Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts facts for kids

Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts
Tapestries at the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts
Former names	Pangnirtung Tapestry Studio (1991) Craft Gallery (1991) Pangnirtung Print Shop (1994)
General information
Type	Arts and crafts centre prints tapestry wallhangings
Location	Pangnirtung, Nunavut
Coordinates	66°08′49″N 065°42′31″W / 66.14694°N 65.70861°W / 66.14694; -65.70861

The Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts is a special place for art in Pangnirtung, Nunavut, Canada. It was started in 1990 by a group called the Uqqurmiut Inuit Artists Association. This centre has a Tapestry Studio, a Craft Gallery, and a Print Shop.

Even though Pangnirtung is a small and faraway place, many Inuit artists there have become famous. They sell their amazing prints, carvings, sculptures, and woven art, like wall hangings, to people all over the world. Since the 1970s, the Print Shop has made special collections of prints each year. These were sold through a group called the Eskimo Co-operative. In 1970, a weaving studio also opened. Over time, the beautiful tapestries made there became popular internationally.

The buildings at the centre look like traditional Inuit homes. Their round shapes remind people of igloos and skin tents. In 2002, a big art show called Nuvisavik: the place where we weave was held. It showed many works from the centre at the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa, Canada.

Uqqurmiut Inuit Artists Association

The Uqqurmiut Inuit Artists Association runs the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts. This group is fully owned and managed by Inuit people. It was officially started in 1988.

The word Uqqurmiut means "the people of the leeside" in Inuktitut. Pangnirtung is located next to Pangnirtung Fjord. This fjord is near Cumberland Sound, on the sheltered side of a mountain.

Building Design and Architecture

The newer buildings at the centre are connected to each other. Their design looks like large igloos. They also remind people of the round, traditional tents used in old Inuit settlements. This design shows how different parts of the centre work together, just like parts of a community.

Pangnirtung Print Shop

The Print Shop at the centre is a large building. It was finished in 1994. The original print shop had burned down in 1993. Since the 1970s, the Print Shop has created special collections of prints every year. These were known as the Pangnirtung Prints Collection. They were sold through the Eskimo Co-operative. In 1999, the Uqqurmiut Inuit Artists Association released a new collection of 22 prints. These prints were shown in 23 art galleries across North America.

Pangnirtung Tapestry Studio

The Pangnirtung Tapestry Studio is where artists create beautiful woven wall hangings. This studio was completed in 1990.

Craft Gallery

The Craft Gallery is a space that shows and sells Inuit art. It helps share Inuit culture with visitors.

Featured Artists

Many talented artists have worked at the Uqqurmiut Centre. Here are a few of them:

Elisapee Ishulutaq

Elisapee Ishulutaq was born in 1925 on Baffin Island. She started her art career when she was in her forties. Her artwork often tells stories from her childhood in the 1920s and 1930s. Back then, she lived a traditional life, moving between small hunting and fishing camps.

Ishulutaq moved to Pangnirtung around the time the Print Shop opened. She was very good at carving and drawing. She became one of the first artists to contribute to the annual Print Collection. In 1973, she won an award for one of her prints. By 2012, her tapestries and prints were displayed in famous museums. These include the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Andrew Qappik

Andrew Qappik is famous for a large tapestry called "Our ancestors' land is our land now." This artwork is shown at the Visitors' Centre in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut. He also designed the flag of Nunavut.

When Andrew was eleven years old, he watched his uncles, Solomon and Imoona Karpik, make prints. They worked in the print shop. In 1978, a history professor named H.G. Jones noticed Andrew's art. Andrew was only 14 at the time. Professor Jones was interested in Andrew's pictures of old Inuit life. By 1999, Jones had collected all 69 of Andrew's special prints.

Professor Jones first visited Pangnirtung Fjord in 1972. He loved the Arctic landscape there. By 2015, he had visited Pangnirtung almost every year. He bought every one of Andrew's prints, including etchings, stone cuts, and lithographs. In 2006, Jones gave his collection of 140 of Andrew's prints to the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG). The WAG has the world's largest collection of Inuit art. Andrew Qappik had his first solo art show at the WAG in 2010. His 2003 print shows him working at the press in the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts Print Shop.