Pitseolak Ashoona

Pitseolak Ashoona, Festive Bird, 48/50, 1970

24 x 33 1/2 in.

ex coll. Albrecht Collection of Arctic Art
If you look closely, you can see the outlines of the bird's head, body and legs, which are surrounded by and filled with an explosion of colorful feathers. This print simply radiates joy. Its design is much more fluid than Pitseolak's scenes of daily life, but it relates back to her early depictions of demons, such as "Night Demons of Earth and Sky" and "Man with Beasts."

Pitseolak Ashoona, Night demons of sky and earth, 19/50, 1961/54, 1961

Stonecut, 24 1/4 x 36 3/4 in. (61.6 x 93.3 cm)

Printer: Iyola Kingwatsiak, 1933-2000 Pitseolak Ashoona was a prolific graphic artist. Her prints were included in the annual Cape Dorset Print Collection every year from 1960 until 1983, when she died. In "Pitseolak: Pictures Out of My Life," she said, "I know I have had an unusual life, being born in a skin tent and living to hear on the radio that two men have landed on the moon. . . . To make prints is not easy. You must think first and this is hard to do. But I am happy doing the prints." Pitseolak is the matriarch of an artistic dynasty. Her sons Kiugak, Kaka and Kumwartok Ashoona, were prominent first-generation stone sculptors, and her only surviving daughter, Napachie Pootoogook, was a talented graphic artist whose own daughter, Annie Pootoogook, carried on the family's artistic line. This early print is reminiscent of Kenojuak Ashevak's "Night Spirits" from 1960, but Pitseolak's version has a dynamic, unified structure, suggesting a more orderly community of spirits.

03738-1

Pitseolak Ashoona, Man repairing sledge, 10/50, 1964/15

16 1/2 x 22 in.

Printmaker: Echalook Pingwartok Pitseolak Ashoona was a prolific graphic artist. Her prints were included in the annual Cape Dorset Print Collection every year from 1960 until 1983, when she died. In "Pitseolak: Pictures Out of My Life," she said, "I know I have had an unusual life, being born in a skin tent and living to hear on the radio that two men have landed on the moon. . . . To make prints is not easy. You must think first and this is hard to do. But I am happy doing the prints." Pitseolak is the matriarch of an artistic dynasty. Her sons Kiugak, Kaka and Kumwartok Ashoona, were prominent first-generation stone sculptors, and her only surviving daughter, Napachie Pootoogook, was a talented graphic artist whose own daughter, Annie Pootoogook, carried on the family's artistic line. "Man Repairing Sledge," like many of Pitseolak's images, shows a scene from daily life. The treatment of the igloos is typical of early Cape Dorset prints, capturing the essence of the scene, but making no attempt to deal with perspective. Rows of ice blocks are depicted continuously across two igloos, one in front and one in back. The dogs' antics animate the scene. Although it incorporates the same elements as Kiakshuk's "Igloo and Dog Team," Pitseolak's print is warmer and lighter in atmosphere.

03727-1