Biography Kenojuak Ashevak
Kenojuak Ashevak, ᑭᓄᔭᐊ ᐊᓯᕗ
Settlement: Cape Dorset / Kinngait
(1927-2013) — E7-1035
Respected and prolific, Kenojuak Ashevak is one of Canada’s most famous artists. Ashevak’s work encompasses over 50 years of art including sculpture, thousands of drawings, and approximately 200 prints.
Born on south Baffin Island in 1927 at a camp area known as Ikirisaq, Kenojuak grew up traveling from camp to camp on south Baffin and in Arctic Quebec (Nunavik) During that time period Kenojuak learned hunting skills and sewing arts needed for survival as an adult. As a young woman, she was married to Johnniebo and lived with him in various camps including Keakto, a scenic area seven miles from Cape Dorset. While still living at Keakto in the late 1950’s, both Kenojuak and Johnniebo first experimented with carving and drawing. They moved to Cape Dorset in 1966 in order for their children to attend school, and continued to work closely together until Johnniebo’s death.
Kenojuak’s subject matter includes landscapes, scenes from traditional Inuit life, and animals – most familiar of which are her stylized birds. All are illuminated with her joyful colour play and detailed decorative style.
Exhibitions
1987 Eskimo Art, Franz Bader Gallery
4th National Burnaby Print Show, Burnaby Art Society
A Collector’s Feast, Snow Goose Associates
A New Day Dawning: Early Cape Dorset Prints, University of Michigan
Arctic Mirror, Canadian Museum of Civilization
Arctic Spirit 35 Years of Canadian Inuit Art, Frye Art Museum
Arctic Vision: Art of the Canadian Inuit, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Canadian Arctic Producers
Art Collection D’Art, Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops
ART ESKIMO, Galerie de France
Art Inuit, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie Akenaton
Art Inuit, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie Montador
Art Inuit, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Chapelle de la Visitation
Art Inuit, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie Humbert
Art Inuit, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at La Halle aux Bles
Art Inuit, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Palais de l’Europe
Art Inuit, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Thonon les Bains
Art Inuit, Sculpture des Esquimaux du Canada, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie La Poutre, Marseille
Art Inuit: Autour de la Collection de Cape Dorset 1990, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Centre Culturel Canadien
Art Inuit: Autour de la Collection de Cape Dorset 1991, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Le Colombier
Art/Facts, McMaster Art Gallery
Art/Inuit/Art: The Rothmans Permanent Collection of Eskimo Sculpture, Rothmans of Pall Mall Canada Ltd.
Arts from the Arctic, Anchorage Museum of History and Art
Arts of the Eskimo: Prints, Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal
Baffin Island Sculpture, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
Bears of the North, Snow Goose Associates
Beauty in Stone, The Arctic Circle
Birds: Sculpture from Cape Dorset & Rock Ptarmigan Limited Edition Print by Kananginak, The Guild Shop
Canadian Eskimo Art: a representative exhibition from the collection of Professor and Mrs. Philip Gray, Fine Arts Gallery, Montana State University
Canadian Eskimo Arts Festival, Alaska Methodist University Galleries
Canadian Eskimo Graphic Art and Sculpture, St. Mary’s University Art Gallery
Canadian Eskimo Lithographs: Third Collection, Presented under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Division of the Department of External Affairs Canada
Canadian Eskimo Sculpture, Canadian Embassy
Cape Dorset – A Decade of Eskimo Prints & Recent Sculpture, National Gallery of Canada, in cooperation with the Canadian Eskimo Art Committee
Cape Dorset Engravings, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Cape Dorset Engravings, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, circulated by the Art Gallery of Ontario
Cape Dorset Engravings and Etchings from the Sixties, Arctic Artistry
Cape Dorset Graphics *59, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *60, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *61, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *62, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *63, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *64/65, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *66, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *67, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *68, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *69, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *70, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *71, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *72, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *74, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *75, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *76, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *77, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *78, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *79, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *80, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *81, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *82, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *83, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *84, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *85, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *86, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *87, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *89, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *90, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *91, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *92, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *93, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *94, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Graphics *95, (annual collection)
