Since the 1960s, textile artists from Qamani’tuaq have used wool cloth, felt, and cotton embroidery thread to create extraordinary visual statements. With a patient hand and sharp needles, complex scenes of daily life, arctic animals, and myths told over and over are stitched down. Miriam Nanurluq Qiyuq was a highly inventive textile artist in both subject matter and technique. In this both subtle and sumptuous work on cloth we see the many aspects of an Arctic spring: the trek to new grounds; a tent rather than an igloo; catching fish at a weir with kakivak spear and gaffs and then cutting and drying them; hunting caribou in open water, and birds with a bola. Closer observation reveals a field of delicate details: the breaking of waves on the water is finely stitched around a school of fish and a hunted caribou; the animals carefully accented with a variety of stitches (including Miriam Qiyuk’s trademark knotted loop stitch) to create wonderful textures and subtle colour changes; and figures throughout the work with beautifully laid fringe on their coats, seams on their kamiks, and in one instance a long braid of stitched hair flowing behind them. Four owls stand as sentry pillars at the four corners of this work, their stark eyes watching the viewer as they survey the scene themselves. It’s a wonderful device, apparently invented just to fill the space! And the loop stitches scattered across the scene perhaps represent late snowflakes and early flowers - delightful! The artist loved this scene so much that she reprised it twice [1]. One of “Mrs. Qiyuk’s” most beautiful creations, Spring Camp is filled with memories, lovingly arranged, and detailed in an expansive and charming tableau.

1. For a 2001 version see Marion Scott Gallery, Works on Cloth: Imagery by Artists of Baker Lake, 2002, p. 37); and for another from 2003 see Hessel, Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection, 2006), cat. 118.

References: Miriam Qiyuk is a well-known and much loved sculptor as well; see First Arts Auction, 1 December 2020, Lot 30.