Surprise Guests!

It’s not often we get surprises at the museum, but last week we had a very nice one: Stephen A Smith and Julia Szucs, the directors of Vanishing Point (Katinngat) came by to visit. You may remember that the film played as part of the Planet in Focus festival here in Toronto last week, but what you may not know is that our staff took a “field trip” together to see it, since we were one of the co-presenters.

Stephen A. Smith and Julia Szucs, directors of Vanishing Point (Katinngat) stopped by to see us this afternoon!

The film was beautifully shot and an interesting take on the connections between Inuit living in Canada and in Greenland. The official synopsis is:

Two Inuit communities in the circumpolar Arctic, linked by lineage to a legendary shaman, navigate through the greatest social and environmental challenges in their history.

Seemingly pristine and untouched, the Arctic is profoundly impacted by globalization. Vanishing Point brings to light the interconnectedness of isolated Arctic society with the rest of humanity through the eyes of an Inuit elder, Navarana K’avigak. And as the world melts beneath their feet, the last great hunting culture confronts an uncertain future.

Vanishing Point (Katinngat) is scheduled for a number of screenings (like in Banff October 27) and you can see their schedule on their website or Facebook. Want it to come where you live? Let them (and local film festival organizers) know!

- Posted by: Alysa Procida, MIA’s Director of Education, Operations

Meet Master Artist Jaco Ishulutaq!

Ever wanted to see exactly how sculptures are made? Want to know what working within the co-operative system is like? Are you a fan of Jaco Ishulutaq’s work? Well, now’s your chance! Jaco is coming to the museum and will be here from August 15 – 19 as part of our programming for Planet IndigenUS.

Jaco Ishulutaq working in the Arctic. Courtesy of RJ Ramrattan/Canadian Arctic Producers

You may remember Jaco from earlier this year when I was able to chat with him via Skype as part of our Conversation Series. He is a technically skilled master sculptor from Panniqtuuq (Pangnirtung) whose work tells important stories about his community and his life. There are lots of opportunities to meet him, speak with him and see how he works next week, so mark your calendars!

Wednesday August 15:
2 PM – 3 PM: Complimentary Public Talk, “Art Making in Canada’s North”

Jaco  and I will discuss the challenges and rewards of making art in the Arctic. Visitors will have a chance to ask him their own questions and talk with him about his career. Register in advance at Eventbrite or on Facebook!

Thursday August 16

2 PM – 3 PM: Complimentary Opening of “Working Together: The Cooperative Influence” Special Exhibition

I will give an introduction to and brief tour of the museum’s latest special exhibition, “Working Together: The Cooperative Influence” which examines the important role Inuit owned and operated cooperatives have played in the development of art made by Inuit.  Jaco will discuss his experiences working within the cooperative system in Panniqtuuq before opening the floor to questions. Visitors will then have the opportunity to meet the artist. Register in advance on Eventbrite or on Facebook!

Friday August 17

2 PM – 3 PM: Complimentary Public Talk, “Making Art Within the Cooperative System”

Jaco and I will give an overview of the museum’s latest special exhibition “Working Together: The Cooperative Influence” before discussing art made specifically in Panniqtuuq. Panniqtuuq is home to an internationally acclaimed weaving studio, print studio and many sculptors. Visitors will then have the opportunity to ask Ishulutaq their questions and meet the artist. Register in advance on Eventbrite or on Facebook!

7 PM – 9 PM MIA Gallery Collectors’ Night

The MIA Gallery will host its weekly collectors’ night, introducing participants to art made by Inuit and the Inuit art market. MIA’s Director of Education Alysa Procida will begin with a brief tour of the museum, followed by a brief talk by MIA’s Gallery Director Christine Platt about the important features of the Inuit art market. Then, artist Jaco Ishulutaq will discuss his experiences making art and his works on display in the gallery. Participants will then have the ability to browse the gallery and speak with Ishulutaq directly. Tickets are $10 and can be reserved in advance at http://miagallerycollectorsnight.eventbrite.com/.

