Tavvauna / Here It Is – Drawings from Cape Dorset Exhibition

SMALL GEOGRAPHICAL FOOTPRINT GENERATING SIGNIFICANT ARTWORK SALES

Kinngait (Cape Dorset) is a tiny hamlet on Baffin Island where roughly one quarter of the 1200 residents are involved in the arts, and an estimated $4 million is generated annually by the sale of their artwork. Drawing has always been the foundation of the famous Cape Dorset Print Collections, as each year drawings are chosen to be translated into prints. However, the last few decades have seen a shift in the importance of Inuit drawing where the constraints of traditional work have been broken and Inuit drawings are now coveted international contemporary art.

In partnership with Ellen Fraser, host of online print gallery, Print Inuit, Studio22 opens an exhibit of drawings from Cape Dorset entitled, Tavvauna / Here It Is on Tuesday, July 16th. Tavvauna, which will be on display with the works for sale until August 17th, will feature 21 drawings by four talented women artists from the Kinngait Cooperative: Ningiukulu Teevee, Nicotye Samayualie, Padloo Samayualie and Ooloosie Saila. 

The title Tavvauna, ’Here It Is’ translated from Inuktuk into English, suggests the immediacy of the images and the connection between artist and subject. Ningiukulu Teevee’s drawings in Tavvauna have fanciful imagery drawn from myth, and yet the visceral depiction of the characters invites the viewer to share their experience as real. Nicotye Samayualie is fascinated by patterns and arrangements of disparate objects in nature and man-made materials while her sister, Padloo, forgoes the small patterns and concentrates instead on compositions to share the feeling of her vast landscape. Finally, Ooloosie Saila’s drawings are whimsical yet executed with dense colours and bold patterning. What the audience is left with is the realization that while each of the four artists has a different approach to drawing, all of them share a sense of contentment and wonder in relationship with their subjects. Join us in taking a visual voyage up North to celebrate the graphic work of these four discerning Inuit artists and better understand their shared admiration of Northern life, culture and customs.

Tavvauna is on exhibit and the works for sale at Studio22 Open Gallery from Tuesday, July 16th until Saturday, August 17th. The opening reception for the exhibit will take place on Thursday, July 18th from 5:00- 7:00pm, all are invited and welcome to attend.  More information about this exhibit is available upon request.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 6pm, open until 8pm Thursdays & Fridays

For more information about the artist or the exhibition please contact:

Ally Jacob (ally@s22.ca) or Nicole Bruce (nicole@s22.ca) at 613-546-7461 / www.s22.ca

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320 King Street E. Kingston, ON K7L3B4