virtualmuseum.caBrief Biography 1897Born in Gjoa Haven (Uqsuqtuuq), Nunavut.Lived as a hunter and fisherman.1958Moved to the Keewatin community of Baker Lake (Qamani'tuaq), Nunavut.1959Moved to Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, where he worked, briefly, in the newly opened nickel mine.Self taught as an artist, he was a carver, painter, drawer and ceramist.1960Began carving stone.Experimented with ceramics at the Rankin Inlet ceramics studio, which existed from 1965 to 1973.1993diedExhibition History 1983-85"Grasp Tight the Old Ways: Selections from the Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art"; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario.1986"Keewatin Eskimo Ceramic '67"; Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, Ontario. "Sculptures by John Kavik"; The Guild Shop, Toronto, Ontario. "John Kavik of Rankin Inlet"; Inuit Gallery of Eskimo Art, Toronto, Ontario.1990"John Kavik"; Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia.1997"FIRE+EARTH: Contemporary Canadian Ceramics"; Burlington Art Centre, Burlington, Ontario.1998"FIRE+EARTH: Contemporary Canadian Ceramics"; Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan.2000"FIRE+EARTH: Contemporary Canadian Ceramics"; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia.2001"FIRE+EARTH: Contemporary Canadian Ceramics"; The Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan.2002"FIRE+EARTH: Contemporary Canadian Ceramics"; Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario.PublicationsGrasp Tight the Old Ways: Selections from the Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art. Jean Blodgett, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, 1983. Indian/lnuit Pottery. Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa. "Kavik, John: The Canadian Encyclopedia," George Swinton, John H. Marsh Editor, Hurtig Publishers, Edmonton, Alberta. "Memories of John Kavik 1897-1993." Norman Zepp, Inuit Quarterly, Volume 8, No.3, Fall 1993.---------------An Inuit Perspective Marie Bouchard 2000My father was born in Gjoa Haven and lived in the back River area as well as Baker lake befroe settling in Rankin Inlet in 1959. he visited frequently between the two communities. he was well respected by his family and peers for his efforts at carving, first undertaken when he was well into his sixties." Naomi Ityi Itkiliq (daughter)------John Kavik (1897-1993)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 ReferencesPure Vision (1986), Norman ZeppVision and Form (2003), Robert Kardosh----- Born in the community of Uqsuqtuq [Gjoa Haven] John Kavik lived on the land most of his life before moving to Qamanittuaq [Baker Lake] in 1958 just prior to settling in Kangiqlliniq [Rankin Inlet] in 1959. He began his pursuit of the sculpture medium, working primarily in stone, in 1960. Kavik also started to make graphite drawings, and later introduced pencil crayon into his works on paper, during the same time period. The artist participated in the Rankin Inlet ceramics program, [the program operated from 1965 until 1973], creating tactile, figurative works.The figure, especially the mother and child theme, groupings of figures and depictions of hunting culture, and occasionally the musk ox, are common themes in his stone sculpture, drawings and ceramics. His distinct style and direct yet sensitive use of line is minimal in nature but is infused with an emotional intensity at the same time. Widely collected, Kavik began exhibiting his work in group exhibitions in 1965, participating in over fifty exhibitions within Canada and abroad, and had his first solo show in 1986.One of the best-known artists from his community, John Kavik died on March 28, 1993.  Born in the community of Uqsuqtuq [Gjoa Haven] John Kavik lived on the land most of his life before moving to Qamanittuaq [Baker Lake] in 1958 just prior to settling in Kangiqlliniq [Rankin Inlet] in 1959. He began his pursuit of the sculpture medium, working primarily in stone, in 1960. Kavik also started to make graphite drawings, and later introduced pencil crayon into his works on paper, during the same time period. The artist participated in the Rankin Inlet ceramics program, [the program operated from 1965 until 1973], creating tactile, figurative works.The figure, especially the mother and child theme, groupings of figures and depictions of hunting culture, and occasionally the musk ox, are common themes in his stone sculpture, drawings and ceramics. His distinct style and direct yet sensitive use of line is minimal in nature but is infused with an emotional intensity at the same time. Widely collected, Kavik began exhibiting his work in group exhibitions in 1965, participating in over fifty exhibitions within Canada and abroad, and had his first solo show in 1986.One of the best-known artists from his community, John Kavik died on March 28, 1993. ----------------www.feheleyfinearts.comKavik, John(1897 - 1993) KIVALLIQ REGION John Kavik was born in 1897 near Gjoa Haven on the far northern mainland of what is present-day Nunavut. In 1958 he moved to the community of Baker Lake, and then to Rankin Inlet where he lived until his death. In Rankin Inlet he worked along side many Inuit in the new nickel mine, and his art-making activities added to his income over the years.Today, Kavik is renowned for his sculptures in stone and ceramics, as well as a small number of drawings on paper. His imaginative, abstracted sculptural forms are immediately recognizable. A self-taught artist, Kavik began experimenting with carving in stone around 1960 and participated in ceramic art projects at the Rankin Inlet studio between 1965 and 1973. His works have been widely exhibited around the world, and his distinctive style is documented in many publications about Inuit art------- Kavik, John, sculptor and potter (b in Gjoa Haven, NWT 1897; d at Yellowknife, NWT March 1993 ). Having moved inland to hunt in the Barren Lands, he almost died during "the great starvation" of the 1950s. He eventually moved via Baker Lake to Rankin Inlet, where he took up carving in the early 1960s, as well as working in clay in 1964. Like the work of his great friend John TIKTAK, Kavik's work is primary and stark, but is also filled with narrative content. This is particularly evident in his totally original pots, which are covered with 3-dimensional protruding figures full of humour and folklore.

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