Sheokjuk was part of a remarkable artistic lineage. His brother, Osuitok Ipeelee, was one of Cape Dorset’s most celebrated sculptors, and his other brother, Ennuki Oqutaq, was a master scrimshander. Sheokjuk himself was already an accomplished ivory carver in Kimmirut before returning to the Cape Dorset area in 1948. In 1952, at the encouragement of James Houston, he turned to stone, and from that point forward, his work flourished.

In the 1950s, his range was vast, human figures, intricate hunting and kayak scenes, and an astonishing variety of wildlife (see Darlene Wight, Early Masters, pp. 152-161). But if Sheokjuk’s name is spoken today, it is often in admiration of his later, unparalleled depictions of loons in motion. Elegant, fluid, and unmistakably his own, these sculptures capture something essential, not just of the bird, but of movement itself.