Natsivaar
Settlement: Cape Dorset / Kinngait
(1919-1962) — E7-957
Natsivaar died just two years after the inauguration of the Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection, meaning her work was only featured twice in the history of this prestigious print collection. She lived a traditional nomadic life, only visiting Kinngait in passings.
Her husband Noo Pudlalik was a carver. Her daughters, Piuliak Allasuaq and Papiarak Tuqiqi, are carvers; Papiarak is also a jewellery artist.
Her daughter, Papiaruk, remembers when her mother began drawing around 1958 or 1959. At the time the family was living in the outpost camp Tikirak, and Natsivaar would bring her drawings with her to sell when she went to Cape Dorset for supplies. Papiaruk recalls:
"Sometimes I drew with my mother but not often. When she got some paper; I would get some too. There were usually three or four pieces of real drawing paper handed out at one time. This was at Tikirak camp. I notice that I draw the same faces as my mother. My mother used to say 'I don't know why I draw a creature like this when I never saw one myself. I don't know why I continue to draw these creatures." (Strange Scenes: Early Drawings from Cape Dorset, p.56)
Natsivaar’s prints have been collected by the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Glenbow Museum, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Museum of Civilization.
Exhibitions
- Cape Dorset - A Decade of Eskimo Prints & Recent Sculpture, National Gallery of Canada, in cooperation with the Canadian Eskimo Art Committee
- Cape Dorset Graphics *60, (annual collection)
- Cape Dorset Graphics *61, (annual collection)
- Grasp Tight the Old Ways: Selections from the Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art, Art Gallery of Ontario
- The Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art from the Art Gallery of Ontario, University of Guelph
- Transformation, The Arctic Circle
Collections
- Art Gallery of York University, Downsview
- Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
- Glenbow Museum, Calgary
- Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
- Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg
Publications
- 1986 POVUNGNITUK PRINT COLLECTION = COLLECTION DE GRAVURES DE POVUNGNITUK, Author: Povungnituk Cooperative, Publication: Ville St. Laurent: La Federation des Cooperatives du Noveau Quebec (1986)
- GRONLANDSK KUNST FRA ARON TIL I DAG., Author: Louisiana Museum, Publication: Humlebaek, Denmark: Louisiana Museum (1969)
- INUIT DRAWINGS, Author: Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Publication: Vancouver: Inuit Gallery of Vancouver (1990)
- NEWSLETTER., Author: Canadian Arctic Producers, Publication: (1970)
- RUGGED AND PROFOUND — Sculpture from Eskimo Point, Author: Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art, Publication: Toronto: The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art (1987)
Artwork
| Title | Last Sold At Auction | |
|---|---|---|
| ANGELS IN THE MOON, 1960 | 2022-11 (November 2022) | |
| MOTHER & SON | 2007-11 (November 2007) | |
| TAMING WOLVES AND IMAGINARY CREATURE | 2015-08 (August 2015) |