Simon Tookoome
Artist Biography (1934-2010)
Simon Tookoome was an artist from Tariunnuaq (Chantrey Inlet), NU who lived with his family on the land. At different times in his life Tookoome was a fisherman, a builder, a teacher, a jeweller, an artist and carver with all professions imbued with traditional Inuit knowledge that he always wanted to share, of a traditional way of life.
Tookoome began by carving bone and soapstone in the 1960s but was more interested in drawing as it gave him greater artistic freedom. Tookoome’s graphic style is influenced greatly by his childhood, being raised on the land and hearing traditional stories from his family. Drawing ideas from the land around him Tookoome’s aesthetic engages with hybrid animals and shamanic practices, influenced by heavy contour lines and deep, saturated tones of colour. Utilizing a flat plane, Tookoome’s drawings have a graphic quality as well as a clear narrative. Sometimes depicting two dancers and a drum, his figures are often in profile, animated movements portrayed through the curves of contour lines. Objects radiate light through a saturated use of colour, linked to the decoration of clothing that adorn the figures. Community is depicted in the radiating heads of people and dogs, that are positioned like rays moving outwards, and at once encompassing the two figures.
Tookoome says he was encouraged to make textile work and wall hangings but prefers carving, drawing and jewellery. He also worked briefly with laser-cut metal. Best known for his graphic work, Tookoome has won the Norma Fleck Award for a children’s book titled The Shaman’s Nephew: A Life in the Far North, which he published with Sheldon Oberman in 1999. He was a founding member of the Baker Lake print shop and appeared multiple times in the Inuit Art Quarterly. Bio c/o Inuit Art Quarterly
Public Collections:
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth
Amway Environmental Foundation Collection,Ada
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal
Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau
CIBC Collection, Toronto
Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City
Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet
Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon
Musee d'Art Contemporain de Montreal
Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby
University of Alberta, Edmonton
University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge
University of New Brunswick, Fredericton
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg
