Maudie Rachel Okkituq was born at Thom Bay on the eastern side of Boothia Peninsula in 1944. She later moved to Taloyoak (formerly known as Spence Bay) in 1965 and began her career as a carver and artist in 1968. She is known for being one of the few Taloyoak artists still working with stone as opposed to whale bone, due to the lack of quarries in the surrounding area. 

Okittuq usually carves her sculptures from a single piece of soapstone or serpentine, but sometimes includes other materials such as ivory for detail and contrast. The subjects of her works often revolve around shamanism and scenes of transformation depicting the supernatural in Inuit legends. These works are recognizable by their exaggerated lips in contrast to small circular inset eyes. Okittuq is also known for elongating her human faces and emphasizing the nose as a large and protruding appendage. 

Okittuq has had a remarkable career. She has exhibited her works around the world, been collected by major Canadian institutions, and her carvings have graced the cover of Inuit Art Quarterly twice. 

Her brother Gideon Quaqjuaq is also a carver and so is her husband, James Okittuq. 

Exhibitions

• A Woman's Vision, Art Space Gallery
• Art Inuit, Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie Montador
• Art Inuit, Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie Akenaton
• Art Inuit: Autour de la Collection de Cape Dorset 1991, Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Le Colombier
• Canadian Inuit Art, Sponsored by Canadian Arctic Producers at City Hall
• Crafts from Arctic Canada/Artisanat de l'arctique canadien, Canadian Eskimo Arts Council
• Die Kunst aus der Arktis, Inuit Galerie, Mannheim held at the Niedersaechsisches Landesmuseum
• Die Kunst aus der Arktis, presented by Inuit Galerie
• 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
• Immaginario Inuit Arte e cultura degli esquimesi canadesi, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
• 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 Art on the Mezzanine: New Acquisitions, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Keeping Our Stories Alive: An Exhibition of the Art and Crafts from Dene and Inuit of Canada, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum
• Kitikmeot: Sculpture from Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak and Pelly Bay, Isaacs/Innuit Gallery
• Kunstwerke der Inuit, Presented by CreARTion, Eppstein in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association of Canadian Studies at the Hotel am Badersee
• Major/Minor, Marion Scott Gallery
• Maudie Okittuq, Inuit Galerie
• Maudie Okittuq -Sculpture, Images Art Gallery
• Nagdjuk: Gift of the Caribou, Art Space Gallery
• Sanaugasi Takujaksat: A Travelling Celebration of Inuit Sculpture, Presented by Canadian Arctic Producers Ltd., with the assistance of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa
• Sculpture of the Inuit: Lorne Balshine Collection/Lou Osipov Collection/ Dr. Harry Winrob Collection, Surrey Art Gallery
• Spence Bay Sculpture, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Spence Bay Sculpture: An Expressive Force, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• The Inuit Imagination, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Women of the North: An Exhibition of art by Inuit Women of the Canadian Arctic, Marion Scott Gallery

Collections

• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg

Publications

• ARCTIC WHALERS ICY SEAS — Narratives of the Davis Strait Whale Fishery, Author: Ross, W. Gillies, Publication: Toronto: Irwin Publishing (1985)
• ARTISTS' SUPPLEMENT, Author: Inuit Art Quarterly, Publication: Nepean, Ont.: Inuit Art Quarterly (1990)
• CLYDE RIVER — Sculpture, Author: Canadian Arctic Producers, Publication: Ottawa: Canadian Arctic Producers Cooperative Limited. (1980)
• ESKIMO DOLLS., Author: Alaska State Council on the Arts, Publication: Anchorage: Alaska State Council on the Arts. (1982)
• ESKIMO SCULPTURE '69., Author: Robertson Galleries, Publication: Ottawa: The Robertson Galleries. (1969)
• IMAGES OF THE INUIT., Author: Simon Fraser Gallery, Publication: Burnaby: The Simon Fraser Gallery. (1979)
• MOTHER AND CHILD — Selections from the Inuit Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, July 7 to Sept. 22, 1989, Author: Art Gallery of Ontario, Publication: Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario (1989)
• SPIRIT OF THE LAND — Inuit art from the Art Gallery of York University Collection, Author: York University. Art Gallery, Publication: Toronto, Ont.,: York University (1987)
• THE FAR NORTH : 2000 YEARS OF AMERICAN ESKIMO AND INDIAN ART, Author: National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), Publication: Washington, D.C. : National Gallery of Art. (1973)