The Baffin region

Since the 1950s, this region is the main producer of arts of the Canadian arctic. Using productively the vast deposits of serpentinite, the abundance of bones, the hooves of caribou and the ivory of the musk ox. The sculptors of the Baffin region creatively manipulate these materials to their absolute  limits. The esthetic qualities of the sculptures of the Baffin region, although founded on naturalism, also gravitate toward elegance, a distinct style. These artists emphasize animal and wildlife subjects.

An immense territory...

Only 50,000 Inuit live in this vast territory of 300,000 square kilometers.

Among them are artists with amazing talent!

The Nunavik region

The Nunavik region (New-Quebec) is the cradle of contemporary Inuit art at the end of the 1940s. Since then, the sculptors have favored realism in their art. Despite animals remaining popular subjects, hunting scenes as well as domestic scenes and mythology predominantly, permit also the elaboration of the details of daily life. The most abundant stone is gray soapstone which sculpts easily. When polished, it is engraved with great finesse.

The Kivalliq region

Generally a hard, gray and black stone for the Kivalliq region, basalt, has given birth to a certain esthetic which tends to dispense of details in order to stop only at the notion of form. The styles go from a kind of brutal expressionism to simple and refined sculptural forms. As animals are relatively rare here, several artists explore supernatural themes, integrating human and animal forms. Others focus on family themes.

The Kitikmeot region

The isolation of several groups from this region up until the 1950s allowed for the survival of traditional beliefs despite conversions to Christianity. The sculpture of the Kitikmeot region is characterized by fantastical forms recalling themes linked to shamanism and spirits. Several sculptors work in both stone, pyroxene principally, and whale bone. Unharmonious features, startled eyes and grimaces are characteristic of this region.

The Inuvialuit region

Sculptures in whale bone, walrus ivory and musk ox horns and sometimes in stone are all created in this region. Particularly in Holman, since the beginning of the 1960s, artistes have been creating from the horns of musk ox, magnificent bird sculptures. This region is above all known for its engraving studio.