Napachie Pootoogook moved into Cape Dorset in the late 1950s and began drawing almost immediately, at the same time as her mother, the famous graphic artist Pitseolak Ashoona. Napachie became instantly admired for her lovely 1960 prints Eskimo Sea Dreams and Bird Spirits. She went on to create dozens of marvelous prints and a revealing collection of very personal late-career drawings (exhibited at the Winnipeg Art Gallery; Napachie was also a talented throat singer and musician. Running Gull delivers a bold graphic punch and a wonderful sense of balletic movement. This bird seems as graceful running along the ground as it must surely be flying through the air!

References: For an overview of the artist’s life and work, see Odette Leroux, Marion E. Jackson and Minnie Aodla Freeman, ed., Inuit Women Artists: Voices from Cape Dorset, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / Gatineau: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1994), p. 133-157. See also Leslie Boyd Ryan and Darlene Coward Wight, Napachie Pootoogook, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2004), and Leslie Boyd Ryan, "Mannaruluujujuq" (Not So Long Ago): The Memories of Napachie Pootoogook," Inuit Art Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 3, Fall 2005, p. 9-16. See also Jean Blodgett, et.al. Three Women, Three Generations: Drawings by Pitseolak Ashoona, Napatchie Pootoogook and Shuvinai Ashoona, (Kleinberg, ON: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1999).