Terin DeWolf: Cape Dorset Artistry

Cape Dorset is known world wide for its artistry. I recently heard the statistic that 22 percent of the population is solely employed in the "arts", meaning their sole income comes from print making or carving. To me this seemed very high at first, but upon reflection and having spent time in the community it no longer seems unreasonable. Throughout the day and evening individuals will come to your home to sell you (at bargain prices) their carvings, prints, drawings, jewelry, etc.

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Kinngait Arts Studios. These are owned and operated by the West Baffin Eskimo Co-Operative Ltd. which is the oldest arts organization in the Canadian Arctic. Before it was founded in the 1960's by James Houston carvers and print makers would sell their works to the Hudson Bay Company/Northern Stores (Southern Owned and Operated) to be sold. Today the Co-Op is one hundred percent owned and operated by Inuit artists within the community and it works with Dorset Fine Arts, it's Toronto marketing office, to handle southern sales and commisions.

Within the Kinngait Arts studios there are a number of styles of print making that occur today, melding both traditional forms and new modern ways - stonecut, stencil, lithography, engraving/etching/aquatint, and screen print/serigraph. We were given a tour of the studies and were able to see the different styles being used. It was interesting to talk to one of the lithographers about the new direction and collaboration occurring within the Co-Op; the lithographers and stonecutters will work together on one piece, which in the past was something that never occurred. Therefore some new prints may have very colourful backgrounds created using lithography, and then have a stonecut image applied to them.

It is amazing the amount of time, effort and patience that goes into each individual print, regardless of the technique. Our tour guide was telling us that the Co-Op purchases about a hundred drawings within a year and of those hundred only about 20-30 are actually produced. Each drawing chosen will only have roughly 50 prints created, after which the stencil, whether it be stone or metal, is destroyed and another one is created in its place. For example, a single slate block can create about 5-6 stencils, depending on the depth of each carving.

It was such a great honour to have the chance to see almost all of the styles being used and to talk with the artists themselves.