Kenojuak Ashevak (October 3, 1927 - January 8, 2013) Kenojuak Ashevak was a world renowned Inuit artist born in a small camp called Ikirasaq, on the southern coast of Baffin Island. The mediums she used varied and expanded as she unknowingly created a legacy emanating over 50 years, lasting until her passing. Humble beginnings gave Kenojuak the opportunity to experiment with carvings but soon she would become known globally for her imaginative and remarkable graphic prints and drawings. Her inspiring works and accomplishments are still praised to this day and continues to be esteemed around the globe. Kenojuak is recognized as one of Canada’s preeminent Inuit artists and cultural icons and is best known for her cherished drawings of owls. Her earliest and most famous print that kickstarted her career is The Enchanted Owl (1960). The Enchanted Owl print was featured on the Canadian .06 cent stamp in 1970 to commemorate the centennial of the Northwest Territories. In 1993 Ashevak’s print The Owl was featured by Canada Post on their .86 cent stamp. Ashevak was the first woman to become involved with the newly established printmaking shop at Cape Dorset as well as the first Inuk to have her artwork on a stamp. She had contributed artworks to the Cape Dorset Annual Print Release every year from its inception in 1959 to the year of her passing in 2013. With the wide array of Kenojuak’s accomplishments and many ‘firsts’, she has proven to be an inspiration for generations of artists. Her constant drive and determination to experiment with new media and techniques will always be commemorated and remembered. Kenojuak was born to her father, Ushuakjuk and her mother, Silaqqi who named Kenojuak after Silaqqi’s late father. Ashevak’s father Ushuakjuk was an Inuit hunter, fur trader, leader of the camp and respected shaman who came into conflict with Christian converts. In 1933, when Ashevak was only 6, Ushuakjuk was assassinated in a hunting camp. She remembered him as a “kind and benevolent man… [who] had more knowledge than average mortals, and he would help all the Inuit people”. According to Kenojuak, her father believed he could predict weather, predict prime hunting seasons and even turn into a walrus; he also had the ability "to make fish swarm at the surface so it was easier to fish." After Ushukjuk’s murder, Kenojuak moved with her widowed mother and family to the home of Silaqqi's mother, Koweesa. Ashevak first learned traditional skills and crafts from her grandmother Koweesa, including the repair of sealskins for trade with the Hudson’s Bay Company and how to tailor waterproof clothes fastened with caribou sinew. At the young age of 19, Kenojuak was married to Johnniebo (1923 - 1972), a local Inuit hunter, and lived with him in various camps. Though their marriage was arranged by Ashevak’s mother and her stepfather Takpaugni, it’s noted that Kenojuak may have been reluctant at first, but grew to love her husband for his qualities of kindness and gentleness. Johnniebo who shared in the love of art making with his wife, sometimes collaborated with her on projects; the National Gallery of Canada holds two of Johnniebo's works, Taleelayo with Sea Bird (1965) and Hare Spirits (1960). In the early 1950’s Kenojuak was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent against her will to Parc Savard hospital in Quebec City, where she stayed for 3 years from 1952 to 1955. She had just given birth when she was forcibly transferred; the baby was adopted by a neighbouring family. Several of Kenojuak's children died while she was confined in hospital. At Parc Savard Hospital she was introduced to Harold Pfeiffer, who taught patients arts and crafts as a way to pass the time as well as a way to make money - the Hospital sold the crafts on the patient’s behalf. When she returned back to Cape Dorset with her husband, she was introduced to James and Alma Houston; Instrumental people in the forging and teaching of printmaking techniques to the Inuit, and in the encouraging and distributing of Inuit art). Ashevak admits the first time Houston encouraged her to draw, she declined his offer feeling she wasn’t good enough. James Houston writes about this in 1999 saying, “She was hesitant at first, claiming that she could not draw and that drawing was a man’s business. Yet the next time that she visited the Houstons, the sheets of paper that Alma had given her were filled with pencil sketches.” In the late 1950’s, Kenojuak and Johnnibo shared in their love of creativity and began carving and drawing. Ashevak embraced etching and engraving, lithography in the late 1970s, and etching and aquatint over the last decade of her life. In the late 1960s Ashevak quickly gained recognition for her graphic prints and has since become arguably