JOHN TERRIAK
Born: July 9, 1950 Male
Place of Birth: Hamilton River
Resides: Nain
Sculpture, Drawings, Jewellery
John Terriak was born in Hamilton River (now called Churchill River),
Labrador, but presently resides in Nain. Terriak has been carving since he
was a child. He says he didn't have many toys, and consequently made his own
planes, boats, knives, and whatever out of wood. Terriak began to carve
seriously when he was seventeen years old. That year before Christmas he
didn't have a present for his grandmother, and decided to carve a dog team for
her. It turned out pretty well, so he kept at it. Carving was initially a
hobby; Terriak carved part-time for about twelve years. After his move to
Nain around 1987 he began carving professionally, and it has been his sole
source of income since about 1985.
Terriak also enjoys drawing using pencil or ink. He draws only once in a
while, when something unusual or important happens to inspire him. His
inspiration can be an actual event, a frightening event like a storm on the
land or at sea, or it can be a dream. Terriak makes wonderful jewellery out
of ivory, labradorite, gold, and silver. He casts his own metal jewellery.
Lately he has concentrated on his carving, however. Terriak carves primarily
in soapstone but has even tried his hand at carving labradorite. He has also
carved ivory, antler, whalebone, and wood. He has no real preference, using
whatever materials are available.
Occasionally people request particular subjects, but usually Terriak lets
the stone tell him what to carve. He likes to carve the animals he hunts and
sees. Terriak's favourite subjects are whales because he really admires them;
he carves seals because they are important to himself and his dogs. He also
enjoys carving human faces. Terriak sells most of his work to local residents
and tourists, and occasionally to the Craft Centre in Goose Bay.
Terriak is considered by locals to be a jack-of-all-trades. He makes
practical items such as komatiks (dog sleds), and even sews his own parkas and
deer-skin boots. He has also fashioned gun, game, and bullet bags, dog
harnesses, harpoon heads, and other useful things. Terriak is one of the only
two people in Nain who maintains a dog team. He hunts, fishes and traps to
supplement his art income. Terriak signs his work JT followed by a tiny
drawing of a great weasel (ermine), which is what his name means in Inuktitut.
His wife is the Nain crafts artist Johanna Terriak; they have two sons. The
sons Charlie and Titus have both tried carving; Johanna even makes the
occasional carving herself. John Terriak's brother David is also a carver, as
his his broth-in-law Harvey Breit. Terriak's cousin Scott Goudie has made
paintings and prints. Terriak was elected to the Board of the Inuit Art
Foundation in 1992. He is also active on the local group home committee and
school board.
EXHIBITIONS:
1985 Labrador Crafts: Past and Present
Art Gallery, Memorial University
of Newfoundland
Happy Valley, Labrador
(illustrated catalogue)
November - Dec 1991 Lake Melville Artist's Association Annual Art
Exhibition
Labrador Institute of Northern Studies
Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador
February - April 1993 Stone and Bone: An Exhibition and
Sale of Labrador Sculpture
Labrador Institute of Northern Studies
Happy Valley, Labrador
April - May 1993 The Art of Labrador
The Wild Things Nature Gallery
St. John's, Newfoundland
June - October 1993 Visions Labrador
Labrador Craft Producers Association
Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador
(tour)
May - July 1995 Tundra & Ice: Exceptional Sculpture from Canada
Orca Aart Gallery
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
May - September 1995 Keeping Our Stories Alive:
An Exhibition of the Art and Crafts
from Dene and Inuit of Canada
Institute of American Indian Arts Museum
Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)
July 1995 Sunakutagnuvalautut:
Things from the Past
Feheley Fine Art
Toronto, Ontario
HONOURS, ACHIEVEMENTS and EVENTS:
Member of the Board of Directors for the Inuit Art Foundation.
1991 Attended the Labrador Artists' Session, organized in Nain by the Inuit Art
Foundation's Inuit Artists' College, November 1-21.
1991 Commissioned by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to produce ten
carvings to be presented to four other Eastern premiers and six New England
governors at a conference in St. John's.
1991 Received the carving award for bone and ivory at the Visions Labrador
exhibition held in Goose Bay (June/August).
SELECTED REFERENCES:
COMING INTO THEIR OWN: Labrador artists connect with their past
and take steps into the future. Inuit Art Quarterly: 7(1),
Winter 1992, pp. 14-19.
JOHN TERRIAK. Newfoundland and Labrador Craft Directory 1988,
pp. 18-19.
URGENT PROBLEMS DISCUSSED BY ARTISTS: [An abbreviated
transcript of discussions between directors and staff of the
Inuit Art Foundation and recipients of Vermont..Studio
scholarships]. Inuit Art Quarterly: Vol. 8, No.3, Fall 1993,
pp. 24-33.
Institute of American Indian Arts Museum
KEEPING OUR STORIES ALIVE: An Exhibition of Art and Crafts from
Dene and Inuit of Canada. Santa Fe, N.M.: Institute of American
Native Arts Museum, 1995.
Memorial University of Newfoundland. Art Gallery
LABRADOR CRAFTS PAST AND PRESENT. St John's: Memorial
University of Newfoundland Art Gallery, 1985.
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