Pitseolak Ashoona
Pitseolak was born in 1904 on Nottingham Island in the Hudson Straights, while her family was en route from Sugluk (now Salluit) on the north coast of Arctic Quebec to the south coast of Baffin Island. She spent her childhood in several camps on the south Baffin coast. As a young woman she married Ashoona and she bore 17 children, Pitseolak was the mother of several Cape Dorset artists, the Ashoonas Ottochie, Komwartok, Kaka and Kiawak; and Napatchie Pootoogook. Ashoona died during a epidemic in the Nettling Lake area he was still in his prime, leaving Pitseolak to raise their young family on her own. She settled permanently in Cape Dorset in the early 1960’s.
Pitseolak was among the first in Cape Dorset to begin drawing, and the most prolific. She made close to 9,000 drawings during her 20 years in Cape Dorset. Her prints have appeared in every annual print collection since her work was first published in 1960. Her best and most authentic drawings were of “the old Eskimo ways”, a way of life deeply embedded in her memory. Pitseolak was been awarded several honours over the years, and her work has been the subject of several projects. In 1971 the National Film Board produced a film based on her book, “Pitseolak: Pictures out of my life”. In 1974 she was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy and she received the Order of Canada in 1977. Pitseolak died in 1983 and is buried behind the Anglican Church in Cape Dorset. She fulfilled her promise to work on her drawings and prints until she was no longer able. Her vast legacy of orginal work now resides on long term loan at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection where it is being photographed, documented and exhibited.*
*West Baffin Island Co-op, 1999.
Major Collections:
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.A.
Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.A.
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia
Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario
Art Gallery of York University, Downview, Ontario
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick
CIBC Collection, Toronto, Ontario
Canadian Council Art Bank, Ottawa, Ontario
Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal, Quebec
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec
Clifford E. Lee Collection, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Cultural Affairs Division, Department of External Affairs Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, Michigan U.S.A.
Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
Fitzgerald Collection, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta
Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University, Bristol, Rhode Island U.S.A.
Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet, Northwest Territories
Kitchener-Waterloo art Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario
Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Sudbury, Ontario
Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury, Ontario
London Regional Art Gallery, London, Ontario
Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario
Macmillan-Bloedeal Limited, Vancouver, British Columbia
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Musee d’arte Inuit Brousseau, Quebec City, Quebec
Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia
Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York U.S.A.
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario
Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Northwest Territories
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts U.S.A.
Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery and Museum of Fine Art, Owen Sound, Ontario
Toronto-Dominion Bank Collection, Toronto, Ontario
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta
University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
Whye Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Woodstock Public Art Gallery, Woodstock, Ontario
Selected Honours:
1974 Elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
1975 Two films about Pitseolak and her work were produced by the International Cinemedia Centre Ltd. “The Way We Live Today” and “Spirits and Monsters”.
1976 A retrospective exhibition of drawings organized by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development was accepted by the Smithsonian Institute
1977 Received Canada’s highest civilian honour, The Order of Canada, in recognition of her contribution to Canadian art.
1980 “Etching Portfolio II. Pitseolak was one of six artists who assembled a special portfolio of prints which is documented in the Cape Dorset Graphic annual catalogue of 1980.
1983 Pitseolak was one of several artists commissioned by the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in collaboration with Merritt Editions to create an original print for the portfolio, “Idea of the North”.
1993 A postage stamp featuring a portrait of Pitseolak was included in a series honouring Canadian women that was issued on International Women’s Day.
