Qisik

Contemporary Inuit prints were first produced at Cape Dorset in 1957. Although precursors to printmaking can be seen in women's skin applique work and in men's incising of ivory, stone and bone, the impetus for printmaking was as a commercial venture. This venture was established jointly by Inuit artists and John Houston, the civil administrator for Cape Dorset. Other Inuit communities quickly followed the commercial success of Cape Dorset's West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative. Printmaking developed as a communal activity following a Japanese, rather than a Western, model of serigraph production. Each year the cooperatives produce a series of limited edition prints which are sold in the retail art market. In 1965, the Canadian Eskimo Arts Council was established from the Canadian Eskimo Art Committee to ensure high standards were maintained. Printmaking, along with stone carving, provide cash income for communities which have undergone rapid and significant change, during the late 20th century, from traditional hunting based societies to settled communities dependent on consumer goods. The prevalent images depicted in Inuit art are of traditional life, arctic animals and mythology. Recently, contemporary subjects have been depicted by a minority of artists.

contemporary art

Print depicting a woman standing in front of a sealskin stretched on a frame with three blue tools (two ulus, and one knife) depicted in silhouette beside the frame. The woman has green leggings, a white jacket and boots with blue and grey ovoid pattern, a red face and hands, and black hair. Yellow sealskin with blue ovoid design stretched on red rectangular frame with green line. Names of artist and printmaker in Inuit syllabics and Cape Dorset stylized red igloo seal are printed in the lower corner on the left. Below the image is written, "Qisik lithograph 9/50 Dorset Olayou 1976." The Canadian Eskimo Arts Council blind embossed stamp is in the bottom left-hand corner, and the Cape Dorset blind embossed stamp is in the lower right-hand corner.