Artists

Born in Cape Dorset on January 7, 1949, Nuna Parr’s parents, the late Parr and Eleeshushe, are renowned graphic artists from the older generation. His brother, Epirvik, is a carver. Nuna has been carving since the 1960’s, preferring wildlife for his subjects. Nuna and his family have left Cape Dorset for a more traditional lifestyle, relying on hunting and carving for their livelihood.

Clemence Wescoupe was born in 1951 on the Long Plains Reserve near Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.  In the 1970’s he began to study the work of Cree artist Jackson Beardy (one of the Woodland Group of Seven), learning much from Beardy’s mastery of formline and colour.  As his style developed, he attained a sensitive command of negative space.  His is an art of sensitivity and power, much concerned with animal spirits, spiritual guardianship and shamanic transformations, yet many of its images are familiar and its appeal is immediate and profound.

Disbrowe is a Metis artist from Red Sucker Lake First Nation in Manitoba. He is primarily a self-taught artist who has been painting for over 25 years.  Most of his influence is by his natural surroundings, and his close connection to the land and wildlife is vital to his inspiration as an artist.

Ron has been commissioned to paint several murals throughout Manitoba, including a major piece for the City of Thompson.  His works can be found in many private and corporate collections throughout Canada, the USA and Europe.

A grandson of the carver Kiakshuk and the only child of artists Paunichea and Munamee Davidee, Aqjangajuk began carving at the age of seventeen. He participated in the early drawing projects in Cape Dorset but realized his strengths lay in sculpture and did not draw after 1960. Only one graphic by him, Wounded Caribou, was ever released, in the 1961 Cape Dorset annual print collection. His work was in the famous 1971-73 touring exhibition “Sculpture/Inuit. Sculpture of the Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic.” Since 1970, he has had eleven solo exhibitions, as well as appearing in many group shows, and his work is in many major museum collections, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy in 2003.