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Pitseolak
Ashoona, OC, RCA

Photo: Pitseolak Ashoona
Credit: Jimmy Manning
Pitseolak
Ashoona, OC, RCA

Medium:

drawing, printmaking

Artistic Community:

Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU

Date of Birth:

Artists may have multiple birth years listed as a result of when and where they were born. For example, an artist born in the early twentieth century in a camp outside of a community centre may not know/have known their exact date of birth and identified different years.

Tujjaat, NT
1904

Date of Death:

Artists may have multiple dates of death listed as a result of when and where they passed away. Similar to date of birth, an artist may have passed away outside of a community centre or in another community resulting in different dates being recorded.


1983

Work

Biography

Born on the Southeast coast of Tujjaat and based in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU, Pitseolak Ashoona’s work depicts the strength, resilience and identity of women. A self-taught artist working primarily in graphite, pencil crayons and felt-tip pens, Ashoona produced more than 9,000 drawings in her lifetime. Ashoona created works that were openly autobiographical, vividly portraying memories and stories of her life. The 1970s were a critical period in her career, becoming internationally recognized and accomplishing numerous remarkable achievements. In 1974, she was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Art. Furthermore, in 1977, she received the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian art.View Long Biography and Citations

Publications

View All Publications and Details
Title Year Author
Canadian and Indigenous Art: 1968 to Present Fall 2017 Lindsay Nixon
Twelve women shortlisted to feature on new Canadian banknote April 30, 2016 Andrew Nichols
Pitseolak Ashoona: Life & Work 2015 Christine Lalonde

Exhibitions

View All Exhibitions and Details
Name Year Gallery
Classic Prints from Cape Dorset: 1960 – 1972 Apr - May 2003 Albers Gallery
Women of the Ashoona Family: Inuit Print Retrospective April 2003 The Guild Shop
Then and Now: Inuit Prints from 1962 – 2002 January 2003 Inuit Gallery of Vancouver

Achievements

View All Achievements and Details
Achievement Year Organization
Cover of the Inuit Art Quarterly Winter 2000 Inuit Art Foundation
Featured on Canadian Postage Stamp 1993 Canada Post
Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection 1984 Dorset Fine Arts

Public Collections

View All Public Collections
Collection Location
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University Kingston, ON, Canada
Amon Carter Museum of American Art Fort Worth, TX, United States
Anchorage Museum Anchorage, AK, United States

Edit History

September 12, 2017 Created by: Mikaela Clark Gardner