Ashevak Tunnillie was born in Cape Dorset, Nunavet Territory, Canada in 1956. Son of Qavaroak and another noted artist Tayaraq. Like the rest of his family the artist enjoy carving bears. Most works priced between $1,000 and $8,000.
Included in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada.
The business artist in me dreams of seeing these bears in a Coca Cola commercial!
Below a great example of a bear by Ashevak Tunnillie.
Tayaraq Tunnillie was the mother of Ashevak Tunnillie and wife of Qavaroak. Born in Cape Dorset in 1934 and still alive to thid day. Tayaraq is both a sculptor snd printmaker. Below some examples of her work.
Nuna Parr is yet another of the great Inuit artist colony/ community located in Cape Dorset in the Nunavet Territory of Canada. Nuna Parr was born in 1949 in Cape Dorset. In the Inuit community it is normal to adopt children amongst families and Nuna Parr was adopted by an artist named Parr and another artist Eleeshushe. Parr lived from 1893 until 1969 and was known for his etchings and paintings. An example of Parr’s art below.
His mother was also an artist named Eleeshushe. She like her husband Parr had a reputation for drawing and printmaking. This artist colony as I call it has its own art cooperative called the West Baffin Eskimo Collective. Over her lifetime from 1896 to 1975 Eleeshushe created more than 1,000 prints. Below an example of Eleeshushe’s artwork.
In the clip below we see some varieties of stone used by the artist. Many of the artist just mine and find their own stone, so in essence by owning the artwork you also own a piece of the region, an actual artifact. This is the first 2 minutes of the clip. After this we visit a wonderful example of a dancing bear carved by Nuna Parr. I love the lively and animated look of the bear.
Nuna Parr has been carving for more than forty years.
Price range information: The artist works in very large and very small scales so prices range $2,000 to $16,000.
Of all the Inuit artist sculptors no other brings so much creativity to the table. Also the fact that he is able to work in a very large scale and his knowledge of the use of stone for the flow of the grain and texture is used to add an artistic touch to his works. Each stone is slightly different to the artist but might appear the same to the someone not engrossed as deeply in sculpture as Parr.
When you think of dancing bears, walruses, and seals think of the wonderful art of Nuna Parr! Also what a great story! An artist husband and wife adopt a child who goes onto become an internationally collected and renown artist, look out Beyonce and Jay-Z, Blue has met his match in Nuna Parr!
Diattaart Blog 