Kinngait artists allow peek behind the printmaking curtain

Kinngait artists allow peek behind the printmaking curtain

62nd Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection to be released next month

KINNGAIT — At one end of the Kenojuak Cultural Centre and Print Shop, artist Quvianaqtuk Pudlat works on a drawing of a wolverine, with hundreds of small black lines swiped on the paper with a felt pen to serve as its fur.

At the other end, master printer Niveaksie Quvianaqtuliaq sweats over a work of art as he transfers it into lithography prints, most of which will be sent to the studios’ distributor in Toronto, Dorset Fine Arts.

It’s Sept. 7, a typical day at the studio. The two artists are creating art for West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative’s Kinngait Studios, which has been in operation for more than 50 years. Next month, the co-op will release its 62nd Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection, which includes 50 copies of 32 prints by 13 artists.

“Cape Dorset is known as the capital city of the art world in Canada,” said assistant studio manager Joemee Takpaungai during a recent interview with Nunatsiaq News. “It’s pretty well known for its art because it’s been like that for 60-odd years.”

Pudlat, who chose to draw a wolverine because he says it’s a “loner,” takes breaks between strokes to gaze at his community through the window and listen to the sounds on the radio.

He began drawing four years ago as a source of income, starting “kind of late,” he admits. Yet his drawings are regularly featured in the annual print collection produced by the studio.

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