Toonoo Sharky
Toonoo Sharky - Artist Biography
Toonoo Sharky (b. 1970) is the son of the late carver, Josephee Sharky and Ragee Killiktee. Tooonoo attributes the development of himself as a carver to his maternal grandfather Quppapik who used to provide for his family through hunting and carving. As a boy, Toonoo would watch his grandfather Quppapik and learn how his grandfather made carvings. Watching is how Inuit learn from there forefathers to survive. In 1979, Sharky, Toonoo’s paternal grandfather, and Toonoo’s father Josephee both passed away tragically in a boating accident when Toonoo was nine years old. After this event, Ragee, his mother, and the children moved to Kimmirut (Lake Harbour). It was in Lake Harbour that Toonoo started his carving career at the age of nine and into his early teens. The family moved back to Cape Dorset when Toonoo was 13 years old.
He continues to carve and gain mastery over the stone with new tools and techniques. He was already supporting himself in his teens through carving. Not having his Father or Grandfather to look after him, he says, made him the master carver he is today. He learned to survive through his art. What he is going to carve comes from the spirit in the stone and his spirit, his mind and his imagination. His mastery of capturing spirit in stone continues to captivate an audience for his work.
Changes to his style are a natural development. His work today features different coloured serpentine stone for eye inlays. In the past the eye inlays have been either ivory or caribou antler with dark serpentine. He carves mainly large scale sculptures. He sometimes takes the stone to its limit carving it thin, as thin as he can, making pieces fluid and transforming. Birds continue to be a favourite theme. Birds, fish, Shaman, transformations and masks have shown themselves in the stone.
COLLECTIONS:
Musee d’art Inuit Brousseau, Quebec City, Quebec
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
HONOURS, ACHIEVEMENTS AND EVENTS:
1991 Attended Qatuujiqatgit Sanaguatit-Contemporary Carving/Sculpting Session organized by the Inuit Artists’ College at the Ottawa School of Art in April/May.
1994 Travelled to Coral Gables, Florida, U.S.A., to participate in the International Festival of Craft Arts, winning first prize for sculpture.
2003 Royal Canadian Academy Member
"I was influenced by my grandfather Kopapik Ragee, and also by Shorty Killiktee. The first carving I did was at the age of ten. I think it was a bird or a seal.” Toonoo has been carving ever since and it has been his only source of income. He likes to carve in serpentine and marble stone. “I like the colours and also the textures of both stones. When I’m starting on a piece of stone, I like to slowly work on the piece until the shape starts forming into a shape I can recognize. Sometimes, I just go by the shape of the stone. My favourite subjects are bird figures with human faces." - Toonoo Sharky
