This document provides an overview of Inuit art from various communities in the Arctic. It describes how Inuit artists work with materials found in their environment like bone, ivory and stone to create figurative sculptures and prints depicting animals and people. It highlights works from notable artists and includes photos showcasing carvings, baskets, tapestries and prints. Inuit art began as a trading tradition and has grown into a globally recognized art form centered in cooperatives like Kinngait Studios in Cape Dorset, Nunavut.

1. Inuit
Arts

2. Enookie Akulukjuk
Pangnirtung, Baffin Island, Canada
Ptarmigan in Spring

3. In a land of snow and rock, Inuit artists work with the limited
materials available : whale bone, walrus ivory, stone, fur,
driftwood and lyme grass from the beach.
Figurative works are carved in relatively soft stone, like soapstone
or serpentine; or printed as lithographs using the stonecut
technique. Most works represent nature’s fauna – owls and
loons, whales and seals, bears and caribous; but also hunters
and mythical beings.
Inuit communities live in arctic
environment, territories such
as Greenland, Canada’s Arctic
Islands and around Hudson
Bay, northeast of Siberia and
northern Alaska (Iñupiaq).

4. Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada
Musk Ox, serpentine

5. Cape Dorset, Baffin Island, Canada
Loon, serpentine

6. Nuna Parr
Cape Dorset, Nunavut, Canada
Walking Bear, serpentine

7. Barrow, Alaska
Ivory kayak

8. Barrow, Alaska
Tool box
Wood, baleen ivory

9. Tasiilaq, East Greenland
Wood and ivory box

10. Tasiilaq, East Greenland
Harpoon and Spear
throwing stick
Decorated with ivory seals

11. Greenland,
Sedna sitting

12. Judah Natanine
Clyde River, Baffin Island,Canada
Sedna and daughter

13. Looty Pijamini
Grise Fjord, Ellesmere Island, Canada
Sedna, walrus ivory

14. Looty Pijamini
Two mothers

15. My first carving was a small arctic fox made of wood, carved
with a small pocketknife. I learned from my father, who was
carving ivory at that time. He would trade these small carvings
to men from the early freighter ships.
Osuitok Ipeelee
(1923-2005)
Cape Dorset, Baffin Island

16. Osuitok Ipeele
Caribou
Soapstone

17. Osuitok Ipeelee
Caribou, soapstone

18. Osuitok Ipeelee
Caribou, 1982
Green serpentine

19. Osuitok Ipeelee
Cape Dorset Studios
Owl, fox and
hare

20. Jackoposie Oopakak
(1948 – 2015)
Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada
Falcon

22. Ulu knife, sun glasses
A traditional Inuit all-purpose knife made with a caribou antler, muskox
horn or walrus ivory handle and slate cutting surface.

23. Clyde River, Nunavut, Canada
Kamiks - Boots made of sealskin, with intricate design and
fine workmanship when turned inside out.

25. Pangnirtung, Baffin Island, Canada
Pang hats

26. Pangnirtung, Baffin Island, Canada
Colourful clothing

27. Lyme Grass Baskets
Inuit baskets are made of sea lyme
grass, easy to obtain on the
shore, at sandy beaches. Usually
they are decorated at the top
with a small ivory-carved piece.
These baskets are fine hand made
crafts, some of them in auction
for a high price.

28. Pond inlet, Baffin Island, Canada
Basket with otter

29. Pond inlet, Baffin Island, Canada
Basket with bird

30. Sarah Appaqaq
Pond inlet, Baffin, Canada
Basket with Inuk
pulling catch

31. Sarah Appaqaq
Basket with Hawk

32. Sarah Appaqaq
Basket with Loon

33. Minnie Carl
Kipnuk, Alaska
Grass Basket

34. Carl Toolak
Barrow, Alaska
Basket with Bear

35. Harry Hank
Point Barrow, Alaska
Basket with Bear

36. Angmagssalik,
East Greenland
Water Bucket

37. Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts and Crafts
and
Pangnirtung Tapestry Studio
The Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts opened in 1991
to serve the art community of Pangnirtung with facilities
and equipment. Weaving had been introduced in 1970
and flourishing since then.

