Upcoming Show & New Exhibit
- ryantav
- Jul 4
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 9
Renovations on the church exterior are well under way, the interior having been re-painted earlier in the spring. Going to be just like a stick of gum!
Tuckamore Faculty Trio
Our first show of the season is on July 8 at 7:30. It's the Tuckamore Faculty Trio. These three have played all over the planet and we're fortunate to have them. Full information can be found under Events and there's a ticket link or you can try at the door. Going to be a great start to the season and we hope to see you there!
Pudlo Padlat
About Pudlo Pudlat
Pudlo Pudlat ᐳᓗ ᐳᓚ (1916 – 1992) was a Canadian Inuit artist whose preferred medium was a combination of acrylic wash and coloured pencils. His works are in the collections of most Canadian museums. At his death, Pudlat left a body of work of some 4000 drawings and 200 prints.
Born at Kamadjuak Camp on Baffin Island in Nunavut, Pudlat lived for much of his life in the Kimmirut region, hunting and fishing with his family along the southwest coast of the island. Until he was six, he lived near Coral Harbour, later moving to the region of Kimmirut (formerly Lake Harbour). Pudlat began drawing in the early 1960s after he abandoned a semi-nomadic way of life and settled in Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset). He experienced firsthand the radical transformation of life in the Arctic that occurred in the 20th Century and reached its peak in the 1950s. In the late 1950s, when he was already in his 40s, he moved to Kiaktuuq near Kinngait to recover from a bout of tuberculosis. It was there he met Inuit art pioneer James Houston and began his career as an artist. In 1950, he married fellow Inuit artist Innukjuakju Pudlat, and they remained together until her death in 1972.
Pudlat spent 33 years creating art. He began by carving sculpture, but he found carving difficult because of an arm injury, so he switched to drawing around 1960. Initially encouraged by Houston and then by Terry Ryan of the West Baffin Cooperative, he embraced drawing and later printmaking and painting as these media were introduced in the North. Pudlat occasionally traveled south and to other parts of the Arctic for medical treatment. The objects he encountered on his travels, especially airplanes, are prominent in his subject matter. Pudlat died in 1992, at Kinngait. His last prints appear in the annual Cape Dorset Print collection and catalogue of 1993.
About the Exhibition
This exhibition will celebrate Pudlat’s remarkable contribution to the early development of Inuit art, which continues to ensure that this unique creative expression is firmly situated in the broader Canadian art historical discourse. A visual inventory follows this introductory narrative; all are works untitled, most measuring approximately 56x76cm (22x30 inches) with some smaller items included. Medium is colour pencil or a combination of acrylic wash, ink and colour pencil on paper. The creation dates range from 1968 to 1980.
A fully illustrated publication will accompany the exhibition; contributors to the catalogue are currently under consideration. Each presenting venue is allocated 25 copies of the publication as part of the loan agreement. As an adjunct opportunity related to this initiative, West Baffin Cooperative has curated a parallel inventory of important drawings from the same period, which will be made available for acquisition. Loan fee for this exhibition is set at $7,500, with one way shipping included.
Recognizing the cultural significance of this exhibition, the West Baffin Cooperative Board of Directors has made a rare decision to induct the inventory into the organization’s archives in perpetuity, making the work available only for exhibition purposes. In addition, West Baffin Cooperative has been in discussions with Global Affairs Canada to determine a strategy to tour this exhibition internationally once the final Canadian venue presents the show in 2027.
