Northern Rock Susan Gustavison (1999)When I am picking stone, I first look through the stones to get ones without too many cracks. there are some that don't have many cracks while others have many cracks. I use an axe to test them. i can tell right away which stone was underground and which was above ground. i can tell immediately which one is better. The ones that were underground don't have as many cracks and are better to work with. i like to add extra things to the sone---things such as beads, or some sealskin, or hair, or some material---because I want to make the sculpture look nicer. Sometimes i want to show people what we wore int he past. ------Okpik was born in Kimmirut and now lives in Cape Dorset and Iqaluit, where she enrolled in the Business and Arts and Crafts Program at Nunavut Arctic College. She first began making art by helping her father-in-law, the late Peter Pitseolak, by polishing his finished carvings. Now she enjoys making figures of women, children, and her own interpretations of Inuit legends. A strong believer in legends, she wants her sculptures to remind people of who Inuit are and where they came from. She has received awards for her work, including the Inuit Art Foundation Scholarship. -------------------- PO Box 1181 Iqaluit, NU XOA- 0HO FINE JEWELLERY & SCULPTURE Okpik was born in Kimmirut, but now resides in Cape Dorset. She has been carving various kinds of stone since 1960. As a young girl, she began working with her father-in-law, helping him polish the finished carvings. Now she enjoys making figures of woman, children and from the Inuit legends. She believes that it is important for legends to be told. We must not forget who and where we came from, for our children. In addition, she uses images of animals, especially owls and real events in her life as images for her artwork She has received The Joan Martin Award of Excellence and the Inuit Art Foundation Scholarship. Her works have been shown in selected group exhibitions and collections within Canada. Pitseolak is currently enrolled in a business and arts and crafts program at Arctic College where she is furthering her knowledge of Art. "Artists inspire others to join in the art making which makes them happy to see they can make art. I tell other artismaking art, create art." -----------www.pequotmuseum.orgOopik PitsiulakOopik has been experimenting with her art in recent years, diverging somewhat from her usual style. Born in September 1946, she is among later contributors to the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative. She grew up in settlements near Hudson's Bay Company trading posts in Lake Harbour and Cape Dorset, rather than in fishing and hunting camps. The Company was important to her family. Her grandmother, Simatuq, her uncle, George Pitsiulak, and her father, Tommy Manning worked there. Oopik speaks of having two upbringings. The first was with her aunt and uncle, Nellie and George Pitsiulak, after her mother's death. The second was with her father, Tommy Manning, who had married the daughter of successful carver, Peter Pitseolak. Oopik began producing her own works after joining others to help Pitseolak with his carvings. The mother of eight, her marriage dissolved in 1972.Bilingual - English and Inuktitut — Oopik is aware of the culture of the rest of the country and its modern technological developments. Noted for their fine lines, her works are easily identifiable. Acknowledging the influence of her grandmother Simatuq's beadwork, Oopik incorporates beads in her sculptures. Her work has been in such exhibitions as Eskimo Canada by the Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec and La Federation des Cooperatives du Nouveau-Quebec and Cape Dorset - Selected Sculpture from the W.A.G. by the Winnipeg Art Gallery.---------------Inuitart.orgOopik PitseolakPitseolak is an outstanding sculptor, who lives in Cape Dorset and whose work will be included in a women's exhibition being organized by the Canadian Museum of Civilization for the fall of 1994. Pitseolak, who is president of the Cape Dorset Artists' Association, participated in the 1993 artists' session organized by the Inuit Artists' College in collaboration with the Ottawa School of Art. This is her first year on the board. 1993-4-----------------------

Exhibitions

• A Woman's Vision, Art Space Gallery
• Animals of the Arctic, Arctic Inuit Art
• Art Inuit, Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at La Halle aux Bles
• Art Inuit, Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Thonon les Bains
• Art Inuit, Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Palais de l'Europe
• Art Inuit, Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Le Theatre
• Art Inuit, Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Palais de l'Europe
• Birds: Sculpture from Cape Dorset & Rock Ptarmigan Limited Edition Print by Kananginak, The Guild Shop
• Cape Dorset - Selected Sculpture from the Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Die Kunst aus der Arktis, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, presented by Commerzbank
• Eskimo Canada, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec and La Federation des Cooperatives du Nouveau-Quebec, held at Place Bonaventure
• Exhibit of Cape Dorset Sculpture, Eskimo Art Inc.
• Heritage of the Inuit: Masterpieces of the Eskimo, Colorado Galleries of the Arts, Arapahoe Community College
• Isumavut:The Artistic Expression of Nine Cape Dorset Women, Canadian Museum of Civilization
• Major/Minor, Marion Scott Gallery
• Sculpture and Graphics from Cape Dorset, Art Space Gallery
• Sculpture by Women, Feheley Fine Arts
• Sculpture/Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, Canadian Eskimo Arts Council
• Taste Of The Wild, Orca Aart
• The Next Generation, Orca Aart Gallery
• The Treasured Monument, Marion Scott Gallery
• Women of the North: An Exhibition of art by Inuit Women of the Canadian Arctic, Marion Scott Gallery

Collections

• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg