Inuit Art Blog

At inuistculptures.com, we always wanted a way to showcase artists who we greatly admire, however are either no longer carving, or extremely hard to get. 

We decided to present a unique collection of Inuit Master Carvers whose sculptures are now RARE treasures called "Bittersweet Farewells".

These Master Carvers were distinguished by their exemplary contribution to the Inuit art community. Sadly, these artists are either retired or they have passed on. These Masterpiece creations are some of the few pieces still available in the world and are tremendously difficult to obtain.

These carvings would be the crown jewels in any Inuit art collection.  They are the perfect reflection of artistic joy and the true Canadian spirit of the Inuit!

Any one of these special carvings should be considered an investment since they will appreciate tremendously in monetary value over the next few years. 

Knowing how to display your Inuit art is just as important as the art itself.  So many of our clients acquire incredibly beautiful pieces from our gallery, and I am always curious to know where and how it is displayed in their home.

Please scroll down to the bottom of this page to see examples of beautiful displays from our very own clients.

** If you have one of our exquisite pieces that is beautifully displayed, please show us and we will post it on this blog. Send us a pic at info@inuitsculptures.com. We would Love to see it!

The number one most crucial thing is deciding where to place your piece. Pairing your pieces together in groupings are a common theme in Inuit art. When doing this, it is crucial to pair each carving in such a way where they do not blend in with one another. An example would be to pair a darker piece with a lighter one.

Another important criteria in choosing your space, is making sure your piece will be viewed in an open airy space. A venue with high ceilings is highly desired. In doing so, this enhances the artworks synergy with its natural habitat. Having it in a closed confined space does not allow the carving to breathe.

Lighting is also an incredibly important factor. This is not always possible. If their is an option to do this, than proper lighting onto the carving will greatly enhance its colors, glitter, sparkle and reflection. Serpentine stone is especially known to really flourish under a spot light. The desired lighting are track lights that will beam onto the carving.

The other key factor is light placement. You want the glow of the lighting to hover around the carving. You do not want it to be to close and create an overly harsh reflection of light.

Recessed lighting is a great way to do this. If this is not an option, a work lamp with an arm extension works very well too. 

Work lamps can be inexpensive and will really make the brilliant coloration in the serpentine stone "pop". They are especially good for smaller / medium sized carvings. To maximize the presence of a smaller piece, a work lamp with an arm extension placed over the piece will make it a central attraction for any room.

In particular, when smaller in size, we at the gallery really admire apple green carvings. There is no artist that performs better owls in these striking apple green stone than Pitseolak Qimirpik. When put under a light, his vivid colored green and brown owls become incredibly electric!

If you are looking to make a small investment in an exquisite piece of art, Pitseolak Qimirpik owls are some of the best pieces to own in any Inuit art collection.

Here are some additional examples below of how and where to place your Inuit Art.

Displays from our clients:

Dundas, Ontario Canada
George Arlook meets Nuna Parr's rare print

Préverenges, Switzerland
Tim Pee bear feeling right at home.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Manasie Akapliapiks Owl in good company with a Scottish Fold. 

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Pat Ekpakohak's enchanting Lovebirds in a nook corner
  

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States
Pit's Owl about to order Chinese takeout with his whale friends
 

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Masterpiece walking bear by Nuna Parr

Saint-Vincent-de-Reins, France
Reading Owl by Kupapik Ningeocheak

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
A Paul Maliki Bear!

With sadness the team at Canadian Arctic Producers share the news of the passing of Master Artist, Lukie Airut. Airut was an ambassador, leader and pillar in his home town of Igloolik, Nunavut and the Inuit Art world. His work has been promoted through the Co-operative art marketing system throughout Canada, and is featured in galleries and museums in Canada, the U.S.A. and Europe. 

His carvings tell stories about Inuit culture and a time when people lived in camps, hunted to feed their families and used dog teams to travel. Lukie's work is often multi-dimensional, with fine details at every angle and direction. 
His wife, Marie, is a craft artist and respected seamstress. Lukie's youngest brother, Bart Hanna, is also a well-known Igloolik carver. 
He will be greatly missed.

His last remaining works can be found here.

The gallery will be holding an exhibition in honour of the late Jutai Toonoo. 

His drawings and prints had an international presence on par with other master print makers like Kenojuak Ashevak and Tim Pitseolak.

The gallery received some of his last works available and will be putting them on display. One of his master works - "Happy, 2013"  was recently acquired by the gallery. It is one of his best works to date.

This is an original drawing created by Jutai Toonoo in 2013. (This a not a limited edition print, it is an original oil on paper drawing, only one was made by Jutai).

The coloration, subject matter, and texture of this drawing has resonated itself into a lasting image of memory. I made the assertion that these two drawings must be hung in our studio immediately.

This image exemplifies both Toonoos’s sense of being and the demons he struggled with on an everyday basis. 

Jutai was born in an igloo on a cold December morning in 1959 just outside Cape Dorset. He recalls the traditional way of life of his family and learned by watching his father go about the daily tasks that enable the family to survive. He and his sister, renowned sculptor, Oviloo Tunnillie, learned about stone carving by watching their father. Jutai did his first carvings when he was seven years old. 

By 1982, carving was his major source of income. One day he calculated his income and realized that he was making too little as a carver and decided to work in an office instead. Eventually he realized that sitting at a desk all day was not a life for him. In 1992 he resumed carving. In 1995 he also took his first jewellery and metalwork course and discovered a new artistic discipline.
Information courtesy of Nunavut Arctic College 1996.

