Artist, hunter, remembered
Cape Dorset and Canadian art community mourn Tim Pitsiulak
Beth Brown
Northern News Services
Monday, January 16, 2017
KINNGAIT/CAPE DORSET
When he wasn't out hunting, the lithograph studio in Cape Dorset was a sure place to find Tim Pitsiulak.
Tim Pitsiulak, who died on Dec. 23, was known for his contemporary Inuit drawings. - photo courtesy of Feheley Fine Arts |
The acclaimed contemporary Inuk artist died on Dec. 23 at the age of 49.
"Cape Dorset people are pretty shocked by his sudden death," said Joemie Takpaungai, assistant studio manager at Kinngait Studios. "He was a provider himself to local people as a hunter and he was a family man."
The artist was born in Kimmirut to Napachie and Timila Pitsiulak in 1967. He is best known for his drawings, though he was also a jewelry-maker, sculptor, lithographer and photographer.
Pitsiulak, whom community members knew as Timoon or Timothy, was Takpaungai's first cousin.
He recalls hiking and hunting with Pitsiulak in their younger years.
"He was a funny man, a great artist, very well-liked in the community, a good all-around person," said Takpaungai.
"The artists have already started to notice that the studio is pretty empty without Timoon."
In 2013, Pitsiulak's work was featured on a commemorative 25-cent coin by the Royal Canadian Mint titled Life in the North.
"I couldn't pass on the opportunity to make something for a coin. That was something else," Pitsiulak told Nunavut News/North at the time.
Pitsiulak's coin shows an image of a bowhead whale and two belugas. Along the coin's rim is a silhouette of a breaching whale being pursued by hunters.
"When I see a bowhead whale on my hunting trips, I pause and I think to myself, 'Wow, not everyone sees what I see of these huge mammals.' I feel very lucky to be Inuit," said Pitsiulak at the time.
"The ancestors before me, they hunted these huge whales using kayaks and harpoons only ... I respect how they hunted."
In 2015 he was commissioned by Cadillac Fairview to create a large-scale drawing that has been installed in the Toronto Dominion Bank.
Pat Feheley of Feheley Fine Arts in Toronto worked closely with Pitsiulak. The gallery opened an exhibit of his recent works, a drawing series of enchanting icebergs, this past fall, the fifth solo show of his work at the gallery.
"From the first time I saw his work in 2007, it was apparent that he was not only very talented, but a very engaged artist," said Feheley. "It was obvious he was someone who was going to experiment."
Pitsiulak mixed both traditional cultural and contemporary practices into his work.
The content of his pieces ranged from industrial subjects, such as container ships, to more abstract ideas, such as a series of northern animals wearing parkas.
"They came out of his imagination. Some were humorous and whimsical but they were all just so beautifully drawn," she said.
The artist would say his greatest mentor was his aunt Kenojuak Ashevak.
"She worked hard at her drawing, she took it seriously, leading by way of example," said Feheley.
Feheley said young artists in Cape Dorset have lost a great mentor in Pitsiulak.
"He's young, he should have had another 30 years of drawing. It's an incredible blow not just to contemporary art but to Canadian art," she said. "For myself I'm just very, very sad."
Feheley would frequently visit Cape Dorset and see Tim and his wife Mary and their children.
"I've had a huge outpouring here," said Feheley. "He really touched people, there was a warmth and a vitality to him that was so appealing to people."
A funeral service was held in the hamlet on Jan. 3.