Cape Dorset Impressions: Inuit Stonecut and Stencil Print Techniques, National Gallery of Canada
Cape Dorset Prints, Winnipeg Art Gallery
Cape Dorset Prints and Sculpture, McMaster Art Gallery
Cape Dorset Prints: Twenty-Five Years, National Gallery of Canada
Cape Dorset Revisited, McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Cape Dorset Revisited – a collection of previously unreleased prints, exhibited at selected commercial galleries, organized by, West Baffin Eskimo Co-op
Cape Dorset Sculpture, Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery
Cape Dorset Through the Years: 25 Years of Graphics and Sculpture, Arctic Artistry
Cape Dorset Women Artists Kenojuak, Pitaloosie and Lucy, Gallery Indigena
Cape Dorset, First Generation Printers: Engravings 1962-1963, Albers Gallery
Collectors’ Choice – An Exhibition of Important Inuit Sculpture, Waddington Galleries
Contemporary Canadian Eskimo Art, Gimpel Fils
Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art of Canada, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, presented at the General Assembly Building, United Nations
Contemporary Inuit Art, National Gallery of Canada
Contemporary Inuit Art at the National Gallery of Canada, National Gallery of Canada
Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Muscarelle Museum of Art College of William and Mary
Creatures of the Sea and Snow, Snow Goose Associates
Demons and Spirits and those who wrestled with them, The Arctic Circle
Drawings of the 1960s from Cape Dorset, Feheley Fine Arts in association with Gimpel Fils, London, England
Early Cape Dorset Prints: Kenojuak, Pitseolak, Lucy, Kananginak, Kopapik, Houston North Gallery
Eskimo Art, Queens Museum
Eskimo Art, Embankment Gallery
Eskimo Drawings Cape Dorset, Isaacs Gallery
Eskimo Fantastic Art, Gallery 111, School of Art, University of Manitoba
Eskimo Prints, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University
Eskimo Sculpture ’69, Robertson Galleries
Eskimo Sculpture, Eskimo Prints and Paintings of Norval Morrisseau, Art Association of Newport
Eskimo Stone Sculpture, featuring Axangayuk, Johnniebo, Kenojuak, The Arctic Circle
Eskimo Wallhangings, McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario
Estampes Inuit, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie Christiane Flament
Estampes Inuit: Trois Graveurs de Cape Dorset, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie Musepict
Exhibition of Inuit Art, Harbourfront Centre organized by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
Exhibition of Original Drawings by Three Inuit Artists from Cape Dorset: Kenojuak Ashevak, Kananginak Pootoogook and Eliyakota Samualie, Gallery Phillip
Festival of Birds, The Arctic Circle
Flights of Fancy – Kenojuak Ashevak, Lucy Qinnuayuak, Pitaloosie Saila, Art Gallery of Ontario
From Drawing to Print: Perceptions and Process in Cape Dorset Art, Glenbow Museum
Glaciopolis: Art Inuit, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Maison de Pesey
Graphic Art by Eskimos of Canada: First Collection, Cultural Affairs Division, Department of External Affairs, Canada
Graphic Art by Eskimos of Canada: Second Collection, Cultural Affairs Division, Department of External Affairs, Canada
Grasp Tight the Old Ways: Selections from the Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art, Art Gallery of Ontario
Im Schatten der Sonne: Zeitgenossische Kunst der Indianer und Eskimos in Kanada/In the Shadow of the Sun: Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art in Canada, Canadian Museum of Civilization
Images of the Far North, Studio Art Gallery, State University of New York
Images of the Far North, Arctic Artistry (held at the Erie County Fairgrounds)
Images of the Inuit: from the Simon Fraser Collection, Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University
Immaginario Inuit Arte e cultura degli esquimesi canadesi, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
In Cape Dorset We Do It This Way: Three Decades of Inuit Printmaking, McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Inoonoot Eskima: Grafik och Skulptur fran Cape Dorset och Povungnituk, Konstframjandet
Inuit Art from the Art Centre Collection, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
Inuit Art From the Glenbow Collection, Glenbow Museum
Inuit Art in the 1970s, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre
Inuit Art: A Selection of Inuit Art from the Collection of the National Museum of Man, Ottawa, and the Rothmans Permanent Collection of Inuit Sculpture, Canada, National Museum of Man, Ottawa and Rothmans of Pall Mall Canada Ltd.