Saturday August 18

12:30 PM -5 PM: Sculpture Making Demonstration – Complimentary

Master carver Jaco Ishulutaq will demonstrate his art making techniques by completing a sculpture just outside the Museum of Inuit Art at Queen’s Quay Terminal. From 12:30 PM to 5 PM, visitors are welcome to visit Ishulutaq while working and discuss his art and techniques with him. The carving demonstration will take place outside MIA’s south entrance on the southwest corner of Queen’s Quay Terminal facing Lake Ontario. Register in advance on Eventbrite or on Facebook!

We hope to see you there!

- Posted by: Alysa Procida, MIA’s Director of Education, Operations and Outreach

Support for these events has been generously provided by Canadian Arctic Producers and the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association.

Spotlight On: Caribou Antler

Walking though the Museum of Inuit Art, I notice that caribou antler can be found everywhere throughout the collection. But why d0n’t I know much about it? It’s a material that seems to keep a low profile. Caribou antler is a common material used in Inuit art that often escapes notice because of its artistic limitations – it’s not glossy, it’s not very strong, and it’s oddly shaped.  However, it is used in many different ways! A few artists carve and construct works solely from the material, but many use the antler for minute detailing, larger features, or use it in its natural form.

Caribou in the wild (c) Travis S., used under Creative Commons license.

The use of caribou antler in Inuit art varies due to regional styles and types of artistic materials available. Antler is widely available to Inuit artists, as caribou can be found north of the tree-line across the Canadian Arctic, and especially in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. Both female and male caribou shed their antlers annually, so caribou are not hunted for their antler specifically.

Antler was traditionally used for utilitarian objects, such as buckles, snow goggles, and toys. Antler can be sawed or filed into shape, and can also be pegged or glued together to create more complex forms. In Arctic regions where the available stone is particularly hard and difficult to carve, antler can be used for detailing and emphasis.

Peter Assivaaryuk (1914-d), Qamanittuaq (Baker Lake), “Caribou Shaman” (1970s), caribou antler, Private Collection.

Caribou are particularly important for Inuit in the Kivalliq, who were traditionally nomadic hunters. The Kivalliq is also home to the Arctic’s only inland community, Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake), so land mammals like caribou were much more important to survival in the surrounding area than sea mammals. Shamanim and hunting are common themes in art from this region, and often antler-based sculptures depict a tableau or scene, such as this intricate piece from Arviat displayed in the MIA collection:

Romeo Eekerkik (1923-1983), Arviat, “Journey to a Summer Camp” (1970s), Antler, Sprott/MIA Collection.

Because of the physical restrictions of antler as a material with a narrow circumference, artists often use pegs or glue to expand the form of their sculptures and create depth. Pegs can also function as joints, which provides the sculpture the possibility of movement, and mirrors a more traditional doll-like function.

Detail of pegs in Luke Iksiktaaryuk (1909-1977), Qamanittuaq (Baker Lake), “Standing Man” (mid-1970s), antler, metal, Private Collection.

Contemporary artist Mattiusi Iyaituk uses antler in a number of ways, sometimes as detailing or inlay, but most prominently he used the natural shape and curve of the antler with little alteration to its form. The points of the antler can represent fins, tails or hands. Mattiusi also uses antler as a base for many of his mixed-media sculptures, representing more spiritual and abstract forms.

Mattiusi Iyatuk (1950-), Akulivk, “My fantasy to one day see, to believe, Iaqluullamiluuq” (2008), stone, caribou antler, MIA Collection.

Next time you visit MIA, keep an eye out for all the ways artists use antler in their works. Find out more about materials in Inuit art, such as ivory and whalebone on the MIA blog!

