UA Exhibition Offers Look at Eskimo Art

Artctic Spirit

Karoo Ashevak's "Flying Shaman" was sculpted circa 1972 out of whale bone, ivory and stone. Ashevak lived from 1940 to 1974 and was a member of the Inuit indigenous peoples from Taloyoak. (Photo courtesy of the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum)

By Gabrielle Sykes-Casavant, The University of Arizona Libraries June 12, 2009

The UA Libraries is hosting an exhibition of ancient and modern Inuit art at the Special Collections.

An upcoming exhibition at The University of Arizona Libraries will showcase the artistic heritage of the Inuit cultures of the northern Canada region.

"Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum" will be on display at the UA Libraries' Special Collections June 30 through Aug. 28.

The exhibition was organized by the Heard Museum, located in Phoenix, and toured by ExhibitUSA,which is the national touring program of Mid-America Arts Alliance, a nonprofit regional arts organization based in Kansas City, Mo. The event at the UA is free and open to the public.

The Inuits, or Eskimos, are a society of natives who live mainly in Siberia, Alaska, Greenland and the Canadian Arctic.

Though many consider these various groups to be homogenous, "Arctic Spirit" showcases the artistic styles that are distinctly of the Canadian Inuit.

The exhibition items are drawn from one of the most comprehensive collections of Northern Inuit art in the United States. The assemblage of sculptures, textiles, prints, and drawings – from 30 villages in Canada's north – spans 2,250 years of artistic creativity, beginning as early as 250 B.C. up until to the 21st century.

All of the most popular subjects of Inuit art are showcased: family and camp scenes; animals and nature; legends and spirituality; and the Inuit relationship with the Arctic environment. These subjects are presented in many varied mediums.

Visitors will be introduced to the Canadian Inuits' wall hangings, prints, drawings, sculptures, carved ivories, masks and decorated clothing. Maps, text panels and photographs of the land and artists also provide background information for visitors to the exhibition.

Ingo Hessel, who lives and works in Canada, curated the exhibition. Hessel has researched Inuit art extensively for more than 20 years.

The art was donated to the Heard Museum by E. Daniel and Martha L. Albrecht. The Tucson showing is made possible through the generosity of E. Daniel Albrecht, a UA alumnus.

Et Cetera