Inuit in the Pangnirtung area began making art for trade as early as the mid 19th century. Many ivory miniatures and models were created in the Historic Period and well into the early 1960s. Stone was used increasingly by the 1950s, and some interesting hybrid stone-and-ivory works as well. For two actual examples of the kind of inlaid plaque this figure is holding (from Pangnirtung) see Vision and Form: The Norman Zepp-Judith Varga Collection of Inuit Art, (Marion Scott Gallery, 2003), cat. 29 and 30.

Tommy Nuvaqirq’s life included a traditional upbringing, working with the whalers, perhaps trapping, and finally making art. He may have begun carving in ivory before the 1950s, and carved only occasionally during the 1950s and 1960s. Presumably this production included inlaid plaques of the type offered by the artist in this charming sculpture. Nuvaqirq began drawing in the early 1970s and eventually became best known for his graphic art.

While art making has itself seldom been the subject matter for Inuit art anywhere in the Canadian Arctic, images do crop up here and there. Two depictions of Inuit-as-artist that come to mind are Pitseolak Ashoona’s graphite drawing The Critic, c. 1963, illustrated in Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1998), fig. 117; and the humourous carving by Thomassie Kudluk from Kangirsuk, She is Holding a Drawing and Wants to Show It to You from 1980, illustrated in Sandra Dyck & Ingo Hessel, Sanattiaqsimajut: Inuit Art from the Carleton University Art Gallery Collection, (Ottawa: Carleton University Art Gallery, 2009), p. 54.