Pitseolak Ashoona, CM, RCA
Born Tujjaat (Nottingham Island), Nunavut, 1904Died Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut, 1983
Pitseolak Ashoona was a highly influential and self-taught Inuk artist working primarily in graphite, pencil crayons, and felt-tip pens. She produced more than 9,000 drawings in her lifetime.
Inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1974, Ashoona was also awarded the Order of Canada in 1977. Many of Ashoona’s prints and drawings were biographical, often depicting camp life and the adaptive traditions of Inuit. More than colourful renderings, these images document Inuit histories and the places where they lived.
An avid collector of Ashoona’s work, the late Milton Halvarson donated 57 of her prints to the University of Alberta Museums in 2008, constituting a significant gift of the work of an Inuk woman artist to the collection.