- Posted by: Emma Ward, MIA’s Visitor Services Officer

Focus On: Barnabus Arnasungaaq’s Musk Ox

Barnabus Arnasungaaq’s (1924-) is an Inuit artist from Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake). Barnabus’s works have been a major influence and contribution to Inuit art from Qamani’tuaq since the 1960s.  He has a diverse repertoire of exceptional sculptures; however his muskox sculptures at the Museum of Inuit Art are some of my personal favourites, and are also very popular with visitors. His ability to capture the essence of his subject in a beautifully fluid style appeals to the viewer’s senses, and often makes them want to touch the art work.

Figure 1: Barnabus Arnasungaaq’s (1924-) “Musk Ox” (c. 1970s)

Figure 2: Barnabus Arnasungaaq’s (1924-) “Musk Ox” (1977)

The type of stone available to carve in Qamani’tuaq is a hard stone, which is very difficult to shape and to carve detailing into. The limitations of working with such a stone has certainly contributed to the style of the region, and to Barnabus’s personal expression.  His figures are heavy-set, rounded, and slightly abstract in design.

He captures the characteristics and mannerisms of the musxox by amplifying its features, such as the heavy rounded coat of the muskox in Figure 1 and the arched shoulders of the muskox in Figure 2. Muskoxen are a popular subject with carvers in the region, along with figures of hunters and animal-human transformations.

Muskoxen in the wild (c) Alastair Knock, used under Creative Commons license.

Come to the museum to take a look at some other works by Barnabus Arnasungaaq!

- Posted By Emma Ward, MIA’s Visitor Services Officer

Conversation Series Part Three! Meet Jaco Ishulutaq

After some technical difficulties, we are back with our third installment of our Conversation Series via Skype. This time, meet Jaco Isulutaq from Panniqtuuq (Pangnirtung). Jaco is a well-respected carver who has been working for decades.

Jaco’s work is best known for his sculptures of the Inuit Sea Goddess, commonly called Sedna. Sedna is the Inuit sea goddess and a very important figure in traditional Inuit spirituality, particularly in coastal communities. There are many different names for the sea goddess as well as versions of her legend, which vary from community to community
According to one version, Sedna was a beautiful Inuit girl who was pressured into marriage to a sea bird by her father. Her new husband fed her fish and kept her in a nest on an island far from her family. Her father missed her and felt badly for forcing her into marriage, so he attempted to rescue her in his kayak. The bird was enraged, so he conjured up a deadly storm. In a panic, the father pushed Sedna over the side of the kayak but she clung to the side. Her father cut her fingers off, one by one, and they fell into the sea and transformed into sea mammals. Sedna herself sank into the water, where she transformed into the sea goddess. In other versions of the story, her husband is a dog or a hunter who gives her a sleeping potion and carries her off. Her father does not always cut her fingers off, either; sometimes, they freeze and fall off instead.

She was an incredibly important figure because she controlled Inuit access to marine mammals, which were a staple in many regional diets. She was easily upset and many traditional taboos (such as not eating caribou when hunting seal) were enforced in order not to anger her. Images of the Sea Goddess with unkempt hair often signify that she is upset, at which point she would hold back the marine mammals from Inuit hunters. The angukaak would then have to discover the transgression and overcome several trials in order to reach her undersea home. There, the angukaak would either have to soothe her by combing and braiding her hair or, in other versions, force her to release the sea mammals.

Skype Chat Series 2: Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory of Qaggiavvut!

As promised, today I had the pleasure of speaking with Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, the Executive Director of Qaggiavvut! Society for a Nunavut Performing Arts Centre. There was so much to talk about that we had to split the conversation into two videos!

Watch Part 1 here:

And Part 2 here:

For more information on Qaggiavvut! or help build a state-of-the-art performing arts centre in Iqaluit, be sure to go to the website.

I’m working on lining up our next interview (hopefully for next week) – who would you like to see us talk to next?

