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His work is easily identifiable due to the delicacy, detail, balance and unique creativity he brought to each work he produced [2]. Ipeelee also worked as a printmaker and his skills in both sculpture and printmaking led to his work being recognized as some of the best by fellow artists and collectors. Ipeelee became an instrumental part of both printmaking and sculpture becoming established art practices in Kinngait [3] and his work grew in popularity in the South.
In 1952 the National Gallery of Canada presented the exhibition Eskimo Art, which included four of his works and 1955 exhibition Eskimo Sculpture also held at the National Gallery of Canada featured six of Ipeelee’s sculptures. This began a long list of museum and gallery exhibitions around the world that have presented his sculptures and prints.
In 1955 Ipeelee was asked to take part in carving an official mace for the Council of the Northwest Territories. He was also commissioned in 1959 to carve a sculpture of Queen Elizabeth II to be given to the Queen herself upon her arrival in Canada. His major achievements include being elected as a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1973 and receiving the Lifetime Aboriginal Art Achievement Award now known as the Indspire Award in 2004."
https://www.inuitartfoundation.org/iaf/iad/artist/Osuitok-Ipeelee
"Osuitok grew up traditionally on the land and learned to carve by watching his father, Ohotok. He sold his first ivory carving in the 1940s and was already highly regarded for his artistry by the time that James Houston arrived in 1951. Osuitok participated in the introduction of the printmaking program in the late 1950s and his work was in the “Sculpture/Inuit. Sculpture of the Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic” show (1971-73) that toured the world. His sculptures gradually became more stylized and minimal; by the late 1980s, his austere renderings of caribou were more symbol than depiction.
With the onset of Parkinson’s, Osuitok could no longer produce sculpture at the level of his classic work, but his simpler imagery is a logical progression of where his artistic direction was taking him before the disease. Historically one of the most influential Inuit sculptors, his work is in international collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Vatican Collection. In 2004, Osuitok received the Lifetime Aboriginal Art Achievement Award."
http://www.spiritwrestler.com/catalog/index.php?artists_id=259
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for Osuitok Ipeelee (ᐅᓱᐃᑐ ᐃᐱᓕ)
Osuitok Ipeelee (ᐅᓱᐃᑐ ᐃᐱᓕ)
Inuit, 1922 - 2005
SchoolKinngait (Cape Dorset)
Biography"Osuitok Ipeelee was a talented artist from a Neeouleeutalik Camp, NT who later became based out of Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU. He first learned to carve by watching his father make ivory cribbage boards, which he often sold to sailors. At thirteen Ipeelee began carving toys out of leftover pieces of wood from packing crates and in his twenties he was carving ivory sculptures to sell to the Roman Catholic missionaries in Kinngait [1].His work is easily identifiable due to the delicacy, detail, balance and unique creativity he brought to each work he produced [2]. Ipeelee also worked as a printmaker and his skills in both sculpture and printmaking led to his work being recognized as some of the best by fellow artists and collectors. Ipeelee became an instrumental part of both printmaking and sculpture becoming established art practices in Kinngait [3] and his work grew in popularity in the South.
In 1952 the National Gallery of Canada presented the exhibition Eskimo Art, which included four of his works and 1955 exhibition Eskimo Sculpture also held at the National Gallery of Canada featured six of Ipeelee’s sculptures. This began a long list of museum and gallery exhibitions around the world that have presented his sculptures and prints.
In 1955 Ipeelee was asked to take part in carving an official mace for the Council of the Northwest Territories. He was also commissioned in 1959 to carve a sculpture of Queen Elizabeth II to be given to the Queen herself upon her arrival in Canada. His major achievements include being elected as a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1973 and receiving the Lifetime Aboriginal Art Achievement Award now known as the Indspire Award in 2004."
https://www.inuitartfoundation.org/iaf/iad/artist/Osuitok-Ipeelee
"Osuitok grew up traditionally on the land and learned to carve by watching his father, Ohotok. He sold his first ivory carving in the 1940s and was already highly regarded for his artistry by the time that James Houston arrived in 1951. Osuitok participated in the introduction of the printmaking program in the late 1950s and his work was in the “Sculpture/Inuit. Sculpture of the Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic” show (1971-73) that toured the world. His sculptures gradually became more stylized and minimal; by the late 1980s, his austere renderings of caribou were more symbol than depiction.
With the onset of Parkinson’s, Osuitok could no longer produce sculpture at the level of his classic work, but his simpler imagery is a logical progression of where his artistic direction was taking him before the disease. Historically one of the most influential Inuit sculptors, his work is in international collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Vatican Collection. In 2004, Osuitok received the Lifetime Aboriginal Art Achievement Award."
http://www.spiritwrestler.com/catalog/index.php?artists_id=259
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