Pitseolak ashoona biography of martin garrix

Pitseolak Ashoona

Canadian Inuk artist

Pitseolak AshoonaCM RCA (c.&#; – May 28, [1]) was an Inuk Canadian artist admired for her prolific body of work. She was also a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

Biography

Pitseolak was born to Timungiak and Oootochie on Nottingham Island in the Northwest Territories, now Nunavut. Her name means "sea pigeon" in Inuktitut.[1][2] She grew up in the traditional life of her people, with food dependent on hunting and gathering.

Her society relied on angakuit.

In (or ), Pitseolak married Ashoona, a hunter, in the Foxe Peninsula of Baffin Island.[3] They had 17 children, though only six (Namoonie, Qaqaq, Kumwartok, Kiugak, Napachie, and Ottochie) lived with Pitseolak until adulthood.

Some died in childhood, and others were adopted out according to custom, and raised by other Inuit families.[4]

After her husband died at the age of 40 from a viral sickness, Pitseolak raised four of the children, Kumwartok, Qaqaq, Kiawak or Kiugak, and daughter Napachie Pootoogook, herself.[citation needed] Years of hardship followed the death of Ashoona, which occurred sometime in the early to mid s.

He died in the early years of the Second World War, a time of decline in the market for furs.[4]

Over time the loss of Ashoona led Pitseolak to change into an artist. Making prints eased her loneliness and she described her art as what made her "the happiest since he died".

She was born between and on Nottingham Island Tujjaat. Pitseolak was a member of one of the last generations of Inuit to be raised traditionally, utilizing hunting and gathering, and ceremonies known to the Inuit since before BC. InPitseolak married Ashoona, a hunter from Baffin Island, and they had seventeen children. Some died in childhood while others were adopted into other families in the community as was the custom in Inuit communities.

Pitseolak's artwork later enabled her to encourage her family. Though her art arose from painful circumstances, it expressed mostly positive memories and experiences. As Christine Lalonde notes in Pitseolak Ashoona: Life & Work: "scenes of deprivation and suffering almost never appear in her drawings, though certain images convey sadness and longing" about the passing of Ashoona.[4]

Pitseolak is recognized as one of the first Inuit artists to form autobiographical works.

Her art contained images of traditional Inuit existence and contributed to the establishment of a modern Inuit art form, one that transmitted traditional knowledge and values while at the same time achieving worldwide popular and commercial success.[4]

Pitseolak died on May 28, , in Cape Dorset now Kinngait.

She was survived by a enormous family of artists, including:

  • Napatchie Pootoogook, daughter, graphic artist[5]
  • Qaqaq Ashoona ("Kaka") (–), elder son and sculptor[6]
    • Ohitok, sculptor – grandson
  • Kiugak Ashoona (–), son and sculptor[7]
  • Kumwartok Ashoona, son and sculptor[6]

Artistic career

Pitseolak Ashoona was one of the first artists in the s to make drawings for the produce studio in Cape Dorset.

She was a self-taught artist, who worked out solutions to imaginative problems through what Lalonde described as "a self directed-program of repetitious drawing".[4]

Initially Pitseolak worked sewing and embroidering goods for sale as part of the arts and crafts program.

It was initiated by the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources as a way for Inuit to earn money. It was introduced by James Archibald Houston and Alma Houston at Cape Dorset in [4] Upon seeing the work of her cousin Kiakshuk (–), who was part of the Cape Dorset graphic studio, Pitseolak decided to accept up drawing.

Her early perform was well received and she soon became one of the most popular artists among those creating images for the Cape Dorset print collection.[4]

First working with graphite pencil, Pitseolak would later move on to coloured pencil and felt-tip pens.

Lalonde said these became her favoured medium because their "rich and vibrant colours" best expressed "the joyfulness that characterizes her work".[4]

Pitseolak's cousin, Kiakshuk, and Houston both inspired her to try her hand at drawing.

She also worked on copper plates, but did not enjoy this technique.

Canadian Women Artists History Initiative. Place Artist Database Reviews Database. She married Ashoona, a hunter, in Four of her surviving children became artists: sons Kumwartok, Qaqaq and Kiawak Ashoona and daughter Napachie Pootoogook.

In the last two decades of her being, from onwards, she produced a collection of more than 7, images, of which were created as prints in her Cape Dorset Collection.[8] She said these illustrated life pre-contact, "the things we did long ago before there were many white men."[9][2]

Her artwork focuses on both daily life and legends, or Taleelayu.

Pitseolak was inspired by other artists in her community who started before her, saying: "I don't know who did the first print, but Kiakshuk, Niviaksiak, Oshawetok and Tudlik were all drawing at the beginning. I liked the first prints&#; because they were truly Eskimo."[10] Pitseolak was accepted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in and was awarded the Arrange of Canada in for her work.

Through the following decade and until her death in , Pitseolak continued to doodle, and to work with unused media. An arts grant awarded to her in sparked experimentation in a new medium – acrylic paint on canvas. Initially, she approached painting like drawing, outlining in pencil and then filling in with colour.

