EKIDLUAK KOMOARTUK (QUMUAQTUQ; EKIDLUAQ; EKILLUAQ; AKEYLUAH; KOMOAKTOK;
KUMUATU; KOMOARTOK)
Born: June 30, 1923 Male E6-487
Place of Birth: Southampton Island
Died: August 24, 1993
Resided: Pangnirtung; also lived in Cape Dorset, Cambridge Bay and Spence Bay
Sculpture, Prints, Drawings, Tapestries
"Once I get an idea of the design, I make a drawing, and bring it to
the Co-op. I'm not trying to be the best artist; I bring what I'm able to
draw. I had no ambition to draw in childhood. I was never good at making
anything for us to survive on. Before we moved to Pangnirtung, I prayed to be
able to make some money on my own, and not just rely on other people. I
requested, not from a person, from the one you can't see, to be able to make
something, anything. Years passed, and then I started to draw. My petition
would seem to have been answered. I don't use it to be famous. The income
goes to my family, not for useless things. Well, I'm not wise about handling
money, but whether I have a job or not, we go through a lot of money in a
year. I've learned that people everywhere try to come up with a way to
survive, and overcome hardships."
- Pangnirtung Print Catalogue 1987
Ekidluak's late wife Leah was a carver. Two of their children; daughter
Olassie Akulukjuk and son Stevie, are also artists.
EXHIBITIONS: Aug - Sep 1968 Eskimo Sculpture, Eskimo Prints and
Paintings of Norval Morrisseau
Art Association of Newport
Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)
April 1976 Baffin Island Sculpture Exhibition
Baffin Regional School
Iqaluit, Northwest Territories
1985, 1986, 1987,
1988, 1992, 1993 Pangnirtung Print Collection
(annual collection)
(illustrated catalogue)
July - November 1987 Useful Bits of Bone
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Dec 1987 - Feb 1988 Inuk, Inuit: Art et tradition chez les
esquimaux d'hier et d'aujourd'hui
presented by L'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai,
at Musee des Beaux-arts d'Arras
Arras, France
(illustrated catalogue)
November 1988 [L'art inuit]
Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
at Les Martres-de-Veyre
France
Dec 1988 - Jan 1989 [L'art inuit]
Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
at Galerie Autre Regard, Paris
France
February - March 1989 [L'art inuit]
Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
at St. Marcellin
France
March - April 1989 [L'art inuit]
Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
at Galerie Autre Regard, Paris
France
June - July 1989 Art Inuit
Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
at Galerie Sanguine, La Rochelle
France
December 1989 Art Inuit, la Sculpture des Esquimaux du Canada
Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
at Les Chiroux, Centre Culturel de la Wallonie,
Liege
Belgium
February - March 1990 Beeldhouwkunst van de Inuit (Canada)
by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai, France
at Amphora Finippon pvba, Sint Andries,
Brugge, Belgium
Nov - Dec 1990 Art Inuit: Autour de la Collection de Cape
Dorset 1990
Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
at Centre Culturel Canadien
Paris, France
Jan - Feb 1991 Pangnirtung Woven Tapestries
The Upstairs Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba
January - March 1992 The Arctic Project: A Photographic Exchange
Surrey Art Gallery
Surrey, British Columbia
February 1992 Artists and Weavers III: Fine Tapestries from
Canadian Arctic
Arctic Artistry
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.A.
March 1993 Inuit Art from Pangnirtung
Marsh Gallery
University of Richmond
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A.
Nov 1993 - Jan 1994 Contemporary Inuit Drawings
Muscarelle Museum of Art
College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)
May 1994 Artists and Weavers IV
Arctic Artistry
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.A.
Nov 1995 - Jan 1996 Qiviuq: A Legend in Art
Carleton University Art Gallery
Ottawa, Ontario
February 1996 The Spirit World - 1977 to 1990: Baker Lake
Clyde River and Pangnirtung Prints.
A retrospective collection exhibited at
selected commercial galleries, organized by
Canadian Arctic Producers
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(illustrated catalogue)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS: April - May 1988 Drawings: Ikidluaq Kumuartok
The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
Toronto, Ontairo
COLLECTIONS: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec
Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury, Ontario
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
HONOURS, ACHIEVEMENTS and EVENTS: 1990 Ekidluak's drawing "Hope for the Future" was chosen for a set of commissioned
prints for Dow Canada's Partnership with Pangnirtung project. He also designed
the logo for this project.
1992 Received grant to do a series of coloured pencils drawings about how older
Inuit see the world.
SELECTED REFERENCES: Komoartuk, Ekidluak
DRAWINGS BY EKIDLUAK KOMOARTOK OF PANGNIRTUNG. Toronto: The
Inuit Gallery of Eskimo Art, 1988.
Muscarelle Museum of Art (Williamsburg)
CONTEMPORARY INUIT DRAWINGS: The gift collection of Frederick
and Lucy S. Herman. Williamsburg, Va.: The College of William
and Mary in Virginia, 1993.
Musee des Beaux-Arts (Arras, France)
INUK, INUIT: Art et tradition chez les Esquimaux d'hier et
d'aujourd'hui. Arras, France: Musee des Beaux-Arts, 1987.
Thorne, Sarah, ed.
DIMENSIONS: Partnership with Pangnirtung. Sarnia, Ont. : Dow
Chemical Canada, Department of Employee Communications, 1990.
Watt, Virginia
REFLECTING ON PANGNIRTUNG WEAVING. Inuit Art Quarterly, vol. 7,
no. 3, summer/fall 1992, pp. 59-61.
(c) Inuit Art Section, INAC 1995
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