Printmaking in Qamani’uaq took a circuitous root, to say the least. Jessie Oonark’s first experiments of the late 1950s are well known (see lot 15), yet the earliest real attempts at a program within the community came a few years later. In 1963/64, Gabriel Gély purchased sketches from Luke Anguhadluq and Simon Tookoome and attempted to translate them into prints. The results, it seems, failed to impress, and no editioned works were produced. When Gély left, Roderick McCarthy arrived in 1965 and guided local stonecarvers through the making of stonecut proofs. The Canadian Eskimo Arts Council praised the promise of the work but illness forced McCarthy to leave before any editions could be completed. Hoping to preserve the momentum, Robert Paterson was brought in on a ten-week contract. By the time Paterson reached Baker Lake, however, most of the stone blocks had already been ground down. With no suitable stone remaining, Paterson spent his brief tenure teaching linocut instead.

Very few proofs from this initiative survive. According to our findings and based on the outstanding documentation compiled by Sandra Barz, fifty-eight linocut prints were produced in 1965. Three Musk-Ox represents Noonlik’s only contribution.

Interestingly, just two years before the release of this print, Noonlik figured prominently in a case involving Matthew Koonungnak, who was charged under the Northwest Territories Game Ordinance for unlawfully hunting a muskox. When a bull wandered near the camp, Noonlik, as a camp elder, warned it could be dangerous and instructed Koonungnak to kill it. His actions, taken on her advice, became the basis of his defense, which Judge Sissons upheld. The ruling underscored how Inuit knowledge and authority could shape legal outcomes, and cases like this helped frame later discussions around Indigenous rights, subsistence hunting, and the intersection of customary practice with imposed legislation.

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References: The author thanks Sandra Barz for her clarification and assistance in research. Barz’s records the note: “in Canadian Museum of Civilization collection only | proof.” We contacted the Canadian Museum of History to determine whether this refers to the same copy later deaccessioned from their holdings but had not received confirmation at the time of publication. Several of the Baker Lake experimental works are illustrated on the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s website, including Bear Hunter (object no. 981.71.14). The WAG attributes the print to Barnabus Arnsungaaq, though Barz identifies the image as the work of Vital Mukpah. See also Caribou Grazing, 1965 (G-89-492), and Wolf, 1965 (G-89-571), both listed as by an unidentified artist but noted by Barz as the work of Luke Tunuwak.