Grit and Grace: Art from Qamani'tuaq and Arviat

First Arts is pleased to present the exhibition Grit and Grace: Art from Qamani'tuaq and Arviat. 

The Kivalliq Region of Nunavut, also still commonly known as the Keewatin. As an “administrative region” it comprises seven communities (totalling about 12,000 inhabitants) from Arviat in the south to Naujaat (Repulse Bay in the north and Salliq (Coral Harbour) in Southampton Island in the east. Geographically, the region encompasses the northwestern coastline of Hudson Bay and two large islands, as well as a huge inland tract of land filled with lakes and river systems feeding into Hudson Bay in the east, and the Arctic Ocean to the north. This entire region was home to both coastal and inland Inuit peoples whose lives depended on the entire range of Arctic fauna: animals from the sea, rivers and lakes, and the air. And so the Kivalliq Region is not culturally homogeneous. The population of Coral Harbour, for example, is a blend of Inuit relocated from the Kivalliq, Baffin, and Nunavik (Arctic Québec) regions in the early 20th century. And arguably, the art of Naujaat shows as much cross-pollination with that of the more northerly Kitikmeot community of Kugaaruk (Pelly Bay) as it does from Kivalliq communities far to the south.

When we think of the “Kivalliq style” of art, however, we generally think of art made in its three largest communities: Kangirlliniq or Kangiqtiniq (Rankin Inlet), Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake), and Arviat (Eskimo Point). Of course, these three communities don’t present a homogeneous style of art either! In our “southern” imagination Rankin Inlet art may be dominated by the giants John Tiktak and John Kavik, but it also incorporates work by scores of stone and ivory carvers, ceramic artists, clothing and textile artists, and even painters. In Qamani'tuaq , our thinking broadens to incorporate not only famous sculptors such as Barnabus Arnasungaaq, Peter Sevoga, Mathew Aqigaaq, Luke Iksiktaaryuk, and Miriam Qiyuk, but also graphic artists such Jessie Oonark and Luke Anguhadluq (and numerous others), and textile artists such as Oonark, Marion Tuu’luq, Victoria Mamnguqsualuk (and many others). In Arviat, our thinking narrows once again to remember mostly sculptors such as John Pangnark, Andy Miki, Lucy Tasseor, and Elizabeth Nutaraaluk, often overlooking its textile artists and even experiments with drawing.

That said, the current exhibition, Grit and Grace, is not an exhaustive overview of works in all media from these three communities. Rather, it represents a selection of sculpture, graphic art, and works on cloth from two communities in particular, Arviat and Qamani'tuaq, featuring works from both celebrated and lesser-known (but no less deserving) artists.

First Arts welcomes your visit at 1 William Morgan Drive  by appointment to experience these works first hand.

THE ARTS IN ARVIAT

The Canadian Army Signal Corps built a weather station at Ennadai Lake, about 200 miles inland from the west coast of Hudson Bay. Not wanting the Ahiarmiut, who had lived there for generations, to become too dependent on the station, the RCMP forcibly relocated them twice in the 1950s, and finally, as they faced starvation, to various coastal communities. The majority eventually settled in Eskimo Point (now Arviat), joining various other groups of inland and coastal Inuit from the region. 

A few Arviat elders recalled selling simple carvings to staff at the weather station at Ennadai Lake in the early 1950s. But arts and crafts development began in Arviat c. 1959-60. At first, carvings were shipped to Churchill, Manitoba for distribution to the south, but by 1966 carving and sewing projects were getting off the ground with a building and a resident arts and crafts officer, Dennis Webster (with the ever-increasing involvement of his young assistant, David Serkoak), and a co-op was soon formed. By the end of the decade much of the adult population was involved to some extent in carving or sewing clothing and small hangings for sale.

The early 1970s is considered by many to be the period of the blossoming of art-making and the heyday of sculpture production in Arviat. Already by 1970 artists such as John Pangnark, Andy Miki, Lucy Tasseor, Elizabeth Nutaraaluk, Margaret Uyauperq, Mary Ayaq and others had hit their stride and were creating some of their greatest masterpieces. Almost from the beginning Arviat sculpture had its greatest champion in the person of George Swinton, who developed a great love of the people and art of Arviat and made sure that works by its best artists were included in museum collections and exhibitions and in publications.

Less known than the stone and antler carvings from this community, and less promoted than similar works in Qamani'tuaq, are Arviat works on cloth. Nonetheless, several women made names for themselves as textile artists. Some, like Margaret Uyauperq, Elizabeth Nutaraaluk, and Joy Hallauk, are better known as sculptors. Mina Seelo (Hilu) Arnalukjuak (1927-d) became famous for a time for her large and spectacular hangings—many of them public commissions—but is now almost unknown. Seelo’s works on cloth are just that: works on cloth rather than made from cloth—for their distinctiveness derives from the lovely white scraped caribou skin used to make the appliquéd human and animal figures. The use of scraped caribou skin rather than felt became one of the hallmarks of Arviat textile art. As well, Arviat women often used caribou antler for inlaid faces, wool yarn for hair, and perhaps most impressively, elaborate beading to decorate the human figures. Sometimes felt was employed but embroidery stitching was little used. Thus the flavour of Arviat hangings is unique. We would be remiss if we did not mention the not coincidental fact that the art of making and decorating traditional Inuit clothing (including skin clothing) has been especially strong in Arviat.