Rutting Caribous by Pitseolak Niviaqsi

PITSEOLAK NIVIAQSI

15. Rutting Caribou -

Etching & Aquatint

Paper: Arches White

Printer: Studio PM

60.5 x 65.5 cm

Pitseolak Niviaqsi – Pitseolak was born in 1947 to artists Kunu and Niviaksiak, both of whom contributed to many of the early Cape Dorset Annual Collections, and his aunt and uncle were the well-known artists, Lucy and Tikituk Qinnuayuak. Pitseolak had participated in the lithography program since its inception in the early 1970s. Initially he was an assistant to Pee Mikkigak, his brother Quiatsuq and Bob Patterson, who was acting arts advisor at the time. His name appears on 205 prints in sixteen annual collections. In 1977, Pitseolak travelled to Holman Island to introduce lithography to the resident printers there. Although he stopped carving brie!y in 1991 to build his own house, Pitseolak quickly resumed making art and continued to develop as a versatile, proli"c and talented artist. His sculpture is o#en relatively large in size, highly polished and displays !owing forms and exquisite detail. His subject matter ranges from fanciful birds to sensitive portrayals of mothers with children. His own graphic work was included in two previous collections, 1992 and 1994. $e Cape Dorset community lost Pisteolak last year at the age of 68.