Ingo Hessel facts for kids

Ingo D. W. Hessel, born in 1955, is a Canadian expert in Inuit art. He is an art historian and a curator, which means he helps organize art exhibitions. He wrote a book called Inuit Art: An Introduction. Ingo Hessel has also helped put together art shows at famous museums like the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

About Ingo Hessel

Ingo Hessel was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He studied Art History at Carleton University and earned his degree in 1977.

Working with Inuit Art

In 1983, Ingo Hessel started working with Inuit art at a government department in Ottawa. From 1984 to 1998, he was a special officer at the Canadian Inuit Art Information Centre. During this time, he traveled a lot to Canada's northern regions. He worked directly with Inuit artists and their art groups. He even visited Labrador to learn about the art of the Labrador Inuit.

During these years, he wrote a book called Canadian Inuit Sculpture (1988). He also helped create art shows like Arviat Stone Sculpture (1990–91) for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Another show he helped with was Stories in Stone (1997) in South Korea. In 1998, his important book, Inuit Art: An Introduction, was published. It was released by different publishers in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Curating Museum Exhibitions

In 2006, Ingo Hessel became a special curator for Inuit Art at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. There, he organized a big exhibition called Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection. This show traveled to many other museums across North America. He also helped write the book that went with the exhibition.

From 2008 to 2010, Hessel was the curator at the Museum of Inuit Art in Toronto. He put together ten different art shows there. One of these shows focused on new drawings from Cape Dorset. He also organized a large show about the artist Kananginak Pootoogook.

Around the same time, he was a guest curator for an exhibition at the Carleton University Art Gallery. He also helped write the book for that show. In 2011, he worked with another curator, Gerald McMaster, to create Inuit Modern: Inuit Art from the Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario. He was the main writer for the book that went with this exhibition.

In 2013, he contributed to the book for the Creation and Transformation: Defining Moments in Inuit Art exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Ingo Hessel is known as an expert in his field. He wrote a chapter on Inuit Art in a book called The Visual Arts in Canada: The Twentieth Century in 2010. He also taught Art History at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. From 2011 to 2018, he was in charge of the Inuit Art Department at Walker's Auctions in Ottawa.

First Arts Premiers

Ingo Hessel is now the President and a founder of First Arts Premiers Inc. This company, started in 2018, is based in Toronto. First Arts is one of the top places in Canada for buying and selling Inuit and First Nations art. They hold live auctions twice a year and also have online auctions and art shows.

Ingo Hessel as an Artist

Besides his work as an art historian and curator, Ingo Hessel is also a talented sculptor and painter. His art has been shown in Canada, in Toronto and Ottawa, and also in Japan, in Kyoto and Nagoya. He visited the Arctic often during his career. His efforts to introduce new art methods to northern communities were recognized at an exhibition called The Festive North in 2005. He was also a board member of the Inuit Art Foundation from 2012 to 2014.

Books and Publications

Ingo Hessel has written and contributed to many important books about Inuit art. Here are some of them:

• Creation and Transformation: Defining Moments in Inuit Art. This book was edited by Darlene Coward Wight and published by the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 2012.
• "A Culture in Transition: Inuit Art in the Twentieth Century" in The Visual Arts in Canada: The Twentieth Century. This chapter was part of a larger book edited by Anne Whitelaw, Brian Foss, and Sandra Paikowsky, published in 2010.
• Sanattiaqsimajut: Inuit Art from the Carleton University Art Gallery Collection. He contributed to and curated this book, published by Carleton University Art Gallery in 2009. It won awards for its design.
• Inuit Modern: Art from the Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection. He contributed to and co-curated this book, edited by Gerald McMaster, published in 2009. It also won an award.
• Arctic Spirit, Creation and Transformation. He wrote and curated this book, published in 2006.
• Inuit Art: In Introduction. This important book was published in 1998 by the British Museum Press and other publishers.
• Visions of Power: Contemporary Art by First Nations, Inuit and Japanese Canadians. He co-authored this book, published in 1991.