38. Atungauja Eeseemailie
Pangnirtung, Baffin Island, Canada
Waiting for a Seal, 1987
Hand-woven carpet

39. Atungauja Eeseemailie
Pangnirtung, Baffin Island, Canada
Belugas and Kayaker, 1990
Hand-Woven Carpet

40. Isaqkijaq, from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut mainland, Canada
Woven wall hanging

41. INUITPRINTS
Inuit Printmaking Art started in the late 1950‘s.
The first collection was issued by the Inuit Artists
from Cape Dorset, Baffin Island (Canada), in 1960.

42. Founded in 1959, the Kinngait Co-op
at Cape Dorset has been producing
fine printmaking for nearly 56 years.
Inuit artists draw and paint animals
and daily life themes like hunting,
kayaking or dog-sledding, but they are
also inspired by myths and fantasy.

43. Mayoreak Ashoona, b. 1946
Cape Dorset, Baffin Island
Rabbits at Dawn, stonecut print, 2006

44. Kenojuak Ashevak
born in 1927
Canadian Inuit Printmaker,
Cape Dorset, Baffin Island, Canada

45. Kenojuak Ashevak
Dancing Ravens

46. Kenojuak Ashevak
Floral Passage

47. Kananginak Pootoogook
(1935 – 2010)
A carver and printmaker, he
lived in Cape Dorset since 1951;
while running the West Baffin
Co-op, he began making
lithography prints and carving on
stone and baleen ivory.

48. Kananginak Pootoogook
Cape Dorset, Nunavut,
Canada
Anxious Trio

49. Kananginak Pootoogook
Cape Dorset, Nunavut, Canada
Three Shore Birds

50. Kananginak Pootoogook
Cape Dorset
Hawk

51. Ningeokuluk Teevee
Born in Cape Dorset, May 1963
Since her first prints appeared, she has
been one of most celebrated inuit artists.
She has a comprehensive knowledge of
Inuit legends and a fine sense of design
and composition.

52. Ningeokuluk Teevee
Cape Dorset, Baffin Island
Canada
Three Owls

53. Ningeokuluk Teevee
Cape Dorset, Baffin Island
Owls in Moonlight

54. Sedna’s Wonder, 2009
Sedna is often mentioned because she
is a frequent theme for inuit artists.
According to Inuit legend , Sedna is a
sea goddess.
Sedna was a young girl ; one day, her
group was preparing to go hunting
on the sea. As she went to climb into
a kayak, some boys pushed her into
the sea. She tried to hold onto the
kayak to keep from drowning, but
they chopped off her fingers and
Sedna drowned.
As she sank deeper into the sea, she
began to transform into a half
human, half sea animal. She was
now a part of the world underwater;
a sea goddess representing and
protecting all sea creatures.

55. Ningeokuluk Teevee
Cape Dorset, Baffin Island
Seasonal Migration

56. Ningeokuluk Teevee, Cape Dorset
Crosscurrent, 2005

57. Tim Pitsiulak
Born in Kimmirut, 1967
Tim has been living in Cape Dorset
for several years now and has
enjoyed working in the Kinngait
lithography studio.
The land and its wildlife were his
primary influences. More recently
he has begun drawing large format
works.

58. Tim Pistulak
Cape Dorset, Baffin, Canada
Bowhead in Amautik, 2012

59. Tim Pistulak, Cape Dorset, Baffin, Canada
Three Running Caribous

60. Tim Pistulak, Cape Dorset, Baffin, Canada
Vigilant Wolves, 2010

62. The world's first sunglasses were built by the Inuit of the Arctic. They were created
from bone, leather or wood with small slits see through, designed to protect the
eyes from snowblindness caused by the bright spring sunlight.
These first snow goggles are said to date back 2000 years to a culture known as Old
Bering Sea, who lived around the west coast of Alaska and were the ancestors of
the modern Inuit.
The snow goggles came to Canada with the Thule culture about 800 years ago. This
example, an artifact of the Thule people, from north Baffin, was crafted from
walrus ivory and dates back to between 1200 AD and 1600 AD.

63. Baffin Island, Nunavut
Plaque, 1912–1916

64. Kinngait Studios for Inuit Art
Cape Dorset, Nunavut, Canada

65. This presentation©Mario Ricca, 2016
Some sources:
Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts and Crafts
Baffin Inuit Art
Cape Dorset Prints
Inuit Gallery, Vancouver
Flickr