Kenojuak Ashevak

Kenojuak Ashevak

Lifetime (1995)

“Kenojuak” as she is know, is one of the most recognized and internationally respected visual artists to emerge from the Artic.  She was born in 1927 at Ikerrasak camp, and was among the first women of the Cape Dorset area to make drawings in the late 1950s.  These drawings were transformed into stonecut and stencil prints, which are now sold annually as part of the co-op effort known as Cape Dorset Prints.  Ms. Ashevak’s work primarily focuses on birds that she elaborates, embellishes and transforms into a multitude of shapes, forms and attitudes.  Her imaginative and colourful renditions of the bird subject are among the strongest and most memorable of Cape Dorset.  Her 1960 print, the Enchanted Owl, made into a postage stamp in 1970, is one of the best known Inuit prints.  Ms. Ashevak, who also carves, is a Companion of the Order of Canada and has received Honourary Doctorates of Law from Queen’s University and the University of Toronto.  As an accomplished artist she has represented Canada at major exhibitions in Korea, Europe and the United States.  Ms. Ashevak is one of Canada’s leading women artists.