John Kavik was born in Gjoa Haven, north of the Keewatin, to parents of Netsilik and Utkusiksalingmiut extraction. Initially drawn south to Rankin Inlet by the availability of mining jobs, Kavik began stone carving soon after his arrival there in 1959. He also parcticipated in the Rankin Inlet ceramics project, which ran from 1963 to 1975. A son, Thomas Udjuk, later became a noted sculptor in his own right, while a daughter, Naomi Ityi (1928-2003) emerged as one of the most prominent of the Baker Lake textile artists. Kavik continued to carve until just before his death in 1993 at the remarkable age of 95.

Considered by many during his lifetime as a poor carver of unrealistic images, Kavik's talent for invention and his artistic vision were nonetheless quickly recognized by such early connoisseurs of northern art as George Swinton and Robert Williamson. Regarded today as one of the great creators of the Contemporary Period, Kavik is noted mostly for his depictions of standing human figures. These images are often forceful while haunting, their forms both sensuous yet incisively simplified, even gouged. His smallest figures, often no more than two inches high, are at once charming and convincing.

In addition to working in stone and clay, Kavik also made numerous coloured drawings, in which abbreviated forms of human and animals are arranged in hieroglyph-like patterns.
Kavik's work is included in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and many others.

Selected References
Pure Vision (1986), Norman Zepp
Vision and Form (2003), Robert Kardosh

Exhibitions

• Aboriginal Rights in Canada, National Library of Canada
• Arctic Mirror, Canadian Museum of Civilization
• Arctic Values '65, New Brunswick Museum with the cooperation of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs
• Collector's Choice: 1965-1980, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
• Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Muscarelle Museum of Art College of William and Mary
• Early Eskimo Sculpture, Arctic Artistry
• Eskimo Art, Embankment Gallery
• Eskimo Ceramics, Stewart Hall Cultural Centre
• Eskimo Sculpture, Winnipeg Art Gallery presented at the Manitoba Legislative Building
• Espaces Inuit, Maison Hamel-Bruneau
• Festival of Birds, The Arctic Circle
• 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
• Indian/Inuit Pottery '73, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
• Inspiration Four Decades of Sculpture, Marion Scott Gallery
• Inuit Art in the 1970s, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre
• Inuit Master Artists of the 1970s, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Inuit Masterworks, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• John Kavik, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• John Kavik: Rankin Inlet Sculpture/ Mark Emerak: Holman Drawings, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Johnny Kavik of Rankin Inlet, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Keewatin Eskimo Ceramics '67, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa Co-sponsored by the Junior League of Toronto
• Keewatin Sculpture: Reflections of the Spirit, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Luke Iksiktaaryuk of Baker Lake: Sculpture in Antler/Johnnie Kavik of Rankin Inlet: Sculpture inStone, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Major/Minor, Marion Scott Gallery
• Masterwork Sculpture 1985, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Mother and Child: Selections from the Inuit Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Gallery of Ontario
• On Collectors and Collecting: Selections from the Herb & Cece Schreiber Family Collection, The Art Gallery of Hamilton
• Primitive Art from the Arctic, Arctic Artistry
• Pure Vision: The Keewatin Spirit, Norman McKenzie Art Gallery
• Rankin Inlet/Kangirlliniq, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Recent Acquisitions of Early Inuit Sculpture, Arctic Artistry
• Sculpture by Angaktaguak and Kavik, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Sculpture by John Kavik, The Guild Shop
• Sculpture Inuit: Stone/Bone circa 1960-1979, Canadiana Galleries
• 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
• Stones, Bones, Cloth, and Paper: Inuit Art in Edmonton Collections, Edmonton Art Gallery
• The Art of Keewatin, Arctic Artistry
• The Early Years - Fifties and Sixties, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• The Face of the Inuit, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• The Inuit Amautik: I Like My Hood To Be Full, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Inuit Imagination, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Mulders' Collection of Eskimo Sculpture, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Swinton Collection of Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Williamson Collection of Inuit Sculpture, Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, University of Regina
• The World Around Me, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery
• The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery

Collections

• Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria
• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City
• Eskimo Museum, Churchill
• Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet
• Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• 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
• Sarick Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Toronto-Dominion Bank Collection, Toronto
• University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge
• Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
• Williamson Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg