Printmakers enjoy renaissance in Baker Lake

A special course at Arctic College has revived interest among local artists in the Sanavik Co-op movement of the 70s.

By NUNATSIAQ NEWS

ANNETTE BOURGEOIS

Victoria Mamnguqsualuk sits in a metal chair at one end of a hollowed-out building in Baker Lake, concentrating on her task.

She’s oblivious to the leaky roof, the cracked concrete floor, the dampness creeping through the walls. And if she has to squint a little because the lighting’s poor, she doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she’s happy just to have a place to practise her craft.

The Baker Lake elder was one of the founding members of the Sanavik Co-op, formed in the 1970s by local artists. The members of the co-op, which included renowned artist Jessie Oonark, developed Baker Lake’s reputation for fine prints and wall-hangings.

It’s Saturday afternoon and the building is quiet. Most people are out on the land hunting and camping, but Victoria is putting the final touches on her prints, which are destined for galleries in the South.

Although she’s been making prints for decades, she had to become a student in order to work in the only print shop in the community.

Shop converted into store

In the late 1980s the co-op converted the printmakers’ old space into a retail area to bring in more money and the print shop was scrapped.

Two years ago, though, the territorial government made money available for artist training. Nunavut Arctic College offered a drawing and printmaking course and Kyra Fisher came up from the University of Calgary to teach.

“There was no money to start a print shop, but there were training funds,” Fisher said. “So it meant the artists had to become students.” Students actually got paid to take the course.

Nine students started the program and this year eight, including Victoria, have graduated. But she doesn’t want to leave the shop. Here she feels she can make a contribution to her family by bringing in a monthly cheque and the occasional few dollars she can make from the sale of her prints.

Fisher believes it’s wrong to think high-tech jobs will be available for everyone; art and culture must have a place in Nunavut, as well.

“When you’re living from hand to mouth, economics is very important. You can still produce wonderful art even though your prime motivation is to survive physically and financially.”

For years Victoria kept her skills honed by creating print designs and wall hangings in her home. In school, though, she she’s been able to expand her artistic abilities.

When Victoria sits down to create a drawing, she says memories of stories she heard from her grandmother as a young child fill her mind. Tales she thought she had forgotten, come flooding back.

Cultural revival or survival?

Victoria and Simona Scottie, who’s also in the shop today, think storytelling is vital to the survival of Inuit culture.

“It’s really important because there are lots of people coming every day,” Simona said. “I want my grandson to speak Inuktitut and know how it used to be a long time ago, out on the land.”

A first-year student in the course, Simona explains the technique she learned to create three miniature prints and where she gets her ideas.

“My father was always telling stories of long time ago,” she said. “When I heard them, I always tried to picture them.”

For the first time in seven years, the Baker Lake printmakers will release a collection of 18 prints. But it may be a long time before there’s another collection.

Fisher said there’s no guarantee there’ll be money for first-year students to continue in the program. Some graduates, she says, would also like to want to continue, but they’d probably benefit more from a course in the business aspects of running a printshop.

“It’s still very hard for people to understand about overhead and buying supplies,” she said. “They think the money they get for the prints should come to them, all to them. They don’t realize they have to pay for lighting and heating.”

Frustrated by conditions

Fisher has been also trying to raise enough money for a print shop for the artists. She’s frustrated that the artists have to work in substandard conditions when the state-of-the-art Jessie Oonark Centre sits half empty in the community.

“Town council gives us verbal support,” Fisher said. “but we need backed-up money. Baker Lake needs to preserve its artistic culture by having a print shop.”

Fisher said they were hoping to buy the old pool building they’re currently in and renovate, but council will only offer a $1-a-year lease for 20 years.

“If I’m looking for funding from different foundations, I don’t want to ask for money for a building that belongs to the hamlet,” Fisher said. “So again, they’re homeless print makers.”

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