The Winnipeg Art Gallery Presents New Art from Cape Dorset

Written by Craig Sommerfield Monday, 17 October 2011 22:38

Winnipeg, Manitoba.- The Winnipeg Art gallery is proud to present "New Art from Cape Dorset", on view until April 8th 2012. This exhibition features drawings and sculptures created by second- and third-generation Cape Dorset artists in recent years. Eleven original drawings are by Ningeokuluk Teevee (b. 1963) and Tim Pitsiulak (b. 1967), two young artists who are causing much excitement among collectors. Since 2004, Teevee has been creating drawings that explore the relationship between abstraction and representation, particularly the interplay of patterns found in nature. Pitsiulak came to public notice in 2005 with a lithograph, "Caribou Migration", that was included in the Cape Dorset annual print collection. His drawings are realistic depictions of modern subjects that are often angled or run off the edge of the page. Both artists have recently been creating large-scale drawings, such as Teevee’s Sea Goddess which is five feet wide.

Sculptures in the exhibition have been acquired in recent years and are by artists who are expressing personal interests and concerns. Goota Ashoona (b. 1967), daughter of Kiugak Ashoona, often interprets female imagery, such as the sea spirit Nuliajuk. Goota’s son, Joe Jaw Ashoona (b. 1989) has used abalone in his whale bone sculpture as a memory of a exchange trip he made to Haida Gwaii in 2009. Jamesie Pitseolak (b. 1968) is interested in machines, particularly the motorcycle, and the WAG’s Chopper was carved in 2007. His sculpture, Horse Shoe, is part of a series of visual puns he created in 2007–08. This exhibition is part of The Collection on View, six galleries featuring works from the WAG's 24,000 piece permanent collection. Cape Dorset is where the remains of the Thule (Tuniit, Dorset Culture) were discovered, that lived between 1000B.C and 1100 A.D.. Cape Dorset was named by Captain Luke Fox after Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset on September 24, 1631.


The Inuit originally called the inlet Sikusiilaq before it was named Cape Dorset, after the area of sea ocean nearby that remains ice free all winter. Hudson Bay Company started their trading post in 1913, where they traded furs and skins for supplies like tobacco, ammunition, flour, gas, tea and sugar. Since the 1950s, Cape Dorset, which calls itself the "Capital of Inuit Art" has been a centre for drawing, printmaking, and carving. Even today, printmaking and carving are the community's main economic activities. Each year, Kinngait Studios issues an annual print collection. Cape Dorset has been hailed as the most artistic community in Canada, with some 22% of the labour force employed in the arts. In 1957, James Houston, European-Canadian created a graphic arts workshop in Cape Dorset. Houston collected drawings from community artists and encouraged local Inuit stone carvers to apply their skills to stone-block printing. The print program was modeled after Japanese ukiyo-e workshops. Other cooperative print shops were also established in nearby communities, but the Cape Dorset workshop has remained the most successful. They have experimented with etching, engraving, lithography, and silkscreen, and produce annual catalogs advertising the limited edition prints. Between the years of 1959 and 1974, Cape Dorset artists produced more than 48,000 prints. Well-known artists of Cape Dorset include Pudlo Pudlat and Kenojuak Ashevak. Ashevak's drawings of owls have appeared on Canadian stamps as well as a Canadian quarter. Inuit photographer and author Peter Pitseolak spent several years of his life living in Cape Dorset.


The WAG was established in 1912 when a group of Winnipeg businessmen, recognizing "the civilizing effects of art," each contributed $200 and rented two rooms in the old Federal Building at the corner of Main and Water Streets. Thus, the WAG was born, becoming the first civic art gallery in Canada. Now approaching its centenary in 2012, the Winnipeg Art Gallery has developed from a small civic gallery to Canada’s sixth largest gallery with an international reputation. As it expanded, the WAG relocated premises several times to accommodate its growing collection, including its former residence in what is now the Manitoba Archives Building on St. Mary Avenue. The 1950s witnessed the beginning of several of the WAG’s specialized collections, including that of Inuit Art. The WAG is now home to the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world with over 10,730 works. The Decorative Arts collection, another area of specialized collecting, also began in the 1950s since when the WAG has amassed over 4,000 pieces of decorative art, covering diverse media of ceramic, glass, metal, and textiles dating from the 17th century to the mid-20th century. The third specialized collection began considerably later in the 1980s with the designation of the photography collection which now numbers some 1,300 works, largely of contemporary Canadian origin. Designed by Winnipeg architect Gustavo da Roza, built of pale Manitoba Tyndall stone, the current WAG building rises like the prow of a ship on its own triangular "ocean." It was opened by Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, on September 25, 1971. In addition to eight galleries, the building contains a 320-seat auditorium, a rooftop sculpture garden and restaurant, a research library, a gift shop, and extensive meeting and lecture space. The WAG footprint expanded in October 1995 with the opening of the new WAG Studio Building next door in the renovated Mall Medical Building. Home to the Gallery's art classes, the WAG facility is the largest program of its kind in Canada, offering children and adults art classes taught by professional artists. Visit the museum's website at ... http://wag.ca

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