The son of Kiakshuk, Lukta has been an important figure in the art of Cape Dorset since the early drawing experiments in 1957-58. Besides being a master carver, he has been a significant contributor to the Dorset graphics since 1959, both as an artist and in printmaking, for which he showed a facility in every aspect of production. Although he left the printshop in 1980, he returned in 1983 and 1984 to produce three stonecut and stencil prints. He produced many sculptures that are both elegant and powerful.

When discussing carving in Northern Rock (1999) by Susan Gustavison, Qiatsuk said: “When James Houston came here to buy carvings, that's when I started. The Hudson's Bay Company at that time was buying carvings, but they weren't really heavy into purchasing carvings. Then James Houston came to buy. I sold my first two carvings to James Houston.

These days I have started using grinders, but I used an axe for the first pieces I did. In the early 80s....i didn't use a regular axe. I was using files that were welded together. I used a file to make those little points on the top of the head---I wasn't chipping away at it. At the time, this green stone was hard and it didn't have any major fault lines. Even if I was filing it, pieces would not break off easily.

Making pieces like this is not as difficult as carving the stone blocks for printing. It was very difficult doing the outlines of the drawings on the stone. And it was just as difficult, or more difficult, applying the different colours of ink for the copies [original prints] made from the stone block. 

After I have finished the filing I start the sanding and the sculpture becomes quite smooth. Then I use wax to shine the sculpture."

Exhibitions

• Animal and Man: Tradition of the Inuit, The Arctic Circle
• Arctic Mirror, Canadian Museum of Civilization
• Arctic Spirit 35 Years of Canadian Inuit Art, Frye Art Museum
• ART ESKIMO, Galerie de France
• Baffin Images, Orca Aart
• Baffin Island Sculpture, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Canadian Eskimo Art: a representative exhibition from the collection of Professor and Mrs. Philip Gray, Fine Arts Gallery, Montana State University
• Canadian Eskimo Arts Festival, Alaska Methodist University Galleries
• Cape Dorset - A Decade of Eskimo Prints & Recent Sculpture, National Gallery of Canada, in cooperation with the Canadian Eskimo Art Committee
• Cape Dorset Graphics *59, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *61, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *62, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *63, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *64/65, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *66, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *67, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *59, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *60, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *61, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *62, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *63, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *64/65, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *66, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *67, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *68, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *69, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *70, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *71, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *72, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *73, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *74, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *76, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *77, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *78, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *79, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Print Collection (printmaker) *84, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Printmaking 1959-1989, McMichael Canadian Collection
• Cape Dorset Prints: Twenty-Five Years, National Gallery of Canada
• Cape Dorset Sculptors and Their Sculpture, The Inuit Art Collection Mr. and Mrs. James F. Bacon
• Cape Dorset Sculpture, McMaster Art Gallery
• Cape Dorset: Recent Sculpture, Gallery of the Arctic
• Contemporary Art: Cape Dorset, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
• Contemporary Canadian Eskimo Art, Gimpel Fils
• Contemporary Eskimo Sculpture, St. James Church
• Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art of Canada, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, presented at the General Assembly Building, United Nations
• Eskimo Carvings and Prints from the Collection of York University, Art Gallery of York University
• Eskimo Sculpture '69, Robertson Galleries
• Etchings and Engravings from Cape Dorset, 1962-1967, Feheley Fine Arts
• From Drawing to Print: Perceptions and Process in Cape Dorset Art, Glenbow Museum
• Hunters of Old, Inukshuk Galleries Inc.
• Immaginario Inuit Arte e cultura degli esquimesi canadesi, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
• In Cape Dorset We Do It This Way: Three Decades of Inuit Printmaking, McMichael Canadian Art Collection
• Inuit Art at Rideau Hall, Presented by Indian Affairs and Northern Development
• Inuit Graphics Through the Year: Rare Prints from the Arctic, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Images in Transition, Augusta Savage Gallery, University of Massachusetts
• Inuit Masterworks, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• La deesse inuite de la mer/The Inuit Sea Goddess, Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal
• Les Eskimos/De Eskimo's, Studio 44 - Passage 44
• Lukta and Pootoogook Kiakshuk of Cape Dorset: Father and Son, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Lukta Qiatsuk, Theo Waddington
• Lukta, Cape Dorset Sculpture/Tuu'luq, Baker Lake Wallhangings, Drawings, Inuit Art Gallery of Vancouver
• Lukta: Cape Dorset Soapstone Carvings, Theo Waddington Galleries
• On the Land, The Arctic Circle
• Opening Exhibition, Nunavut Fine Arts Limited
• Return of the Birds, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Return to Origins III, The Arctic Circle
• Sculpture Inuit, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
• 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
• Small Sculptures by Great Artists I, Feheley Fine Arts
• Small Sculptures by Great Artists II, Feheley Fine Arts
• Small Sculptures by Great Artists III, Feheley Fine Arts
• Small Sculptures from across the Canadian Arctic, Feheley Fine Arts
• Songs in Stone, The Arctic Circle
• Spirits and Shamans/Esprits et chamans, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
• Spoken in Stone: an exhibition of Inuit Art, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
• Sunakutagnuvalautut: Things from the Past, Feheley Fine Arts
• The Art of the Eskimo, Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University
• The Cape Dorset Print, Presented at Rideau Hall by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
• The Inuit Print/L'estampe inuit, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the National Museum of Man
• The Inuit Sea Goddess, Surrey Art Gallery, (organized to complement the Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal exhibit of the same name)
• The Jacqui and Morris Shumiatcher Collection of Inuit Art, Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, University of Regina
• The Lindsay and Swartz Collections: New Acquisitions, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Oral Tradition, National Museum of Man
• The Year of the Bear, The Arctic Circle
• Ulu/Inua: Form and Fantasy in Eskimo Art, Casino Gallery, Ravinia Park

Collections

• Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston
• Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth
• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Art Gallery of York University, Downsview
• Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
• Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal
• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• Fitzgerald Collection, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff
• GE Canada Inuit Art Collection, Mississauga
• Glenbow Museum, Calgary
• Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet
• Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury
• London Regional Art Gallery, London
• McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg
• Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal
• Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
• Museum of Modern Art, New York
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
• Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
• Sarick Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton
• University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge
• Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg