First Name: Jessie

Last Name: Oonark

Full Name: Jessie Oonark

Name in syllabics: ᔪᓯ ᐃᓇ

Alternative Names:

• Oonark Oonark

• Jessie Oonark

• Una Oonark

• Unaaq Oonark

• Jessie Oonark OC

Date of birth: 1906

Place of birth: Back River, Nunavut, Canada

Date of death: 2 March 1985

Place of death: Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

Community / Heritage: Qamani'tuaq (Baker Lake)

Sex: Female

Disc Number: E2384

Website: N/A

Art Media: Drawing, printmaking, textile, wall-hangings.

Bio:

Jessie Oonark was a world-renowned Inuit Canadian artist. Oonark was born in the spring of 1906 in the Back River area, approximately 250 km north of Qamanittuaq (Baker Lake), Keewatin region, Nunavut. She was named after her paternal grandfather, Una.

Oonark had a traditional upbringing. From an early age, she learned to process caribou and seal skins, and sew clothing and parkas out of these materials. In the mid-1950s, Oonark and her family were forced to settle in Baker Lake due to declines in both the caribou population and the global demand for Arctic fox furs, as well as a severe shortage of food in the Back River area.

Oonark began to draw shortly after moving to Baker Lake. A selection of Oonark’s drawings was sent from Baker Lake to Cape Dorset; three of the drawings were made into prints. She also began to make small wall hangings for sale at the local craft shop. Her work was characterized by brightly coloured symmetrical compositions of people, figures in traditional clothing, spirits, animals and birds, traditional tools, Inuit women with facial tattoos, and the traditional domestic activities.

By the late 1960s, Oonark was experimenting with different mediums, including felt-tip pen, coloured paper, and large scale wall hangings. The largest wall hanging was installed at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in 1973.

Oonark was a major force in the development of the graphic arts program at Baker Lake in 1960s and 1970s. Initially, she supported herself and her family by working as a janitor at a local church. However, her talent was recognized by an art advisor at Baker Lake, who gave Oonark her own studio and a small salary to allow her the freedom to focus on her artistic production.

Between 1970 and 1985, more than 100 of Oonark’s drawings were translated into prints and issued in the annual Baker Lake print editions.

In 1979, Oonark began to experience numbness in her hands and feet. After a failed surgical intervention, she lost much of her manual dexterity and produced only a few more art pieces.

Oonark was widely recognized during the 19 years of her artistic career. She was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1975, and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1984. Her works have been exhibited worldwide and are held in major collections, including the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Her impact on Inuit art and its development was monumental.

She died on March 7, 1985 in Churchill, Manitoba.

