While Gabriel Gély introduced printing to the local artists of Baker Lake as early as 1963, it was not until after his departure that the project was resumed by Roderick McCarthy, who taught stonecut techniques in 1965, then Robert Paterson, who taught the artists the linocut technique. These experimental prints were never released, but it is known that at least five were based on designs by Jessie Oonark.

The Drum Dance is a linocut proof based not on a drawing by Oonark but rather an untitled work on cloth by the artist from c. 1964 - or more precisely, based on the upper right quadrant of said hanging. Both the work on cloth and a different linocut proof of this image are illustrated in Jessie Oonark: A
Retrospective (1986, cats. 10 and 11). Though simplified to some extent, the image is quite faithful to Oonark’s original design. The linocut technique nicely conveys the pulse of the beating drum, the drummer’s braids, and the other woman’s clothing design (originally achieved by Oonark through embroidery). Overall, the image conveys the narrative content, the interest in clothing design, and the vitality seen in Oonark’s works on cloth and drawings of the mid-later 1960s. Of special note also is the fact that the chanting drummer is a woman.

References: This print is reproduced in Jean Blodgett and Marie Bouchard, Jessie Oonark: A Retrospective, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1986), fig. 11, p. 99, as The Drum Dance. See also p. 31. The image is also illustrated in the upper right of a work on cloth by the artist from c. 1964, see Blodgett/Bouchard, 1986, p. 99, fig. 10.