak Ashevak Inuit Artist • Kenojuak Ashevak was born October 3, 1927 • Kenojuak spent her childhood on Baffin Island, living in igloos and skin tents • Kenojuak created art until she died on January 8, 2013

Background • In the 1950’s, the government began to encourage native people to make and sell their native arts and crafts to earn extra money • Kenojuak was hospitalized for 3 years with tuberculosis from 1952 -55. In the hospital, she learned different arts and crafts, including beading • Kenojuak was then taught the art of printmaking, and helped create an active artist community in Cape Dorset in 1959

Inuit prints • Inuit prints are produced in a variety of media with the most common being either lithographs or stonecuts. • Stonecuts are quite unique to the Inuit in that the standard lithographic stone is carved out into a bas relief image of the design to be printed. Often the stonecuts are augmented with stencils to apply subtle colours to the prints.

Inuit beliefs and values • The force that animates all life forms is unseen but knowable. This form is in the spiritual realm. Dog Sees the Spirits, © Kenojuak Ashevak, 1960, Stencil on paper, 48. 7 x 60. 9 cm, Collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-Operative Ltd. , on loan to the Mc. Michael Canadian Art Collection

Inuit beliefs and values • All life is sacred and all life forms are interconnected; the survival of each life form is dependent on the survival of all others. Custodians of Ancestral Lore, © Kenojuak Ashevak, 1992, Stonecut and stencil on paper, 61. 9 x 76. 3 cm, Collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-Operative Ltd. , on loan to the Mc. Michael Canadian Art Collection

Inuit beliefs and values • Humans are equal to all others in the circle of life. Everything that exists in the circle is one unity, one heart. Evitaruit (Large Red Fish), © Kenojuak Ashevak, 1975, Stonecut and stencil on paper, 60. 6 x 81. 2 cm, Collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-Operative Ltd. , on loan to the Mc. Michael Canadian Art Collection

Inuit beliefs and values • Connections to the land community are highly valued. Katajatuit (Throat Singers Gathering), © Kenojuak Ashevak, 1991, Lithograph on paper, 56. 1 x 76. 0 cm, Collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-Operative Ltd. , on loan to the Mc. Michael Canadian Art Collection

Inuit beliefs and values • A sacred relationship with nature Illustrious Owl, © Kenojuak Ashevak, 1999, Lithograph on paper, 57 x 76. 5 cm. Collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-Operative Ltd.

Transformation scenes Transformations are strong meaningful topics in reference to Inuit cosmology and shamanism. According to Inuit people, the universe (silajjuaq) is organized around three worlds: one where live human beings (humans, animals, vegetables); another one inhabited by dead animals or humans; and, a last one occupied by spirits (tuurnngait). Myself and I, © Kenojuak Ashevak, 1981, handcoloured etching on paper, 72. 4 x 85. 0 cm, Collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-Operative Ltd. , on loan to the Mc. Michael Canadian Art Collection

Transformation scenes According to Kenojuak, her father believed he could predict weather, predict good hunting seasons and even turn into a walrus; he also had the ability "to make fish swarm at the surface so it was easier to fish. Drawing for print Walrus Spirit, © Kenojuak Ashevak, 1965 -66, Graphite and felt-tip pen on paper, 35. 4 x 43. 0 cm, Collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-Operative Ltd. , on loan to the Mc. Michael Canadian Art Collection

“The making of prints, what you call art, is simply to transfer the real to the unreal. ”– Kenojuak Ashevak Guardian Owl, © Kenojuak Ashevak, 1997, Etching and aquatint on paper, 80. 0 x 98. 0 cm, Collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-Operative Ltd. , on loan to the Mc. Michael Canadian Art Collection

The Challenge “I have a style of drawing that doesn’t belong to anybody but me. It is my own. . . people can try to copy it but they can’t… It would be hard for me to express how little I desire to imitate anybody else’s work. I have no desire on earth to do that. At the same time I don’t really want my style, what I feel belongs to me, to be imitated by anyone else. I feel that’s fair. ” – Kenojuak Ashevak

The process 1) Find Arctic images that inspire you from the Internet, books in the library or your imagination.

2. Sketch images into your sketchbook (at least 3 images are required) 3. Fine-tune your image so that it is a simple line design that contours your images

4. Transfer and then carve your image into a lino-block

5. Print your image.

Resources http: //www. canadianart. ca/news/2013/01/08/kenojuak-ashevak/ (http: //www. elcalondon. com/about_inuit_art. asp) http: //inuitartalive. ca/index_e. php? p=133 http: //www. nfb. ca/film/eskimo-artist-kenojuak http: //www. inuitartzone. com/inuit_art_transformations_s/50. htm http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Kenojuak_Ashevak Sources for drawing http: //theextinctionprotocol. wordpress. com/2014/01/06/unusualnumber-of-arctic-snowy-owls-spotted-in-u-s/ • http: //www. mnn. com/earth-matters/animals/photos/13 -animals-of-thearctic/polar-bear • Print Images from: http: //ccca. concordia. ca/artists/work_detail. html? language. Pref=en&mke y=27400&title=The+Enchanted+Owl&artist=Kenojuak+Ashevak&link_id=2 010 • •

Artist: Kenojuak Ashevak, Title: Guardian Owl (1980), Lithograph

The Enchanted Owl, © Kenojuak Ashevak, 1960, Stonecut on paper, 61. 0 x 66. 0 cm, Collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-Operative Ltd. , on loan to the Mc. Michael Canadian Art Collection