With no annual meeting event scheduled for this year, several members decided to arrange an informal meet-up in Winnipeg in August. That brought together nearly 20 of us who traveled from as far away as Florida, Washington, DC, and Vancouver for a couple of days of Inuit art and culture and an opportunity to socialize with other collectors.
At the WAG-Qaumajuq
The only scheduled activities were two mornings of private, curator-led tours of exhibits at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq. That included visits to the massive Abraham Anghik Ruben exhibit, as well as a large exhibit of work by Ningiukulu Teevee. With Dr. Darlene Coward Wight (the WAG’s curator of Inuit art) as our guide, we learned more about these artists and the stories behind their work.
Just a few of the pieces in the WAG-Qaumajuq Abraham Anghik Ruben retrospective.
We learned a lot about Abraham Anghik Ruben’s inspirations, including his interest in shared Inuit and Nordic experience and climate change.
Likewise, in the Ningiukulu Teevee exhibit, we heard the stories that inspired her work, including stories about Raven and Owl. And we found out that walruses are just fun to draw.
Would it even be a Ningiukulu Teevee exhibit if there weren’t lots of images of both walruses and Owl and Raven tussling over Raven’s color?
We also got to go down into the vault to get a peek at what’s in storage.
Along with all the Inuit art, we also toured the Reframed exhibit with Marie-Anne Redhead (Assistant Curator of Indigenous and Contemporary Art). This exhibit “traces shifting representations of Indigenous identity, from 19th-century portraits and landscape paintings to 20th-century ethnographic photography and the circulation of Indigenous imagery within mass-media and popular culture. Together, these works examine Indigenous figures across time from contemporary perspectives.”
And, while we didn’t have a guided tour, we also had an opportunity to see an exhibit of really wonderful work by Omalluq Oshutsiaq. Best known for her sculpture, many years after an accident ended her career as a carver, she turned to drawing. And it’s some of those drawings, all created during a brief two-year period before her death, that were on display at the WAG-Qaumajuq.
Of course, there were other things to see at the museum too, so while some headed into the gift shop, others checked out the rest of the museum!
(IAS sends a special THANK YOU to Darlene for arranging our guided visits at the WAG-Qaumajuq.)
Other Art Gallery Visits
While there were no scheduled gallery visits, participants were encouraged to visit local galleries, particularly Nunavut Gallery, where large collections of work by Ningiukulu Teevee, Tim Pitsiulak, and Omalluq Oshutsiaq (and others) could be seen and purchased.
And plenty of things that didn’t revolve around Inuit art
While some members came just for the two days of guided gallery tours, others spent most of a week exploring Winnipeg and its other museums and sights. And, of course, there were plenty of informal dinners and chances to catch up during the week.