Mark Emerak (1901-1983)  Mark Emerak was born in 1901 near Cambridge Bay on the southeastern tip of Victoria Island. While he was still a child his family relocated to the Minto Inlet area to the west, where hunting was believed to be better. As a young man he married a widow from the same region, but the union ended after only one year when Emerak lost his wife to a stronger man in a contest of strength. His second marriage, to a young woman named Udyok, was to prove more durable; together the couple would have ten children in total. Emerak once again found himself alone when Udyok died from an unknown illness sometime in 1950s. By that time the family had already moved to the expanding settlement of Holman. Although a permanent resident, Emerak continued to leave the settlement for extended periods to fish and hunt, and it was not until 1966 that he began to make pencil drawings with the encouragement of the community's Roman Catholic priest, Father Henri Tardy. He quickly emerged as one of the community's preeminent artists, producing a total of over 900 drawings in a career that lasted nearly two decades. Forty-one of his images were translated into limited edition prints and included in Holman's annual collections of the 1960s, 70s and early 80s. A further six images were published as posthumous prints for the 1987 Kalvak/Emerak memorial portfolio. Known as a kind and gracious man, who, according to his daughter, "never lost his temper," and "was always happy, always smiling," Emerak died in 1983.Emerak's drawings and prints depict the traditional occupations and pastimes of the Copper Inuit (named after their tools fashioned from copper obtained from local deposits), of which he was a member. Communal games, eating and sharing rituals, drumming and fishing are some of the commonest subjects. Several images portray swimming caribou being hunted by Inuit kayakers, while a few represent shamanistic healing practices. Many works make use of multiple perspectives that avoid favouring a single orientation towards the paper's format, recalling in parcticular the images of Luke Anguhadluq (1895-1980). As in many of Anguhadluq's works, the absence of a horizon line or single viewing orientation results often in circular multi-directional compositions in which motifs are arranged around a central image or group of images, like planets orbiting the sun. Some repetition of motifs is present in nearly all works. Emerak was also inspired by the appearance of traditional clothing, as the many works representing the distinctive straightedge designs of the Copper Inuit attest.When coloured felt pens were introduced in the 1970s, Emerak used them effectively but sparingly, preferring always to express himself in pencilled lines rather than through colour. Whereas his printed images tend to obscure the linear quality of the original drawings, the latter are often filled with distinctive circular enclosures representing boots, footprints in the snow and mitts. Wider enclosures and semi-enclosures are frequent too, and are used to denote a variety of phenomena including lakes, igloo interiors and whirlpools rendered as spirals seen from above. Selected ReferencesHolman: Forty Years of Graphic Art (2001), Darlene Coward WightKalvak/Emerak: Memorial Catalogue (1987), Bernadette Driscoll----------- Mark Emerak was in his mid-60s when he began making drawings for the Holman Co-operative in 1966. Over the course of the next decade and a half, the former hunter produced some 900 drawings depicting the traditional customs and lifestyle of the Copper Inuit. While over 40 of these images were translated into stonecuts as part of Holman's printmaking program, the public has had little opportunity to view Emerak's drawn works, most of which have remained in storage since his death in 1983.This small yet important exhibition of 24 drawings contains some of the artist's early graphite works as well as a selection of his later coloured compositions. Like may of his prints, Emerak's line drawings are composed without regard to conventional Western perspective, and feature the artist's distinctive use of tight enclosures to define a variety of elements including mitts, boots, and footprints in the snow.Emerak, Mark 1901-1983Mark Emerak was an elder when he began drawing in 1966. Unlike the women who were accustomed to making two-dimensional designs in skin clothing, the practice of putting his ideas down on paper was alien to a man who had spent his life on the land, hunting and fishing.Of the 900 drawings made by Emerak from 1966 to 1983, 41 were made into stonecuts, stencils, or lithographs. Emerak never did any printing. His work was translated into prints by others. Further print translations of his work were produced in the Memorial Portfolio of 1987, after his death.Emerak spent his early years in the Cambridge Bay area, on the southeastern coast of Victoria Island. His family relocated to the Minto Inlet area for its rich hunting. After only one year of marriage, Emerak lost his wife to another man, in a show of strength that was somewhat common amongst the Copper Inuit. Many prints illustrate the contests and outright battles that would sometimes determine marital matches (Fight for a Woman). Emerak later married Udyok, with whom he had ten children. When Udyok became ill in the early 1950s, the family moved to Holman and they remained in the settlement after her death.Emerak's imagery is a rich record of the artist's life on the land. Even after the family moved into Holman, he continued to ; out hunting and fishing. His daughter, Mary Uyaraktek, recalls that until 1983, he went to his camp on a nearby lake by himself for months at a time. Emerak's drawings show the seasonal changes of the migratory lifestyle, and the traditional ways of working and playing. Representations of groups of people reflect the communal aspect of this lifestyle. Emerak's penchant for tightly organized compositions accentuates the many rituals and taboos that governed Inuit life on the land. He was particularly interested in shamanic activities such as head lifting, as depicted in the print, Shaman Seeks an Answer (Kilayok).From an interview with Emerak's daughter, Mary Uyaraktek, by Darlene Coward Wight, Holman, November 2000 unless stated otherwise.----------Male - Drawings, PrintsCollections containing the work of Mark Emerak include the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Civilization.----------

Exhibitions

• 1987 Eskimo Art, Franz Bader Gallery
• 50 Inuit Prints, Canadian Arctic Producers in coordination with the Hudson's Bay Company Inuit Art Marketing Service, held at Simpson's
• Aboriginal Rights in Canada, National Library of Canada
• 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
• Bears of the North, Snow Goose Associates
• Chisel and Brush/Le ciseau et la brosse, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
• Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
• Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Muscarelle Museum of Art College of William and Mary
• Exhibition of Inuit Art, Harbourfront Centre organized by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
• Exhibition of Inuit Art, Glenhyrst Art Gallery organized by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
• Holman Prints *68, (annual collection)
• Holman Prints *70, (annual collection)
• Holman Prints *73, (annual collection)
• Holman Prints *75/76, (annual collection)
• Holman Prints *77, (annual collection)
• Holman Prints *79, (annual collection)
• Holman Prints *80/81, (annual collection)
• Holman Prints *82, (annual collection)
• Holman Prints *83, (annual collection)
• Holman Prints *84, (annual collection)
• Holman Prints *85, (annual collection)
• 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
• Inuit Art From the Glenbow Collection, Glenbow Museum
• Inuit Art on the Mezzanine: New Acquisitions, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• 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 Games and Contests: The Clifford E. Lee Collection of Prints, University of Alberta
• Inuit Graphics from the Past, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Graphics Through the Year: Rare Prints from the Arctic, Arctic Artistry
• Polar Vision: Canadian Eskimo Graphics, Jerusalem Artists' House Museum
• The Beat of the Drum, The Arctic Circle
• The Inuit Amautik: I Like My Hood To Be Full, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Inuit Print/L'estampe inuit, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the National Museum of Man
• The Moveable Feast, Arts and Learning Services Foundation
• The Prints Never Seen: Holman, 1977-1987, Albers Gallery of Inuit Art
• The Story Tellers of Holman Island: A retrospective exhibition of rare stonecut prints from 1968 - 1979, The Arctic Circle
• The Swinton Collection of Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Way We Were - Traditional Eskimo Life, Snow Goose Associates
• Visions of Rare Spirit: 20 Years of Holman Prints, Port Colborne Library
• Works on Paper from the Permanent Collection of Inuit Art, Canadian Guild of Craft Quebec

Collections

• Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal
• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• Clifford E. Lee Collection, University of Alberta, Edmonton
• Glenbow Museum, Calgary
• Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg
• Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
• Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
• University of Alberta, Edmonton
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg