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 |