Jutai Toonoo (1959 - 2015 )

Community: Cape Dorset

Jutai was an illustrator, printmaker and sculptor. 

Jutai was born in an igloo on December 05,1959 just outside Cape Dorset.

Jutai Toonoo is a son of Inuit artists Sheojuk and Toonoo. He, along with his siblings—renowned sculptors Oviloo Tunnillie and Samonie Toonoo - learned to carve at a young age from his father and began his artistic career in the 1990s, beginning with sculpting and moving towards drawing and printmaking. Jutai became known for a bold art style that was representative of his emotional process. His works are dark and humorous, often focusing on religious themes or the social issues that concerned him within his community. 

Collections: National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, McMichael Collection

To understand the servitude and influence legendary Axangayuk Shaa has on the world of Inuit art, one must first go back to when the industry came to prominence back in the 1960's. What was first a small settlement of a few hundred hunters and families - (at the time called Kingait), has since flourished into one of the most prominent regions for Inuit art.

Axangayuk Shaa is was one of those pioneering master carvers. He shares acclaids with the likes of other master artists like Nuna Parr, Jimmy Iqaluq, Kenojuak Ashevak and Tim Pitseolak. Remarkably, at 82 years old, he is still carving today and is the master carver who is a living legend. His status revolves around his grandesque, large scale dancing walruses. They are truly remarkable pieces and have toured around the world in countless exhibitions.

His exquisite dancing walrus has several parallels in the Cape Dorset stone carving style; they demonstrates the truly extraordinary carving bravura of the 82 year old Axangayuk Shaa, who began carving at the tender age of 17. Not only is this work exceptional in its degree of openwork carving and detail, it is also highly expressive and energetic.

Never has there been an artist quite like Axangayuk Shaa who continuously releases gorgeous pieces of art... and my heart literally skips a beat every single time.

His walruses are world famous because of their strong sense of dynamics, motion and beautiful proportions. “He captures the spirit and vigorous movement for a total effect…concentrating on special interaction, expressive qualities and overall form…his carvings are compact, robust, solid…with outward dynamic forms…”

The man is a living legend that puts him on the level of all other great carvers of centuries past. His ability to capture the essence and raw beauty of the mammal is greatly enhanced with his choices of brilliant colored stones. This renders his walrus into carvings that set apart from all other artists.

I used to live in the Canadian far North. My endeavors of becoming a pilot was what brought me there. One thing that I remember well is just how little sunlight there was in the winter time. So much so, that you could easily get depressed and suffer from cabin fever and isolation.

I remember those sombre 5AM flights, waking up, looking outside at a blizzard in the starkness of night. It would stay that way for an entire week before the sun would pop out again through the clouds.

Here is a wonderful video that really captures how the mood can sometimes be in the far North. It often gets ignored in favor of the nostalgia of the Inuit ancestors. But it is real and it is here and will never leave.

Dancing Towards The Light

The video is about teen youth living in the remote community of Arviat. To escape the winter depression, the community organized a dance competition. It is an accurate depiction of life in the North and is how I experienced it.

Arviat is a very remote community. One of the industry's pioneering artists Lucy Tasseor comes from Arviat. They carve with a very condensed stone called steelite. It does not lend itself well to shaping and forming.

Her enigmatic face compositions have earned their way into the National Gallery of Canada.

Among subjects, mediums and styles, the "dancing bear" is one of the most prolific subjects in Inuit art. The dancing bear is the most prevalent subject made by artists and is also one of the most challenging to achieve.

It is this delicate balance, the movement and grace that made the dancing bear one of the most recognized inuit art subjects  internationally.

The Dancing bear exemplifies and attests to the true beauty and craftsmanship of Inuit art. It was originally inspired in the 1960's from the small Inuit community Cape Dorset, Nunavut. Its concept signifies the transformation between shaman and spirit helper; arctic animals adopting naturalistic or humorous human-like poses (e.g. dancing bears, and Sedna - the sea goddess), 

Since its introduction, it is understood that the dancing bear carving requires a much elevated skill set by the artist. This is because the entire stone has to be balanced on one leg of the bear without toppling over. This balancing act in carving is not a project for the beginning carver. Today, it is one of the most sought after subjects in Inuit art.

One of the first artists who conceived the idea of dancing bear was the late Palta Sala. Although basic in form, his dancing bears were the foundation and origins of this enigmatic subject we see today.

The sculptures from this older generation not only have a basic upright, singular orientation, they are also characterized by a unified, tight composition and form. The works tend to be solid and uniformly stone, rather than airy sculptures, punctuated by areas of space. The works rely on the single stone mass with very little play on the positive/negative space around or within the sculpture.

Then their came Nuna Parr. He is 72 years old and is by far, the most famous Inuit artist worldwide. His punctuation and achievements consist of formalizing a dancing bear, but in a superfluidity in dynamic and movement. This mastery of balance and form is also conducted in the lieu of gardenesque mass. Nuna Parr's bears are known to be large, flamboyant and majestic. They are construed in such a way that they are always the centre stage of any space.

New artists from today's generation have often worked under Nuna's apprenticeship. Noah Kelly, Joannie Ragee, Ashevak Adla are all top artists in today's Inuit art scene. This is both at a national and international level.

If you would like to own a dancing bear, please visit us at inuitsculptures.com, or check out our offerings below. You will see some achievements that will absolutely inspire you.