Ceramic experimentation in Rankin Inlet began in the 1960s under the guidance of Claude Grenier, and the medium found real success in 1967 with Keewatin Eskimo Ceramics ’67. From there, the community continued to push the possibilities of clay. At first, artists worked with imported material, but this was later replaced by local clay mixed with minerals and ore residues from the nearby mine works, which produced a wide range of colours and textures.

By the time the government-funded Rankin Inlet Ceramics Project was underway, Pie Kukshout was already a respected stone sculptor. Though he was nearing seventy, he took to ceramics with striking energy and became one of the artists most closely associated with the distinctive character of Kangiqliniq pottery.

As the project evolved, for many artists the human face became a recurring and especially compelling motif. In the present work, the faces are not merely decorative additions affixed to the surface, they are shaped directly into the walls of the vessel, so that the imagery is fully bound to the form itself. The result is unusually powerful: the pot does not simply bear human features but seems to assume a presence of its own.

The four faces invite more than one reading. They may suggest a man at different stages of life, circling the vessel as time turns. Just as easily, they can be understood as several states of mind held at once, each face carrying its own expression and mood. There is also the sense of an exchange taking place. The faces turn in different directions, their mouths slightly parted, as though caught in fragments of speech.