- Posted by: Alysa Procida, MIA’s Educational Coordinator

2011 In Review

As we move into 2012, we want to quickly take a look back at 2011. It’s been a big year for the museum as we’ve expanded and moved into new territory, such as this blog. Here is 2011 in review:

January

Artist Abraham Anghik Ruben visited MIA to install Memories: An Ancient Past (2010), a sculpture which will eventually travel to the Smithsonian in 2012.

February

We opened our Twitter account and this blog!

We published its Inuit Wallhangings colouring book, focusing on wall hangings from Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake). The museum donates 500 copies to Rachel Arngnammaktiq Elementary School in Qamani’tuaq.

March

We posted our introductory guide on our website.

May

MIA celebrated International Museum Day by conducting tours focused on museums and their relationship to memories.

MIA welcomed artist Noah Maniapik to conduct a printmaking workshop with visitors, courtesy of the M. and G. Thiel Educational Centre.

 

June

MIA celebrated National Aboriginal History Month by beginning Playing Favourites, a project encouraging visitors to have their pictures taken with their favourite piece in MIA’s collection and tell us why it is their favourite. The project is so successful it is extended indefinitely.

 

July

MIA began offering Quick Chat programming, aimed to entice visitors to look more closely at objects in the museum’s collection by giving short, focused introductions to particular objects.

August

In addition to the museum’s traditional audio guides, the museum now offers printed versions of the text for those who prefer to read rather than listen. The museum also began implementing bilingual signage throughout the museum’s interior to better serve its diverse audience and installed family-friendly labels throughout the museum in order to better serve the museum’s family audience.

September

MIA Director David Harris and Educational Coordinator Alysa Procida travelled to Kangirqliniq (Rankin Inlet), Nunavut from September 17 to September 24 to assist with project development, museum acquisitions and future exhibition planning.

October

We participated in Culture Days, a nation-wide weekend of free cultural activities aimed at engaging the community in arts and cultural programming. MIA offers free printmaking workshops and hands-on activities.

We welcomed the Inuit Art Society and artist Billy Gauthier to tour the museum as part of their annual conference. Representatives from the museum discuss the museum’s progress, mission and plans for the future at the conference in Hamilton.

MIA completely overhauls its audio guide system and implements Quick Response (QR) codes throughout the museum. When scanned by a smartphone or tablet device, they link visitors directly with relevant audio tracks, photos, videos, maps and additional information relevant to the object.

We opened its exhibition The Unique World of Jessie Kenalogak and incorporated physical and virtual ways to ask the artist questions and begin dialogue about the artwork with other visitors.

November

We published its Inuit Art in Canada in softcover, as well as its Introductory Guide and Gallery Selected Pieces Volume 1  as eBooks.

MIA launched its new membership categories with overhauled benefits, responding to visitors’ needs for a more customizable system.

December

MIA partnered with the National Film Board Mediatheque in Toronto to celebrate the launch of Unikkausivut: Sharing Our Stories. MIA visitors and members are entitled to a 10% discount on the DVD, while visitors to the NFB Mediatheque who also visit MIA receive a complimentary copy of Inuit Art in Canada.

2011 was a great year for the museum and we are looking forward to 2012: it’s the International Year of Co-Operatives and our partnership with the NFB Mediatheque continues this month. Stay tuned for more updates!

Posted by: Alysa Procida, MIA’s Educational Coordinator

Printmaking 101 with Karolina!

One of the great parts of working at the Museum of Inuit art is the amount of art that you get to see on a daily basis. I have always had a passion for graphics and am really impressed by a lot of prints! So much so that I wanted to examine the process for myself and learn how it’s done. Turns out, it is quite the labor intensive process but also quite fun!! There are many types of printmaking methods that are in use today. Originally when printmaking began in the North, a lot of the prints were the result of stonecuts.  A drawing would be carved into the surface of a flat stone and then a roller is used to apply the ink to the surface. The image itself is left in relief so as to pick up the ink and the negative space is chiseled away from the stone. A paper is placed and rubbed over the entire inked stone to create the image transfer. Woodcuts are another form of printmaking and work much the same way but instead of carving into stone, wood is used. Now printmaking technology has advanced a great deal and various methods are in circulation. There are stencils, etchings, lithographs as well as mixed medium prints.