Exhibitions

• 1967: “Cape Dorset—A Decade of Eskimo Prints & Recent Sculpture”, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1970: “Jessie Oonark”, Isaacs/Inuit Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1970: “Looking South”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1970: “Oonark/Pangnark”, Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
• 1970: “Oonark Drawings”, Inuit Gallery of Eskimo Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1970: “Canadian Eskimo Art Festival”, Alaska Methodist University, Anchorage, AK, USA
• 1970: Baker Lake Print Collection (annual collection)
• 1971: Baker Lake Print Collection, (annual collection)
• 1971: “Oonark Drawings”, La Guilde | The Guild, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 1971: “Eskimo Art in Poetry and Pictures”, Junior Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
• 1971: “Oonark Wallhangings”, National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1971: “Oonark Wallhangings”, Inuit Gallery of Eskimo Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1971: “Eskimo Carvings and Prints from the Collection of York University”, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1972: “Eskimo Fantastic Art”, University of Manitoba, School of Art, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1972: “Two Artists of the Northwest Territories”, National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1972: “Baker Lake Drawings”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1973: “Three Artists from Baker Lake”, Mazelow Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1973: “Oonark Drawings”, La Guilde | The Guild, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 1974: “Crafts from Arctic Canada”, Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1973 - 1974: “Baker Lake Prints and Drawings”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1974: “Eskimo Wallhangings”, McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
• 1974: “Kathleen Fenwick Memorial Exhibition”, Gallery Pascal, Statford, Ontario, Canada
• 1974: “Eskimo Art”, Queens Museum, Flushing, NY, USA
• 1975: “Canadian Landscapes/Paysages du Canada”, Cultural Affairs division, Department of External Affairs of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1975: “Art Collection d'Art”, Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1976: “The People Within: Art from Baker Lake”, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1976: “Bicentennial Tribute: an exhibition of North American Native Art”, Gallery Pascal, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1976: “A Tribute to Baker Lake”, Gallery One, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1977: “Oonark - Kenojuak Retrospective”, Inukshuk Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
• 1977: “Jessie Oonark R.C.A.: Prints and Drawings 1970 through 1976”, The Upstairs Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1975 - 1977: “Inuit Games”, Crown-Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
• 1977 - 1978: “Kayaks and Umiaks”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba, Canada
• 1978: “Jessie Oonark - Wallhangings”, Gallery One, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1978: “Looking South”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1978: “Baker Lake Drawings”,  Gallery One, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1975 - 1978: “We Lived by Animals/Nous vivons des animaux”, Crown-Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
• 1978: “The Coming and Going of the Shaman: Eskimo Shamanism and Art”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1978: “Inuit Games and Contests: the Clifford E. Lee Collection of Prints”, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• 1978: “The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1978: “Polar Vision - Canadian Eskimo Graphics”, Jerusalem Artists' House Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
• 1979:”Spirits and Dreams - Arts of the Inuit of Baker Lake”, Crown-Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
• 1979: “Canadian Eskimo Art: a representative exhibition from the collection of Professor and Mrs. Philip Gray”, Fine Arts Gallery, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
• 1979: “Eskimo Narrative”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba, Canada
• 1979: “"21 x 12" Eskimo Drawing Exhibition”, Inuk 1, San Francisco, California, USA
• 1979 - 1980: “Keewatin Wallhangings”, Canadian Arctic Producers, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1979 - 1980: “Inuit Art in the 1970s”, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
• 1980: “Inuit Graphics from the Collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Musée des beaux- arts de Montrea”, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 1980: “Inuit Master Artists of the 1970s”, Inuit Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 1980” “A Culture on Paper - Baker Lake Drawings”,  Inuit Gallery of Eskimo Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1980: “The Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art”, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
• 1980: “The Inuit Amautik: I Like My Hood to Be Full”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1980: “Baker Lake Prints - Ten Year Retrospective”, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1980 - 1982: “The Inuit Sea Goddess”, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 1981: “The Jacqui and Morris Shumiatcher Collection of Inuit Art”, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
• 1981: “The Inuit Sea Goddess”, Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
• 1981 - 1982: “Inuit Art: a Selection of Inuit Art from the Collection of the Canadian Museum of History and the Rothmans Permanent Collection of Inuit Sculpture”, Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
• 1977 - 1982: “The Inuit Print / L’estampe inuit”, Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
• 1982: “Canada Mikrokosma: An Exhibition of Contemporary Canadian Tapestries by Twenty-Two Canadian Artists”, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
• 1982: “Canadian Contemporary Printmakers”, The Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY, USA
• 1982: “Break-up and Freeze-up”, The Arctic Circle, Los Angeles, California, USA
• 1981 - 1983: “Inuit Print Collection”, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
• 1982 - 1983: “Noel au Chateau - Art Inuit de la collection”, Chateau Dufresne, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 1983: “Hunter of the Scared Game”, Arts and Learning Services Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
