UQQURMIUT CENTRE
FOR ARTS & CRAFTS
Return to Print Shop Home Page
Return to 1998 Prints Main Page
1998 Pangnirtung Community Print Collection
Introduction
by John Houston, Arts Advisor
The last time I wrote an introduction for the Pangnirtung prints, my clothes were
still smoky from the remains of the 1994 print shop fire. On that same page,
Andrew Qappik voiced the desire of the printmakers to build and equip a new
workspace.
Return to 1998 Pangnirtung
Print Collection home page
Return to Pangnirtung Print Shop home
page
Return to Uqqurmiut Centre home page
Josea Maniapik says there's a good chance the sun will show - for the first time
in 1998. My host and I are on our way to work in that wonderful new print shop, a
dream come true. And the Uqqurmiut Inuit Artists Association has a right to be
proud of this studio. When funds ran out, they became cabinet makers to finish
the interior themselves. Rosie Okpik was not well, but she lived to host the
grand opening. That determination in the face of impossible odds can be seen in
the cover print: Towkie Qarpik's “Surprised by a Polar Bear.”
To hear that the collection is masterfully printed will surprise no one. We have
come to expect this dedication of the Uqqurmiut, in their printmaking as in
their tapestries, so tightly and carefully woven as to be virtually reversible.
What is a revelation is the number of master drawings recently obtained from
artists. Elisapee Ishulutaq and Annie Kilabuk are in top form, their lively line
in “The Likes of this Egg Have Never Been Seen” and “Inukshuit Mark Our Fishing
Lake” bringing early Pang prints to mind. Jeetaloo Akulukjuk's “Inuit Whalers” and Towkie Qarpik's “Women Making Whale Oil” are strong additions to Pangnirtung's whaling imagery. Is this evidence of a renaissance in drawing? It
is vital to the future of the Pangnirtung prints to expand the drawing program.
The printmakers are also well represented artistically. Andrew Qappik has drawn
and printed five of the twenty images, including the tender “As I See” and the
graceful “Early Summer Loons.”
The print shop fire shocked everybody by putting the existence of Pang
printmaking at risk. With renewed commitment, the Uqqurmiut have created a
wonderful workspace, and a vibrant new collection. Just as Josea and I pull up
to the print shop, the sun peeks over the mountain. For the people of Pangnirtung,
it's been a long winter, but the waiting is over.
John Houston
Advisor to the Pangnirtung Printmaking Program, 1975-1979