Kenojuak Ashevak at the McMichael
McMichael Canadian Art Collection Archives
The McMichael Archives documents the institutional history of the gallery, ranging from visiting and featured artists, exhibitions and special events, and any type of change or milestone over the years. This month, we’re looking back at the McMichael’s history with the renowned artist Kenojuak Ashevak and her time spent at the gallery.
McMichael Archivist Linda Morita notes, “The long relationship with Kenojuak began in 1986 with her first retrospective exhibition, which was curated by Jean Blodgett and covered thirty years of Ashevak’s career.” Her drawings, prints and sculpture have been exhibited in many group and solo exhibitions at the McMichael since that time.
McMichael Canadian Art Collection Archives
In July 1988, Jean Blodgett and Barbara Tyler travelled to Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset) on Baffin Island to discuss the possibility of the long-term loan of the Kinngait Drawings Archive with the WBEC and were able to spend time with the artist in her community. The agreement for the McMichael to house the long-term loan of almost ninety thousand works on paper (including more than two thousand drawings and prints by Ashevak) was later signed in November of 1990.
In 2007, Ashevak visited the McMichael once again as artist-in-residence and the gallery was honoured to host her eightieth birthday celebration.
Morita recounts that the artist’s last visit to the gallery was in 2009, when a delegation of Kinngait artists, including Kananginak Pootoogook, Shuvinai Ashoona, and Ningeokuluk Teevee, travelled south to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of printmaking at the WBEC, which included a visit to the McMichael.
McMichael Canadian Art Collection Archives
Photo: Linda Morita, Librarian/Archivist
Kenojuak Ashevak was accompanied by her daughter, Silaqqui, and is seen here viewing the sculpture of Arnaqu Ashevak (1956-2009), Kenojuak’s adopted son, in the exhibition Nunannguaq: In the Likeness of the Earth.
The McMichael held a memorial service in Kenojuak’s memory in 2013.