Recently I had the opportunity to take a course on printmaking methods offered at the Toronto Central Technical School where a variety of printmaking methods including linocut, etching and screen printing were demonstrated. Today, I will show you the process that goes into the creation of an etching.

In etching, a metal plate made of either steel, zinc or copper is used. The first step in etching is to prepare the plate. Often this involves filing down the sides of the plate and polishing the surface to create a smooth surface for working on.

Here I am filing the zinc plate down so that each edge is smooth and even all around.

Once the plate is ready it is covered in a waxy ground that is resistant to acid. The ground can then be scratched off or “etched” into with a variety of tools. Wherever the ground is removed and metal is exposed is where the design will result in the final print.

There are two types of ground that are typically used. Soft ground and hard ground. Hard ground dries before being etched into and soft ground remains malleable so that textures can be pressed into it.

Once the design is etched into the plate, the whole plate gets dunked into an acid bath.  The acid “bites” the exposed metal and creates lines and depth in the plate. The longer the plate remains in the acid, the more severe and deep the lines will be.

Safety first! Protective eyewear and gloves have to be worn when working with acid. Here I am running a feather along the surface of my plate to remove any bubbles that form as the acid "bites" the plate.

The next step in the process is to remove the excess ground and then go ahead and ink the plate. Ink is applied with cheesecloth or similar material in order to push it into the engraved lines. The excess is then removed from the plate which is now ready for printing.

Inking can take a long time, depending on how many colors are used. This one here is only using black ink.

The plate is then placed on a printing press, inked side up. The paper used for this type of printmaking is usually quite heavy such as watercolor paper. The paper is soaked in water and then the excess is squeezed out. The dampened paper is now ready to be placed on top of the plate. Next, a blanket is placed over top of everything and then the whole thing is pushed through a high pressure printing press.

Plate, damp paper and then the blanket get placed before being pushed through the press.

Once everything is pushed through, the blanket and paper is peeled off and Voila, a print is made! The process of inking and printing can be repeated many times which is how editioned prints come to be. A great example of an etching is Annie Pootoogook’s (1969-) print from 2003 entitled, “Interior/Exterior” which can be seen inside the Museum.

Ta da! The finished print being peeled off from the plate.

Posted by : Karolina Tomaszewska, MIA’s Development Officer

Sneak Peak: New Jessie Kenalogak exhibition!

Things have been busy, busy here at MIA. We have prepared a new museum exhibition space which features beautiful drawings by Jessie Kenalogak from Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake). These works have never been exhibited for public display and constitute a distinct group, produced over a period of several years while the artist was in Kangirqliniq (Rankin Inlet). There, she participated in the Kangirqliniq Centre for Arts and Learning’s programming and began to create distinct, colourful and intensely personal works.

Educational Coordinator, Alysa Procida, preparing an exhibition panel for mounting.

Jessie Kenalogak drawings framed and waiting to be installed!

Educational Coordinator, Alysa Procida, installing a text panel for the Jessie Kenalogak exhibition.

Assistant Technician, Ali, preparing drawings for hanging.

The Jessie Kenalogak exhibition is officially open so be sure to check it out on your next visit to MIA!

Posted by: Karolina Tomaszewska, MIA’s Development Officer

Congratulations Drawing Contest Winners!

Congratulations to our monthly drawing contest winners for September!

Amelie, 7, Rock Man:

Sandra, 4, Love For Inuit Art:

Maximus, 10, Nunavut:

 

If you’d like to participate, come to MIA and submit your drawing!!

-Posted by: Alysa Procida, MIA’s Educational Coordinator