Description
These stained glass etchings called Birds, Foxes and Seals by Kakulu Saggiaktok are a triptych of glass etchings designed by Kakulu Saggiaktok and fabricated at Sattler’s Studio in Pleasantville, NS.
The process of putting Kakulu’s work on glass starts in the South East of Germany where Norbert Sattler selects the stained glass for the prints personally. The genuine antique mouth-blown glass is flashed, meaning that there are two coloured layers of glass in each sheet. The variations in texture and bubbles make each sheet of mouth blown glass unique.
Once at the studio the glass is cut to the proper dimensions, keeping the life-edge of the genuine antique mouth-blown glass. Each sheet is then screen-printed. The paint is fired into the glass at high temperatures. Next the panel is step etched. In this process varying amounts of the top layer from the glass are removed to reveal the layer underneath. Finally some areas of the glass are sandblasted for a different effect.
The frames of oak and stainless steel wire are custom built at Sattler’s studio as well.
Kakulu Saggiaktok is a graphic artist from Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU. She has been working out of the studios in Kinngait since the 1960s and has had work featured in numerous Cape Dorset Annual Print Collections since 1966. Her practice is informed by childhood memories of living on the land, and of Arctic wildlife and animals. Saggiaktok’s work has been featured in international exhibitions, and is held in prominent public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
Kakulu began to draw in the early 1960’s when the West Baffin Co-operative established its printmaking studios. Many of her images explore the theme of transformation, with animals blending into other animals, humans becoming animals and vice versa. This is a predominant subject in traditional Inuit folklore and Kakulu Saggiaktok mythology, where the natural and supernatural worlds were mediated by the shaman. Kakulu’s work is always imaginative and often playful and charming and much of her inspiration comes from her childhood memories of living on the land.
The etchings can also be purchased on an individual basis, see for instance: Seals by Kakulu Saggiaktok
Please contact us to arrange for a shipping quote for Birds, Foxes and Seals by Kakulu Saggiaktok. Keep in mind that this unique item will require carefull crating to avoid breakage.
Biography Kakulu Saggiaktok
KAKULU SAGGIAKTOK (SAGIATUK; QAQULUK; KAKOOLOOK; KAKULOOK)
Date of Birth: February 14, 1940
Place of Birth: Cape Dorset
Mother: Ikayukta Saggiaktuk (deceased)
Father:
Male/Female: Female
“Because I am not very old, I don’t usually draw the old ways but in my mind I would like to. Because I am not very old I don’t really remember. I was born on the ship, the Nascopie, when my parents were travelling around Baffin Island. I don’t remember much about those early years but I have one memory of being taken by canoe from the ship to the land by a white man.”
– Kakulu Saggiatok
Cape Dorset Print Catalogue, 1978.
Kakulu was born in 1940 on the Hudson’s Bay Company’s supply ship, “Nascopie” en route from Clyde River to Pangnirtung. At that time, her parents and older brother were members of a small group of Inuit who travelled from south Baffin Island to trap and hunt furs in the northern regions of the Island.
Kakulu began to draw in the early 1960’s when the newly established co-operative introduced its graphic arts project. Her style has evolved considerably over the years. She is represented in this year’s (2000), collection with two prints – “Vision Quest” (2000-2) and “Myth of Creation” (2000-3). Both of these illustrating her playful and yet sophisticated sense of imagery.
Kakulu’s mother was Ikayukta, a well-known graphic artist (now deceased). Her older brother was Qavaroak Tunnillie, a well-known and prolific sculptor (now deceased). She is married to Saggiaktok, who for many years was a printmaker in the stonecut studio. He would frequently proof and edit those images by Kakulu which had been chosen for stonecut prints. They live in Cape Dorset with their four children. She continues to develop her own unique style of expression, and participates in workshops offered by the Kinngait Studios. She is represented in 2001 print collection by an etching and aquatint entitled, “Hot Pot” (2001-2002), which she conceived direly onto the etching plate during one of the Co- operative’s continuing series of workshops in association with Studio PM of Montreal.*
*West Baffin Eskimo Co-op, 2000-2001.
EXHIBITIONS:
1966, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2014
Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection)
(illustrated catalogue)
June – July 1967
4th National Burnaby Print Show Burnaby Art Society
Burnaby, British Columbia
1970
Graphic Art by Eskimos of Canada: First Collection Cultural Affairs Division, Department of External Affairs, Canada
Ottawa,Ontario
(tour) (illustrated catalogue)
October – November 1973
Sculpture Inuit: 25 Years After Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec Montreal, Quebec
1975 – 1979
We Lived by Animals, Nous Vivions des Animaux Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in cooperation with the Department of External Affairs Ottawa, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)
1977
The Contemporary Eskimo Prints and Sculpture Amon Carter Museum of Western Art
Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)
July – August 1981
Eskimo Games: Graphics and Sculpture/Giuochi Eschimesi: grafiche e sculture
National Gallery of Modern Art
Rome, Italy
(illustrated catalogue)
May 1991
Inuit Music in Art: Singing and Dancing and Playing Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario
November – December 1991
Art Inuit: Autour de la Collection de Cape Dorset 1991 Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
At Le Colombier
Ville D’Avray, France
December 1991 – March 1992
In Cape Dorset We Do It This Way: Three Decades of Inuit Printmaking
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)
June – July 1992
Women of the North: An Exhibition of art by Inuit Women of the Canadian Arctic
Marion Scott Gallery
Vancouver, British Columbia
(illustrated catalogue)
May – June 1994
Cape Dorset Revisited – a collection of previously unreleased prints, exhibited at several commercial galleries, organized by
West Baffin Eskimo Co-op
Cape Dorset, Northwest Territories
May 1994 – July 1995
Cape Dorset Revisited
McMichael Canadian Art Collection Kleinburg, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)
May – September 1995
Keeping Our Stories Alive: An Exhibition of the Art and Crafts from the Dene and Inuit of Canada
Institute of American Indian Arts Museum
Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)
December 1996 – March 1997
Beelden uit Arctica Canuit
Canadian Eskimo Art Venray, Netherlands
March 1997
Inuit and the Sea Canuit
Canadian Eskimo Art Eindhoven, Netherlands
November 1997
Graphite and Stone
Sculpture and Drawing: Baffin Artists in two mediums Spirit Wrestler Gallery
Vancouver, British Columbia
(illustrated catalogue)
April
Art by Women: An investigation of Inuit Sculpture and Graphics
Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario
Nov – Dec 2008
Breaking Ground:
New Oil Stick Drawings from Cape Dorset Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario
October, 2009
Mixed Media from Cape Dorset Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario
Oct 2009 – Jan 2010
Uuturautiit: Cape Dorset Celebrates 50 Years of Printmaking
National Gallery of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)
June 2011
Dorset Large:
Large Scale drawings from the Kinngait Studios Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)
April – June 2013
Animal Power: Images in Contemporary Inuit Art Marion Scott Gallery
Vancouver, British Columbia
COLLECTIONS:
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.A.
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, Ontario
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec
McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia
University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
