Panniqtuuq artists bring new work to Iqaluit

An exhibition and sale of the 2004 Panniqtuuq Community Print Collection opened last Saturday at Iqaluit’s Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum, featuring 26 prints, etchings and linocuts by artists from Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts and Crafts.

While this event was the collection’s Nunavut launch, the print collection has also been on display in 25 southern galleries since June.

Half of the images in the 2004 collection celebrate local scenery, such as Annie Qappik’s “The Grandeur of Pangnirtung Pass,” an austere relief print that recalls prints from Japa; Ame Papatsie’s “The View from Mount Duval”; and Andrew Qappik’s stencil print of “Driving to Pangnirtung Pass.”

The rest of the prints portray aspects of life, past and present, in Panniqtuuq as well as the abundant wildlife found around the Cumberland Sound.

The collection also includes colourful lithographic prints, such as Papatsie’s strikingly abstract work, “Drawn to the Qulliq,” made by drawing with a grease pencil directly on a slab of limestone prior to printing.

“We are hopeful that, with time and practice, colour lithography will become a mainstay of future collections,” said Judith Leidl, the artistic advisor for this year’s collection.

Jolly Atagooyuk, a long-time member of the print studio, worked on stenciling, lino-cuts and etching for this year’s collection.

His “Mother’s Lesson” is an etching of a mother teaching her two children how to fish.

Etching is his favourite medium, Atagooyuk says, although he has many skills, having spent years learning the techniques of printmaking and silk screening through Nunavut Arctic College.

“I like etching because it’s very different. There are a lot of steps,” Atagooyuk said.

Etching requires separate, time-consuming applications of ink, acid and grease on a copper plate. Etching is an active procedure, which, Atagooyuk says, involves running back and forth between the sink and work table.

But the stenciling involved in his work on Joel Maniapik’s “Archer by the Inukshuk,” was also challenging. Atagooyuk spent at least one hour per print to achieve the mix of pastel colours in the background. Getting the colours right for Annie Kilabuk’s “Five Ptarmigans,” where the sky has a mix of blue and yellow, was also tough.

“It took five tries to get it right,” he said.

Atagooyuk who is in Ummannaq, Greenland this week at an arts festival, said his community’s art always receives a keen interest from the public.

The exhibition in Iqaluit continues until mid-August. The cost of the prints range from $240 to $420.