Marion Tuu’luq lived a traditional lifestyle until settling in Baker Lake in 1961. She began experimenting with commercial textiles in 1966 but it was the arrival of Jack and Sheila Butler in 1969 that gave her sustained encouragement. The pair provided patterns for collars along with glass beads and thread, and Tuu’luq responded with dazzling creations.

The present remarkable collar, featured in the National Gallery of Canada’s 2002 retrospective and catalogue, demonstrates her bold command of colour and symmetry and anticipates the monumental textile works that followed in her artistic career. At its centre, a human face emerges within the beaded geometry, a striking focal point and an early signal of the face motif that would later dominate her works on cloth.

From a technical standpoint, this collar is extraordinary as an early foray into her fabric work. Its design relies on off-loom beadwork, the beads strung and stitched onto a supporting structure rather than sewn onto the collar’s cloth. The fringe is strung as individual strands that are then precisely applied to the collar, eschewing the ease of a premade beaded trim. The semicircular shape is achieved through meticulous adjustments in bead counts along each row, carefully controlling the curvature. Precision in both counting and tension ensures the surface remains evenly arched to the gentle curve of the work. In every respect, this Beaded Collar stands as a stunning a tour-de-force by the artist.

MBL

References: The comparison to the face on her Beaded Atigi which has been well published, including in Bernadette Driscoll, The Inuit Amautik: I Like My Hood To Be Full, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1980), cat. 5. p. and back cover is clearly evident. For a few Sundry examples where the visage features prominently amongst abstract motifs, see Marie Routledge and Marie Bouchard, Marion Tuu’luq, exh. cat., (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2002) cats., 3, 4 (sold at First Arts, 5 December 2022, Lot 24), 24, 25, and 34. In Baker Lake, N.W.T., 1870–1970, a community history published by the Baker Lake Residents’ Association, Sheila Butler noted that many of the women in the community had begun creating striking beaded collars. Among those she identified as especially accomplished were Lucy Teeker (Lucy Tikiq Tunguak), Tudlou (Tu’luuq), Kackshout, Ayout, and Arngnakik (Fanny Arngnakik Arnasungaaq). See Baker Lake Residents’ Association, Mary McCulloch, ed., Baker Lake, N.W.T., 1870–1970. (Baker Lake, N.W.T.: Baker Lake Residents’ Association, 1971), p. 159.