Myra Kukiiyuat: Baker Lake
Myra Kukiiyaut (1929-2006) - Artist Biography
Myra Kukiiyaut was a talented artist from Qamani'tuaq (Baker Lake), NU. Kukiiyaut was a printmaker, graphic artist, sculptor and textile artist but is renowned mostly for her drawings. Her work was included in nearly every Baker Lake Annual Print Collection from 1971 to 1990. Kukiiyaut found her start in textiles, eventually experimenting with printmaking in the 1960s with the establishment of an arts and crafts program in Qamani’tuaq.
In June of 1974 Kukiityaut attended the Arctic Women's Workshop organized by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada in Toronto. The workshop provided Kukiiyaut the opportunity to share her artistic knowledge while learning about the different techniques and materials used across varying communities. She was also a participant in Western University’s “Art and Cold Cash” project (2006), for which she drew pictures representative of the influences of the shift to a wage-based economy on Inuit communities. Her works have been featured in numerous exhibitions across Canada and internationally in France, Belgium and Israel. Kukiiyaut's works are housed in major collections in Canada and the United States, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, National Gallery of Canada and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
Selected Public Collections:
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston
Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, QC
Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City
Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon
Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
University of Alberta, Edmonton
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg
Bio c/o Inuit Art Foundation & Photo by Paul von Baich
Artist Specialization: Kukiiyaut's playful graphics are often densely packed compositions depicting birds, shamans, animals, spirits and dreams. She combines bold, colourful figures into flowing, compact scenes. Her individual figures are generally a single hue or hues of a similar shade, and come together to create bright multi-coloured images. Her affinity for busy compositions can be seen in her 1976 print, Flock of Seven Birds. The elements on the page are balanced within a centralized, circular momentum while each maintaining a unique sense of directionality. This print demonstrates her skill at visualizing overlapping and intermingling characters. Kukiiyaut has credited the forms of clouds, wind and other fluid elements found in nature for inspiring her artistic style.
