Glenbow Showcases Kinngait Textiles

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ᒥᐊᓕ ᓵᒻ ᒪ ᔪᐊᓕ ᐳᓪᓚᑦ | Mary Samuellie Pudlat, “Fish and Shadows (detail),” 1950 to 1960s, screen printed linen, 35" x 46. 5” (reproduced with the permission of Dorset Fine Arts, photo courtesy of Glenbow)

The exhibition, ᖃᓪᓗᓈᖅᑕᐃᑦ ᓯᑯᓯᓛᕐᒥᑦ Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios, is on now through March 3 at Glenbow in Calgary. Roxane Shaughnessy, the Textile Museum of Canada’s senior curator and manager of collection, curated the show, which boasts close to 2,000 printed fabrics designed by Inuit artists at Kinngait Studios in Kinngait, Nunavut, from the 1950s and ’60s. 

Known as Cape Dorset until 2020, Kinngait is considered by many to be the Inuit art capital of the world and is located on the southwest tip of Baffin Island in Northern Canada. As early as 1956, Canadian author and artist James Houston (who introduced contemporary Inuit art to the international art world) saw the opportunity to produce handprinted textiles using the art and imagery of the Inuit, to provide them with a source of income. Three years later, the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative was founded; the internationally renowned cooperative marks its 65th anniversary this year and October 2023 marked the 50th anniversary of Kinngait Studios, part of the cooperative.

At first glance, the Kinngait textiles bring to mind the designs of Marimekko (the popular Finnish brand) and the colourful geometric patterns of Germany’s Bauhaus movement.

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A look at the installation of “ᖃᓪᓗᓈᖅᑕᐃᑦ ᓯᑯᓯᓛᕐᒥᑦ Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios”  at Glenbow at The Edison (photo courtesy of Glenbow)

These textiles, which were hand-pulled at first, stencilled and, later, silkscreened. They are all handmade, not machine-made and focus on the Inuit people’s respect for the natural world with repeated use of animals essential to everyday survival. 

Collectively, there is a sense of celebration, of dancing and happiness that isn’t manifested in many of the early lithographs and etchings which were often more narrative, sharing stories about their harsh everyday life. In this exhibition, the Kinngait textiles are exhibited as large wall hangings; the scale enhances the patterns, shapes and interplay between the positive and negative spaces, something that can’t happen as easily in smaller prints and etchings.

My favourite piece is Parr People by Parr, one of Kinngait’s most famous artists (who, like many famous artists today is known by just one name). What at first resembles a chaotic hunting scene — humans, dogs, guns, spears scattered everywhere — becomes a pattern as you ponder it more. One can’t help but wonder: Is it a metaphor for life or nature, which often looks random? Or is it that gradually one begins to understand the rhythms and patterns essential to finding your place in the bigger world?  This is particularly true for the Inuit, whose daily existence depended on understanding the rhythms and patterns of nature. 

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Detail of Geese printed on Kinngait textile, left, is on view at Glenbow at the Edison next to Parr, “Geese, Dog and Walrus” (photos by Richard White)

I enjoyed the placement of Parr’s black and white print Geese, Dog and Walrus, next to a colourful textile with dozens of red and brown geese, similar to those in the print. The drawing of the animals in the print is simple, almost child-like, yet meaningful. The geese dominate the print and are significantly out of scale with the dog and the walrus — perhaps a deliberate move to reflect the importance and abundance of geese as a food source for survival. The geese in the Kinngait textile have a small wing extended as if they are dancing; this subtle difference makes the textile more playful and decorative than the print, where the wing is absent and the geese are rendered to look like a family. 

Another element is the inclusion of Toronto fashion designer Anne Gamble’s hand-sewn jumpsuits, coats, tunics and suits which incorporate artist Pudlo’s spirit and bird figures. They would easily fit into a haute couture fashion show today. In the late 1960s, the Kinngait designs were licensed for other uses as a means of creating another revenue source for the struggling studio. 

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One of Anne Gamble's designs, featuring images from Kinngait Studios, on view at Glenbow at The Edison (photo courtesy of Glenbow)

A gem amongst the large wall hangings that dominate the exhibition is Janet Arjaut Anowtalik Nungnik’s small fibre piece Waiting for Husband. Up close, Nungnik’s piece has many of the same patterns and colours of the textiles, but in this work they create a dark and mysterious narrative. Are we looking into a basket? Or into the neck of a human body? What is the ghost-like dog looking at? What is the significance of the husband paddling being the same skin colour as the mysterious oval shape in the middle? And what is the symbolism of the necklace hanging down the middle of the artwork, the yellow lines that form an empty kayak? There are many, perhaps infinite possibilities for interpretation. 

The information next to Waiting for Husband informs us that while the textiles were being created at Kinngait, American artists Jack and Sheila Butler were teaching Inuit women how to create applique wall hangings in Qamani’tuaq, Nunavut and woven tapestries in Pangnirtung, also in Nunavut. The Butlers, who had been teaching in Winnipeg, spent their summers in Baker Lake, now Qamani’tuaq, starting in 1969 and helped to revive that art community by establishing the Sanavik Co-operative in 1971. We also learn Nungnik learned her craft through observing famous Qumani’tuaq textile artists Jessie Oonark.

The exhibition allows the viewer to appreciate how simple patterns and shapes can create tranquil and yet powerful feelings at the same time. As well, we learn that artist co-operatives were established to provide income for the Inuit, who were forced by Canada’s federal government to settle into Arctic communities, rather than continue their nomadic way of life. ■

Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios is on now through Mar. 3 at Glenbow at the Edison in Calgary.

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