We are working on developing resources for you to learn more about the Inuit and their art, as well places to see and buy Inuit art. Here are a few places to start.
Learn about the Inuit and their art
Organizations that support Inuit artists and their art
Inuit Art Foundation
The Inuit Art Foundation exists to facilitate the creative expressions of Inuit artists and to foster a broader understanding of these expressions worldwide.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, formerly the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, is a nonprofit that represents Inuit across Canada. Their goal is to serve as “a national voice protecting and advancing the rights and interests of Inuit in Canada.” Their (very, very slow to load) website includes up-to-date news related to the Inuit.
Publications that focus on the Inuit and Inuit art
Inuit Art Quarterly
Inuit Art Quarterly is a publication of scholarly and popular content that connects Inuit Nunangat and readers around the world. Published by the Inuit Art Foundation since 1986, this full color art journal is the only magazine devoted to Inuit arts and features articles on well-known and emerging artists, information about current events, and topical columns.
Inuktitut Magazine
Published by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Inuktitut Magazine is (was?) was distributed to 52 Inuit communities in Nunatsiavut (Labrador), Nunavik (northern Quebec), Nunavut and the Inuvialuit area of the Northwest Territories, reaching most Inuit households with a circulation of 13,000. The magazine appears in Inuktitut – both syllabics and Roman orthography – as well as English and French. Since 1959, Inuktitut has been Canada’s longest-publishing Inuktitut-language periodical. It appears Inuktitut Magazine is no longer being published, but back issues can be read and downloaded from the website. Just be patient, as the website is very slow.
Their (very, very slow to load) website also features news related to the Arctic and the Inuit.
Build your own library
There are lots and lots of books about the Inuit and Inuit art. Here are suggestions for beginning your own library!
See Inuit art in a museum
US museums with significant Inuit collections
Good museum collections of Inuit art are a lot harder to find in the USA than in Canada. But a few museums have significant collections and always have Inuit art on exhibit.
Dennos Museum Center (Traverse City, Michigan)
The Dennos Museum Center boasts one of the USA’s largest and most historically complete public collections of contemporary sculpture, prints and drawings by the Inuit artists of the Canadian Arctic. This major collection is permanently showcased in the Power Family Inuit Gallery, where the works are presented in new exhibitions annually.
Learn more about visiting the Dennos and our meetings there.
Bowdoin College’s Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum in Brunswick, Maine
Bowdoin College has deep ties to Arctic exploration through alumni Robert E. Peary and Donald B. MacMillan. But the college’s interest didn’t stop with the tales of white explorers. Along with it’s collection of items related to Peary and MacMillan, the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum also has a vast amount of both historic and contemporary Inuit art and cultural items. Recently re-interpreted and re-installed in a completely new facility, the museum offers a multi-faceted look at Arctic exploration, the Inuit, and the Arctic itself.
Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art
The Eiteljorg’s Native American art and artifacts come from all regions of North America, from the Southeast to the Arctic.
Canadian museums with substantial Inuit collections
Winnipeg
The Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq
The largest and finest collection of Inuit art you’ll find on display anywhere is at the WAG-Qaumajuq in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The new Qaumajuq building’s galleries are devoted exclusively to northern Indigenous art and the glass vault allows visitors to see items not currently displayed in a gallery. Gallery space in Qaumajuq building finally allows the WAG to display many more pieces from their vast collection of Inuit art as well as some of the 7,400 pieces on loan from Nunavut’s fine art collection.
Small exhibits change regularly. Large shows, like the current Inuit Sanaugangit Art Across Time exhibit (on through April 2025), tend to remain for a year or two.
If you are willing to travel to see Inuit art, the WAG-Qaumajuq should be at the top of your list.
Toronto area museums
While it usually doesn’t quite compare to seeing a major exhibit at the WAG-Qaumajuq in Winnipeg, the Toronto area does have a lot of Inuit art on display.
TD Gallery of Indigenous Art
The TD Gallery (formerly the Toronto Dominion Bank Inuit Art Gallery) has expanded beyond Inuit art, but their Inuit collection has some outstanding older sculptures that are sure to be on display whenever you visit.
Art Gallery of Ontario
The AGO’s Indigenous Collection includes more than 5,000 Inuit pieces, most of which were produced after 1948 and over half of which are sculptures.
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
The McMichael, located north of Toronto, has a substantial Inuit art collection of its own. It also holds over 100,000 drawings, prints, and sculptures from the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative in Cape Dorset.
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver has a lot of galleries that sell Inuit art, but most museums focus on the work of local Indigenous people. Still, the UBC Museum of Anthropology is pretty incredible. And, if you are flying in or out of Vancouver International Airport (YVR), look for the Lorne Balshine Collection displayed just beyond domestic security area B. (Not flying? You can see what’s in the exhibit in this PDF.)
University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology
The UBC Museum of Anthropology has a new website that doesn’t really mention Inuit art. However, as IAS members who attended the 2022 meeting in Vancouver know, it has a permanent exhibit that includes Inuit pieces both historic and contemporary.
