Foundations

As one of the former curators at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, now the Art Gallery of Guelph, I had the privilege and pleasure of being introduced to contemporary Inuit art under the tutelage of the founding director, Judith Nasby. Although this was not an area of my expertise at that time, it was by happenstance and exposure, through an early trip to Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake) in 1994, that contemporary Inuit drawing became the focus of my curatorial and academic career. The selections I made here were pivotal in this foundation, ultimately refocusing my understanding and expectation of Inuit art. I remember clearly the purchase of Oviloo Tunnillie’s Size 12, which I remember as being titled Gucci Loafer, carved out of exquisite pink marble from the Kinngait (Cape Dorset) region. The memorable purchase of Barney Visits a Winter Camp by Ruth Annaqtuusi Tulurialuk was made in Qamani’tuaq after meeting the artist. Qavavau Manumie’s NASA Graveyard remains the catalyst that resulted in my looking at Inuit drawing in a new way. My seven-year tenure at the gallery was the springboard that resulted in a fifteen-year pilgrimage to the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative in Kinngait and deep work on artists Annie Pootoogook and Shuvinai Ashoona. Reviewing the holdings of the collection at the Art Gallery of Guelph reminds me of the power art can have in changing the understanding of the world we live in.

Image detail: Jessie Oonark, Cutout Pieces for an Amautiq, Hood and Socks (schematic clothing patterns), 1978, coloured pencil on paper. Purchased with funds donated by Blount Canada Ltd., 1980, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre Collection at the Art Gallery of Guelph