Inuit Art: Drawings and Recent Sculpture, National Gallery of Canada
Inuit Art: from the collection of Maurice Yacowar, Collector’s Gallery
Inuit Drawings, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
Inuit Graphic Art from Indian & Northern Affairs Canada, Winnipeg Art Gallery
Inuit Graphics and Drawings from 1959-1990, Arctic Artistry
Inuit Graphics from the Past, Arctic Artistry
Inuit Graphics Through the Year: Rare Prints from the Arctic, Arctic Artistry
Inuit Masterworks: Selections from the Collection of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, McMichael Canadian Collection
Inuit Traditions in Graphics: 1961-1987, Arctic Artistry
Inuit Woman: Life and Legend in Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
Inuit Women and their Art: Graphics and Wallhangings, Gallery 210, University of Missouri
Isumavut:The Artistic Expression of Nine Cape Dorset Women, Canadian Museum of Civilization
Keeping Our Stories Alive: An Exhibition of the Art and Crafts from Dene and Inuit of Canada, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum
Kenojuak, Walter Phillips Gallery, from the collection of Great-West Life Assurance Company
Kenojuak Ashevak, Eliyakota Samualie, Aoudla Pudlat, Gallery Phillip
Kenojuak Ashevak-Recent Drawings, Feheley Fine Arts
Kenojuak Drawings, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
Kenojuak Drawings, Houston North Gallery
Kenojuak Lithographs, Waddington Galleries
Kenojuak Lithographs, Waddington Galleries
Kenojuak Lithographs, Waddington Galleries
Kenojuak Prints, National Library
Kenojuak/Oonark: Prints – Wallhangings – Sculpture, Inukshuk Galleries
Kenojuak: A Retrospective Exhibition, McMichael Canadian Collection
Kenojuak: Original Drawings, Albers Gallery
Kenojuak: Original drawings and mixed media, Waddington and Shiell Galleries Ltd.
Kenojuak: Premier Graphic Artist of the Arctic, Arctic Artistry
Kenojuak: The Renowned Dorset Artist, Canadiana Galleries
Kunst van de Inuit Eskimo’s, Gemeentelijk Kunstcentrum Huis Hellemans
Les Eskimos/De Eskimo’s, Studio 44 – Passage 44
Les Esquimaux hier…aujourd’hui, Musee d’ethnographie
Memories of Summers Past, Houston North Gallery
New Beginnings: a celebration of Native expression at the first Native Business Summit, Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Night Spirits: Cape Dorset 1960-1965, Winnipeg Art Gallery
Noel au Chateau – Art inuit de la collection Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre Guelph, Ontario presented at Chateau Dufresne
Nouveau Territoires… 350/500 Ans Apres, Presented at les maisons de la culture Cote-des-Neiges, Notre-Dame- de-Grace, and Rosemont-Petite Patrie, Montreal Recreation and Community Development Service and les Ateliers Visions Planetaire
Patiently I Sing Selections from the Tyler/Brooks Collection, Carleton University Art Gallery
Polar Vision: Canadian Eskimo Graphics, Jerusalem Artists’ House Museum
Portfolio ’83, Opening of an exhibition of printed works by twelve Ottawa area artists and “Idea of the North” prints by six members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
Premiere Exhibit of 1986, Page’s Exclusive Eskimo Art
Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Canada
Prints, Drawings and Sculptures by Kenojuak and Johnniebo, Nova Scotia Technical College
Recent Acquisitions (The Permanent Collection of Eskimo Prints), Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
Recent Drawings by Kenojuak, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
Return of the Birds, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
Return to Origins, The Arctic Circle
Return to Origins II, The Arctic Circle
Return to Origins III, The Arctic Circle
Sculpture by Women, Feheley Fine Arts
Sculpture of the Inuit: Masterwork Exhibitors of the Canadian Arctic, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
Sculpture/Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, Canadian Eskimo Arts Council
Sculptures by Kenojuak and Johnniebo, School of Architecture, Nova Scotia Technical College
Sedna: Spirit of the Sea, Feheley Fine Arts
Selections from the McMaster Art Gallery Collection, McMaster Art Gallery
Selections from the McMaster Art Gallery Collection, McMaster Art Gallery
Selections from the McMaster Art Gallery Collection, McMaster Art Gallery
Share the Vision Philadelphians Collect Inuit Art, Art Space Gallery
Small Sculptures by Great Artists I, Feheley Fine Arts
Small Sculptures from across the Canadian Arctic, Feheley Fine Arts
Sojourns to Nunavut: Contemporary Inuit Art from Canada, at Bunkamura Art Gallery, presented by the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology and The McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Spirit of the Birds, Gallery of the Arctic
Spoken in Stone: an exhibition of Inuit Art, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
Stones, Bones, Cloth, and Paper: Inuit Art in Edmonton Collections, Edmonton Art Gallery
Ten Masterworks Exhibition Artists, Gallery of the Arctic
The Arctic/L’Artique, UNESCO
The Art of Eskimo Women: in Sculpture, Prints, Wall-hangings, The Arctic Circle
The Art of the Eskimo, Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University
The Dorset Group of Four – Drawings and Prints by Kenojuak, Lucy, Parr and Pitseolak, Canadiana Galleries
The Eskimo Art Collection of the Toronto-Dominion Bank, Toronto-Dominion Bank
