Inuit Art

Inuits are the people of the Arctic. Inuits are known in some countries as Eskimos. Inuit means The People, in their language150,000 Inuits inhabit the Arctic. They live in Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Russia.

The traditional language is Inuktitut. English and French are now also spoken.

A little bit of background:

Inuit homes.

Igloos; means a type of house, not just a snow house. In fact contrary to popular belief, snow block houses were never used in Alaska. They live in cabins made from driftwood covered in soil and some in permanent stone houses. Some Inuits did live in snow block houses in the winter months and during the summer months moved into tents made from animal skins.

Hunting:

Inuit people hunt whles, walruses, caribon, seals, polar bears, muskoxen and birds.

In the winter they wait in seals air holes in the ice waiting for the seals to come up for air. They would use a harpoon when they did come up for air. They used everything from seals , the skin, meat and lard.

In spring they would hunt in one man kayaks.

They would hunt with bow and arrows, harpoons, fishing spears and traps.

Art:

Carvings, Scrimshaw, Inuksuk, painting

Carvings; done in soapstone, bone and ivory. Most tell of legends or small figures that served as toys for children. They decorated and carved their handmade tools and often had animals, especially polar bears, seals and walruses for decoration.

Scrimshaw; a type of engraved picture that tells stories on ivory walrus tusks and whale bones. Once they were engraved they were rubbed in lampback to make the picture standout.

Inuksuk; these are stone landmarks which have been built by humans over generations. These landmarks are found from Alaska to Greenland. The Inuits used them for navigation as a point of reference and it is forbidden to remove or move them.

Lastly; in the last decade Inuit painting has become very popular as a means of income and pictures depict the nature they live in, in the form of animals and sometimes shaman.

For many generations the Inuit people have depended on their surroundings and environments to help provide for their food and shelter. In order for them to survive they needed to be one with the nature so that they are connected. Treating nature with respect was integral to how they lived their lives.

We shall be focusing on a Modern Inuit artist called Kenojuak Ashevak.

Kenojuak Ashevak (1927-2013)

Famous modern Inuit artist.

She developed her art from the embroidery she learnt as a child.

The work we will be looking at today is of animals. She does not concentrate on making them look real but gives them personalities and character.

When she died her nephew said:

My aunt...would sit and look at the blank paper, and then whatever was in her head came out. She encouraged me to sit before that blank paper no matter how hard it was, and let something come out. From her I learned a good work ethic. Even if life is hard, keep drawing.

Activity

Get your children to look through Kenojuak Ashevaks work and get them to pick one they particularly like. With paints ask them to create their version and why they were inspired to chose the one they did. Why did they decide to use different colours?

When I did this class, I did my own version of The Enchanted Owl. I showed it to them and explained why I changed the colours. To me owls represent time at the end of the day, when the sun is setting. I chose to paint the owl in deep blue and purple colours as sometimes when the sun sets it lets off these beautiful colours and my owl represented this.