• 1983: “Baker Lake Prints and Pritn Drawings: 1970-1976”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1983: “Return of the Birds”, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver,Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 1983: “Inuit Survival”, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
• 1983: “Drawings by Oonark of Baker Lake c. 1965-1978”, Inuit Gallery of Eskimo Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1983: “Jessie Oonark R.C.A.: Wall Hangings and Selected Prints”, The Upstairs Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1983: “Inuit Masterworks: Selections from the Collection of Crown-Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada”, McMichael Canadian Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada
• 1979 - 1984: “Shamans and Spirits: Myths and Medical Symbolism in Eskimo Art”, Arts and Learning Services Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
• 1984: “Jessie Oonark - a retrospective”, The Raven Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
• 1984: “Games of the Inuit”, Northern Images, Northwest Territories, Canada
• 1984: “The Oral Tradition”, Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
• 1984: “A Retrospective View: Prints from Cape Dorset, Baker Lake, Pvungnituk, Holman Island, Pangnirtung, Clyde River”, Inuit Gallery of Eskimo Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1984: “Cape Dorset Prints: Twenty-Five Years”, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1984: “Drawings from Baker Lake”, Inuit Gallery of Eskimo Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1983 - 1985: ”Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art of Canada”, Crown-Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
• 1983 - 1985: “Grasp Tight the Old Ways: Selections from the Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art”, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1986: “Contemporary Inuit Art”, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1984 - 1986: “Arctic Vision: Art of the Canadian Inuit”, Canadian Arctic Producers Ltd, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1986: Jessie Oonark R.C.A.: Retrospective 1970-1985: Prints, Drawings, and Wall Hangings”, The Upstairs Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1987: “Winnipeg Collects: Inuit Art from Private Collections”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1986 - 1988: “Jessie Oonark: A Retrospective”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1988: “Persistence of Old Memories: Baker Lake Drawings”, Brandon Allied Arts Council, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
• 1987 - 1989: “Contemporary Inuit Drawings”, MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
• 1988 - 1989: “In the Shadow of the Sun: Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art in Canada”, Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
• 1990: “Arctic Mirror”, Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
• 1991: “Moving Around the Form: Inuit Sculpture from Canada”, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
• 1991: “Sojourns to Nunavut: Contemporary Inuit Art from Canada”,  McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada
• 1992: “Qamamittuaq: Where the River Widens”, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
• 1992: “Oonark, Pudlo, Kananginak”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1993: “Women Who Draw: 30 Years of Graphic Art from the Canadian Arctic”, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1993: “Northern Lights: Inuit Textile Art from the Canadian Arctic”, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• 1993: “Jessie Oonark: Selected Works from the Permanent Collection”, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1993 - 1994: “Contemporary Inuit Drawings”, Muscarelle Museum of Art, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
• 1994: “Patiently I Sing: Selections from the Tyler/Brooks Collection of Inuit Art”, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1995: “Inuit Imagination: Art and Culture from the Canadian Arctic”, Galleriea d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Verona, Italy
• 1995 - 1996: “Inuit Women: Life and Legend in Art”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1995 - 1996: “Qiviuq: A Legend in Art”, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1996: “Exhibition of Inuit Art”, MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
• 1997: ”Thoughts of Birds”, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1997: “Elagiiqniq/Family”, MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
• 1994 - 1997: “Qamanittauq (Where the River Widens): Drawings by Baker Lake Artists”, MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
• 1998 - 1999: “Routine Activity”, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
• 1998 - 1999: “Qamanittuaq Drawings by Baker Lake Artists”, MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
• 2000: “Inspirit Crossing: The Making of First Nations and Inuit Art”, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
• 2000: “Keewatin 2000”, Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 2002: “Power of Thought: The Prints of Jessie Oonark”, Marsh Gallery, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, USA
• 2003: “Festival of Baker Lake Prints: 1970-1990”, The Upstairs Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 2003: “Vision and Form: The Norman Zepp - Judith Varga Collection”, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 2004: “The Power of Dreams”, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 2006: “Marion Scott at 30”, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 2007 - 2008: “Stones, Bones, and Stitches”, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada
• 2009: “Paper North: Baker Lake Drawings Past and Present”, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 2011: “Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection”, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2011: “Surreal: Eight Artists in the Fantastical Tradition”, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 2012: “Modern Vision: Inuit Masterworks from the 1960s and 1970s”, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 2015: “The Artist Herself : Self-portraits by Canadian Historical Women Artists”, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
• 2015 - 2016: “Temporal Re-Imaginings”, Âjagemô Gallery, Canada Council for the Arts, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 2018 - 2019: “Jessie Oonark's Artworks: Very much alive”, La Guilde, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 2019: “Shifting Geographies”, University of Alberta Museums, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Collections

• Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston
• American National Insurance Company,
• Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth
• Amway Environmental Foundation Collection, Ada
• Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria
• Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax
• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor
• Art Gallery of York University, Downsview
• Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton
• Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
• Canadian Catholic Conference Art Collection, Ottawa
• Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal
• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• Churchill Community Centre, Churchill
• Clifford E. Lee Collection, University of Alberta, Edmonton
• Collection of His Holiness John Paul II, Vatican City
• Collection of the Supreme Patriarch of All Armenia, His Holiness, Catholicos Vazken I
• Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City
• Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton
• Glenbow Museum, Calgary
• Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University, Bristol
• Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener
• Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
• McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton
• 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 Arts Centre, Ottawa
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
• New Brunswick Museum, Saint John
• Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, Sackville
• Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
• Shell Canada Collection, Calgary
• Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby
• University of Alberta, Edmonton
• University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge
• Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg

Publications

• CAPE DORSET AND POVUNGNITUK: A COMPARISON BETWEEN THEIR PRINTS AND PRINTING TECHNIQUES, Author: Steinberg, Shulamit, Publication: M.A. Thesis, Carleton University (1976)
• COMMENTS ON FISHING AT THE WEIR., Author: Muehlen, Maria and Julie Hodgson, eds., Publication: Inuit Arts and Crafts 1983(1):13-17. (1983)
• INTERVIEW: HARRY KOOZAATA., Author: Steinbright, Jan, Publication: Fairbanks, Alaska : The Newsletter of Native Arts,July - August:2 (1982)
• SIMON NOVALINGA, POVUNGNITUK, NOUVEAU-QUEBEC., Author: Arctic Showcase N.Q. Inc., Publication: Toronto: Arctic Showcase N.Q. Inc. (1984)
• THE TRADITIONAL CULTURE OF THE CENTRAL ESKIMOS. — IN Arctic Life: Challenge to Survive. Martina Magenau and James B. Richardson III, eds., Author: Damas, David, Publication: Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, Carnegie Museum of Natural History. pp. 113-131. (1983)
• THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH ART COLLECTION: A CATALOGUE OF PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, PRINTS AND SCULPTURE., Author: Nasby, Judith M., Publication: Guelph, Ont. : University of Guelph. (1980)
• VICTORIA MAMNGUQSUALUK'S DRAWINGS ON BLACK PAPER., Author: Muehlen, Maria and Julie Hodgson, eds., Publication: Inuit Arts and Crafts (1):18-19. (1983)

Accomplishments

• 1965: Participated in an experimental graphics workshop in Qamani’tuaq, Nunavut
• 1969: Wall hanging presented to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, now a permanent feature of the Assembly's Chamber in Yellowknife
• 1972: Illustrated I Breathed a New Song, an anthology of Inuit Poetry edited by Richard Lewis
• 1973: Queen Elizabeth II was presented with a wall hanging by Oonark during her visit to the Northwest Territories during her Canadian tour
• 1973: Commissioned to make a wall hanging for the lobby of the National Art Centre
• 1975: Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
• 1976: Featured on United Nations Postage Stamp, United Nations
• 1977: Honorary member of the Canadian Crafts Council
• 1984: Order of Canada

Articles

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie_Oonark
• http://arcticjournal.ca/arts-culture-education/arts/art-gods-and-atvs/
• https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jessie-oonark
• https://nac-cna.ca/en/media/newsrelease/6120