As she gradually adapted to the nuances of the medium, she began laying down bold colours side by side to accomplish her vivid affect.

—&#;The Pictures[11]

Pitseolak create prints to be the most challenging, as she said in Dorothy Harley Eber's book Pitseolak: Pictures of My Life; "To make prints is not effortless.

You must think first and this is hard to accomplish. But I am happy doing the prints."[12] Though not active as a printmaker, Pitseolak experimented with drawing directly on copper plates and, to a lesser degree, lithographic stones.[4]

In she narrated her story in the National Film Board's animated documentary Pictures out of My Life, directed by Bozenna Heczko and based on interviews from Eber's book.[13][14] Pitseolak was also featured on a stamp, issued on Pride 8, , and designed by Heather J.

Cooper, in commemoration of International Woman's Day.[15]

Pitseolak's labor has been featured in exhibitions at Canadian museums, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Canadian museum of civilizations, and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

In she had a retrospective at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., organized by the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.[8]

Legacy

In , Ashoona was one of eight finalists for the person to be depicted on $5 polymer bills in Canada.[16]

References

  1. ^ abcdef"Pitseolak Ashoona –".

    National Gallery of Canada. Archived from the unique on May 7, Retrieved May 7,

  2. ^ abHolmlund, Mona; Youngberg, Gail (). Inspiring Women: A Celebration of Herstory.

    Pitseolak was born in on Nottingham Island in the Hudson Straights, while her family was en way from Sugluk now Salluit on the north coast of Arctic Quebec to the south coast of Baffin Island. She spent her childhood in several camps on the south Baffin coast. Ashoona died during a epidemic in the Nettling Lake area he was still in his prime, leaving Pitseolak to elevate their young family on her own. Pitseolak was among the first in Cape Dorset to begin drawing, and the most prolific.

    Coteau Books. p.&#; ISBN&#;.

  3. ^"PITSEOLAK (Pitseolak Ashoona)". Canadian Women Artists History Initiative. August 6, Retrieved March 10,
  4. ^ abcdefghiLalonde, Christine ().

    "Pitseolak Ashoona: Life and Work".

    In Pitseolak Ashoona ’s world, the stuff of everyday life is a window into the past, a reflection of current reality, and a document for future generations. Created in graphite, felt-tip pen and coloured pencil, her drawings have change into iconic examples of midth-century Inuit art, setting the tone, to some extent, for many later Inuit artists.

    The Art Canada Institute. Art Canada Institute.

  5. ^ abc"ULAN Full Record Display (Getty Research)". . Retrieved February 4,
  6. ^ abRoutledge, Marie (July 2, ).

    "Qaqaq Ashoona".

    Pitseolak Ashoona - Wikipedia: Pitseolak Ashoona, better acknowledged as Pitseolak, was an Inuit Canadian artist from the Northwest Territories. She was born between 19on Nottingham Island (Tujjaat).

    The Canadian Encyclopedia (online&#;ed.). Historica Canada. Retrieved March 10,

  7. ^Routledge, Marie (July 2, ). "Kiawak Ashoona". The Canadian Encyclopedia (online&#;ed.). Historica Canada. Retrieved March 10,
  8. ^ abStefania., Tiberini, Elvira ().

    Women in charge&#;: artiste Inuit contemporanee = Inuit contemporary women artists = artistes Iunuit contemporaines. Museo preistorico-etnografico Luigi Pigorini. Milano: Officina libraria. ISBN&#;. OCLC&#;: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

  9. ^Swinton, George (March 4, ).

    Post a Comment. Thursday, April 9, Encounters on the Passage. Woodman I have always envied Dorothy Harley Eber. Two decades ago my soon-to-be editor kindly invited me to lunch to debate my unpublished manuscript.

    "Inuit Art". The Canadian Encyclopedia (online&#;ed.). Historica Canada.

  10. ^Eber, Dorothy Harley (). Pitseolak: Pictures Out of My Life (second&#;ed.). McGill-Queen's University Press. p.&#; ISBN&#;.
  11. ^Ashoona, Pitseolak ().

    The Pictures. Feheley Fine Arts. p.&#;2.

  12. ^Eber , p.&#;45
  13. ^Eber, Dorothy Harley (July 2, ).

    Pitseolak Ashoona CM RCA (c. – May 28, [1]) was an Inuk Canadian designer admired for her prolific body of work. She was also a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Pitseolak was born to Timungiak and Oootochie on Nottingham Island in the Northwest Territories, now Nunavut.

    "Pitseolak Ashoona". The Canadian Encyclopedia (online&#;ed.). Historica Canada. Retrieved Protest 10,

  14. ^"Pictures Out of My Life". National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved March 10,
  15. ^"Pitseolak".

    Famous Canadian Women on Stamps. Retrieved July 24,

  16. ^Zimonjic, Peter (November 10, ) [November 9, ]. "Bank of Canada unveils shortlist of names under consideration for new $5 bill". CBC News.

Further reading