The Eskimo Woman: her life and dreams in prints and sculpture, The Arctic Circle
The Inuit Imagination, Winnipeg Art Gallery
The Inuit Print/L’estampe inuit, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the National Museum of Man
The Inuit Sea Goddess, Surrey Art Gallery, (organized to complement the Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal exhibit of the same name)
The Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art from the Art Gallery of Ontario, University of Guelph
The Murray and Marguerite Vaughan Inuit Print Collection, Beaverbrook Art Gallery
The Sculpture of Kenojuak Ashevak & Joanassie Igiu, Feheley Fine Arts
The Spirit of the Land, The Koffler Gallery
The Swinton Collection of Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
The Tactile Eskimo Art Collection/ Collection de sculptures esquimaudes appreciables par le toucher, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, in cooperation with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind
The Woodget Collection of Eskimo Art and Artifacts, Nova Scotia Museum of Fine Art
The World Around Me, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery
The Year of the Bear, The Arctic Circle
Ulu/Inua: Form and Fantasy in Eskimo Art, Casino Gallery, Ravinia Park
Uumajut: Animal Imagery in Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
We Lived by Animals/Nous Vivions des Animaux, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in cooperation with the Department of External Affairs
Women of the North: An Exhibition of art by Inuit Women of the Canadian Arctic, Marion Scott Gallery
Women Who Draw: 30 Years of Graphic Art from the Canadian Arctic, Feheley Fine Arts
Works on Paper from the Permanent Collection of Inuit Art, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
Collections
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth
Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria
Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor
Art Gallery of York University, Downsview
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
Canadian Catholic Conference Art Collection, Ottawa
Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
Confederation Centre of the Arts, Charlottetown
Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City
Department of Foreign Affairs, Ottawa
Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton
Glenbow Museum, Calgary
Great-West Life Assurance Company, Winnipeg
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University, Bristol
Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet
Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener
Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury
London Regional Art Gallery, London
Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
Macmillan-Bloedel Limited, Vancouver
Mark Osterlin Library, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City
McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon
Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
New Brunswick Museum, Saint John
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
Red Deer and District Museum and Archives, Red Deer
Red Deer College, Red Deer
Rothmans Permanent Collection of Eskimo Sculpture, Toronto
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby
Tate Gallery, London
Teleglobe Canada, Montreal
Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery and Museum of Fine Art, Owen Sound
Toronto-Dominion Bank Collection, Toronto
University of Alberta, Edmonton
University of Guelph, Guelph
University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg
Woodstock Public Art Gallery, Woodstock
World Wildlife Fund Collection,
Accomplishments
Kenojuak’s accomplishments include:
– 100 solo and group exhibitions around the world
– Inclusion in various books on Inuit art
– One of the first Inuk women to have her work included in Cape Dorset print collection with Rabbit Eating Seaweed
– 1962 “Eskimo Artist: Kenojuak.” film created by the National Film Board of Canada
– 1967 awarded Order of Canada
– 1970 designed 96 foot long mural for World’s Fair in Osaka with husband Johnniebo
– 1970 Enchanted Owl, a 1960 print, used for 86 cent postage
– 1974 Member of the Royal Canadian Academy
– 1978 special commission for World Wildlife Print Portfolio
– 1978 Commonwealth Print Portfolio
– 1980 second postage stamp, featuring the 1961 print Return Of The Sun
– 1981 book about her life and art called Graphic Arts of the Inuit: Kenojuak
– 1982 Companion of the Order of Canada
– 1986 McMichael Canadian Art Collection gallery, 30 year retrospective
– 1990, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada commissioned print to commemorate the signing of the “Inuit Land Claims in Agreement in Principle”
– 1993, a third stamp used 1969 drawing The Owl as part of “Canada Post’s Masterpieces of Canadian Art” series
– 1993 limited edition piece to commemorate signing ceremony for Tungavik Federation of Nunavut Settlement Agreement in Iqaluit
– 1991 Honorary Doctorates of laws from Queen’s University
– 1992 Honorary Doctorates of and the University of Toronto
– 1995 received the Lifetime Aboriginal Achievement Award in Vancouver
– 2001 Star on Canada’s Walk of Fame
– 2004 First Inuit to work in stained glass. Creates window for “The John Bell Chapel” at Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario