Nuvisavik: The Place Where We Weave
Inuit Tapestries from Arctic Canada
May 9 to July 9, 2006
The exhibition Nuvisavik: The Place Where We Weave featured 15 works, including fine tapestries, original drawings and a single print, by artists from Pangnirtung, Baffin Island. Produced by the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Nuvisavik was the first touring exhibition of Inuit weaving, with some examples of the artists' source images. For additional study, the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre exhibited a separate selection of tapestries from its own collection.
Pangnirtung is home to the only tapestry studio in the north. The short history of this unique art form began in 1969 with the founding of a weaving studio which was originally part of a federal government initiative that created arts and crafts programs in the new permanent settlements of the Arctic. In consultation with the Canadian Guild of Crafts in Montreal, the government sent artist/weaver Donald Stuart to Pangnirtung to teach Inuit women the art of weaving. The women adopted the art form as a new vocation, moving from their semi-nomadic lifestyle based on centuries of hunting, fishing, and trapping, and adapting their existing knitting and sewing skills to the new craft.
Since its establishment, 37 artists have worked at the studio producing tapestries that are sold throughout Canada and the United States. While most of the Inuit on Baffin Island live in modern settlements, they remain deeply proud of their ancestors, who managed to thrive in one of the world's most difficult climates. The distinct styles and techniques employed by the artists have evolved; however, the subjects of their works remain the same. To this day, the tapestries depict the Old North and life before settlement.
Nuvisavik: The Place Where We Weave included works made by three generations of male and female Inuit artists. The first generation, those born in the early 20th century, lived on the land and was represented by Malaya Akulukjuk, Eleesapee Ishulutaq, Martha Kakee, and Annie Kilabuk. The second generation, those born in the 1940s and 1950s, settled in Pangnirtung with their families in the 1960s and was represented by Ananaisie Alikatuktuk, Kawtysee Kakee, and Lypa Pitsiulak. The third and youngest generation, those born and raised in Pangnirtung, was represented by Gyta Eeseemailie, Joel Maniapik, and Andrew Karpik.
Nuvisavik: The Place Where We Weave was curated by Maria von Finckenstein for the Canadian Museum of Civilization. The exhibition was co-curated by Deborah Hickman, the General Manager and Artistic Advisor of the Pangnirtung Tapestry Studio (1980-1983) and July Papatsie, a Pangnirtung artist working in mixed indigenous media and Northern Cultural Research Officer at the Inuit Information Centre, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (since 1996).
Image:
Drawing by Martha Kakee. Woven by
Kawtysee Kakee and Igah Etoangat.
Fishing
in the Weir, 1983
(wool,
cotton, embroidery yarn, 3/10)
Collection of Renata Hulley, Ottawa, Ontario
Photo: Harry
Foster