the most renowned Inuit artist in the world. Since beginning to experiment with drawing, Ashevak created a detailed body of work, using graphite, coloured pencils and felt-tip pens on paper. Ashevak’s budding drawings had simple, bold forms, oftentimes displaying birds and creatures evolving into one another. She portrayed birds like her lively owls, fish, bears, humans and mystical spirits of her surrounding environment. Ashevak tells how when it comes to drawing animals, she draws them based on how her intuition leads. In 1980, she described her process, “I just take these things out of my thoughts and out of my imagination, and I don't really give any weight to the idea of its being an image of something.... I am just concentrating on placing it down on paper in a way that is pleasing to my own eye… And that is how I have always tried to make my images, and that is still how I do it, and I haven't really thought about it any other way than that.” Aware that her animals may not represent exactness, but trusting the way she feels, her spirit and hands guide her through her masterpieces. She created powerful, captivating and graceful images through ingenious details. She approached her work with a strong creative intuition – her drawings emerged almost unconsciously, a process she would describe as her hand leading her mind. In 1966, Kenojuak and Johnniebo moved to Cape Dorset allowing their kids could go to school. After 26 years of marriage, Johnniebo passed away due to tuberculosis in 1972. Many of their children and grandchildren succumbed to disease. Three daughters of Kenojuak, Mary, Elisapee Qiqituk, and Aggeok, died in childhood, and four sons, Jamasie, her adopted son Ashevak, and Kadlarjuk and Qiqituk. The latter two were adopted at birth by another family. The year after Johnniebo died, Kenojuak remarried to Etyguyakjua Pee; he died in 1977. In 1978 she married Joanassie Igiu. Kenojuak had 11 children by her first husband and adopted five more; seven of her children died in childhood. The captivating Inuk artist has participated in numerous exhibitions, special projects and commissions across Canada, Europe and Asia. In 1961 she was the subject of a film produced by the National Film Board about her traditional life and art. In 1963 National Film Board produced Eskimo Artist: Kenojuak directed by John Feeney. The film is still shown today, and was instrumental in introducing her to the world beyond Cape Dorset which in turn opened the eyes of many to the rich cultural life of the Canadian Arctic. She was awarded the Order of Canada in 1967, a Companion to the Order of Canada in 1982. She travelled to Japan (where she and her husband completed a mural for the 1970 World’s Fair), Europe and the United States; received honorary doctorates from Queen’s University and the University of Toronto; earned a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame; and, in 2008, received the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. Her major stained glass commission “Iggalaaq”, was installed in the fall of 2004 at the John Bell Chapel at Appleby College just west of Toronto. In 2016 Ashevak was the subject of a Canadian Heritage Minute short film, which paid tribute to the huge impact she continues to have on Inuit artists and Canadian art. Ashevak’s extensive travel schedule placed her in the position of being a cultural ambassador and a role model for women. She was known as charming, gracious, intelligent and humorous - traits that helped her as a public figure. Ashevak spoke of her creative practices as a means to support her family, howbeit drawing and creating were also deeply embedded in her everyday life - which she loved. Later in life when asked when she would stop drawing, she responded, “This is my job and my love. I cannot imagine life without art”. To date, besides the great works and accomplishments that Kenojuak has received and achieved in her life, she still holds qualities that many will remember her for. In January, 2013, after a long and illustrious career, Kenojuak died peacefully at home surrounded by her loving family. Ashevak’s enthusiasm and devotion to her work has provided inspiration to generations of artists in Kinngait. She is the namesake of the community’s Kenojuak Cultural Centre and Print Shop which opened in 2017 and houses the contemporary art studios. “When I first started to make a few lines on paper, my love, Johnniebo, smiled at me and said ‘Inumn,’ Which means ‘I love you.’ I just knew inside his heart that he almost cried knowing that I was trying my best to say something on a piece of paper that would bring food to the family. I guess I was thinking of the animals and the beautiful flowers that covered our beautiful, untouched land” – Kenojuak Ashevak, 2008