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Kenojuak Ashevak celebrated with dedication High school art room named after famed Cape Dorset artist
Danielle Sachs
Northern News Services
Published Friday, June 7, 2013
KINNGAIT/CAPE DORSET
With twinkling lights lining the decorated walls, prints placed with care, awards carefully situated on tables and mementos from the Kenojuak Ashevak’s life, the art room at Peter Pitseolak High School was officially named for the famed late artist last week.
Alisa Qimirpik, 13, helped out at the art room dedication June 3. - Danielle Sachs/NNSL photo
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For years, the art program at the high school wasn’t living up to the legacy and culture of the artists who have called Cape Dorset home. Or, that was the thought of current principal Mike Soares.
When the art program was revamped, it was decided that the room should be named after Ashevak, who popularized art from the region and helped found the West Baffin Inuit Art Collective.
The list of accomplishments for the artist is long. Her art has been featured on coins from the Royal Canadian Mint and stamps from Canada Post.
On June 3, the room was officially opened, with members of Ashevak’s family and people from the community were invited to explore the room.
It stands out. There’s no mistaking the room as anything other than an art room. A mural of Ashevak's most famous work has been painted on the wall, but with a unique twist. Because the mural is also painted on the door, it changes depending whether the door is open or closed.
Christa Borden, a music, art and grade 8/9 teacher at Peter Pitseolak High School, spent hours painstakingly tracing every dot, circle and detail from a projected image of Ashevak's Enchanted Owl.
“I think I was here until at least 11 p.m.,” she said. “Once you set up the projector you can’t leave it, it would have been impossible to line everything up in the exact same way again.”
Once the pencil outlining was done, students helped fill in the rest.
Part of the mural is also a lesson in perspective, said Borden.
“With the door open, it looks kind of off but if you change where you’re looking at it it’s dead on and we can use that to show perspective.”
Ashevak’s art was a draw to the community. Kristiina Alariaq, who runs Huit Huit Tours with her husband, Timmun, said tourists would come to Cape Dorset specifically to meet the artist, who was often featured during their cultural tours.
“She would light the qulliq and share stories, even through an interpreter she was never shy,” said Alariaq.
“Art is part of the fabric of Cape Dorset, and what Kenojuak has done during her life is certainly very important to all of us,” said Soares. “I knew that her art was the first art ever that was on a Canadian postage stamp from a living artist. In dedicating this room to her, it’s not just throwing her name on the door, it’s more than that. The curriculum of our school has to reflect the culture of Cape Dorset.
In the past, the art here has not done that. The art has been a tag on and in many ways the art that has been taught here has been as close to art as paint by numbers or black velvet Elvis paintings.”
Soares went on to say the art curriculum, along with the rest of the studies in the school, should be reflective of the community in Cape Dorset and Nunavut as a whole.
South Baffin MLA Schell pledged $1,000 out of his own pocket to go toward prizes for students at both the high school and Sam Pudlat Elementary School.
“It will be $500 to Peter Pitseolak and $500 to Sam Pudlat, for all the kids to enter a drawing and the topic will be Kenojuak Ashevak’s life,” said Schell.
That will be split into three prizes for each school and also anyone who participates will have their names put in a hat and drawn for some secondary prizes.
“She was a great lady and one of the most accomplished artists in the world. We bless her enthusiasm. She was always smiling and it must have been hard sometimes to balance her art with her family,” said Schell.
“This named room, will help keep her in our memory and hearts forever. She not only put Cape Dorset on the map in Canada, but also the rest of the world.”
It was an emotional event for Silaqqi Ashevak, one of the artist’s daughters.
“It’s a wonderful job. My mom would be very proud of all the hard work and beautiful mural that Christa and students created for her memory,” she said.
Along with the awards and prints scattered around the room, a set of coloured pencils were on display. The set included shavings from the last time Ashevak used them.
“People are drawn to them,” said Borden.
“It’s something you can touch and feel a connection. We’re so lucky the family shared them,”
Ashevak died in January at age 85.
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