Montreal festival to feature exhibit of young Inuit artists

Carvers Tommy Kingwatsiak and Eeyeechiak Etorolopiaq work on projects in the carving room of the Native Friendship Centre of Montreal. They’ll have a chance ot feature their work at an Inuit art exhibit later this year. (NFCM PHOTO)

Makivik Corp. and the Native Friendship Centre of Montreal will host an art exhibit this summer during Montreal’s busy festival season to feature the work of young, urban and at-risk Inuit.

It’s part of a plan to help create economic opportunities for Inuit living in Montreal — some of whom live on the city’s streets.

The Native Friendship Centre of Montreal is home to the Mikinak youth co-op, which offers a carving room with soapstone and tools, as well as a boutique upstairs to display and sell carvers’ work to the public.

Thanks to help from Makivik, the carving room has a new draft table to use power tools and a new ventilation system to filter the dust in the room.

Part of the Mikinak co-op’s goal is to help its carvers earn a fair price for their work.

“We know these young artists sell their carvings on the street for $5, $10 or $20, or they try to sell them to galleries,” said Sylvie Cornez, a consultant who works for Makivik on its homelessness file.

“Since we’ve invested in the carving room, there is more opportunity to do carving, and we want to create longer-term economic opportunities for these carvers.”

So as part of the 2015 edition of Présence Autochtone, an annual Montreal festival of Indigenous culture, Makivik will help operate a gallery focused on Inuit art — mainly carving, with some other visual works — from July 30 to Aug. 5.

While the festival has welcomed Inuit carvers to show their work before, this year’s edition will feature an exhibit dedicated to Inuit art, on display at the city’s Galérie Carte Blanche.

The gallery will offer the space to display carvings of any size, Cornez says. And because carvers tend to be men, she’s also looking for other types of visual art, produced by Inuit women to feature in the exhibit.

Carvers will also be invited to work at a nearby outdoor site, she said, where they can direct people to the gallery.

“It’s a time of year when there are a lot of festivals in Montreal and lots of tourists,” Cornez said. “It’s a great opportunity to have people explore these artists’ work, and at the same, it’s a good learning experience for the artists.”

Cornez hopes to attract a group of about a dozen artists to help plan and coordinate the exhibit.

Montreal-based visual artists who want to take part can contact Cornez at sylviecornez2013@gmail.com.