Janet Kigusiuq (b. 1926 Putuqsuqniq camp, near

Garry Lake Garry Lake (variant: Garry Lakes; Inuktitut: , meaning "sideways", or "crooked") is a lake in sub-Arctic Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. As a portion of the Back River waterway, Garry Lake originates directly east of Lake Pelly and drains to th ...

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...

; d. 2005

Baker Lake, Nunavut Baker Lake (Inuktitut syllabics: ᖃᒪᓂᑦᑐᐊᖅ 'big lake joined by a river at both ends', Inuktitut: ''Qamani'tuaq'' 'where the river widens') is a hamlet in the Kivalliq Region, in Nunavut on mainland Canada. Located inland from Hudson ...

) was an Inuit artist. Kigusiuq came from a large family of artists: she was the eldest daughter of

Jessie Oonark Jessie Oonark, ( ᔨᐊᓯ ᐅᓈᖅ; 2 March 1906 – 7 March 1985) was a prolific and influential Inuit artist of the Utkuhiksalik, Utkuhihalingmiut ''Utkuhiksalingmiut'' whose wall hangings, prints and drawings are in major collections includ ...

, her siblings included artists

Victoria Mamnguqsualuk Victoria Mamnguqsualuk (sometimes Mamnguksualuk) (Inuktitut syllabics: ) (1930-2016) was one of the best-known Canadian Inuit artists of her generation. Early life Born near Garry Lake, Mamnguqsualuk passed a nomadic youth until her thirties, wh ...

, Nancy Pukingrnak, Peggy Qablunaaq Aittauq, Mary Yuusipik Singaqti,

Josiah Nuilaalik Josiah ( or ) or Yoshiyahu; la, Iosias was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE) who, according to the Hebrew Bible, instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Josiah is credited by most biblical s ...

Miriam Marealik Qiyuk Miriam Marealik Qiyuk (born 1933) is a Canadian Inuit artist. One of eight surviving children of artist Jessie Oonark, Qiyuk was born into the traditional nomadic lifestyle before moving to Baker Lake in her early twenties. She began creating wal ...

, and

William Noah William Noah (born 1944, Back River, Northwest Territories (now Nunavut)) is a former territorial level politician and artist. He served as a member of the Northwest Territories Legislature from 1979 until 1982. Noah was first elected to the ...

, and she was married to Mark Uqayuittuq, son of

Luke Anguhadluq Luke Anguhadluq (1895–1982; Inuktitut syllabics: ᓗᒃ ᐊᖑᐊᓗᖅ) was an Inuit Canadian artist in Baker Lake. Biography Luke Anguhadluq was born at Chantrey Inlet in 1895 to the Utkuhikhalingmiut (meaning "people of the stone for coo ...

, themselves both artists.

Work

Kigusiuq's bright, bold and graphic work focused on camp life activities like hunting and fishing and supernatural forms inspired by Inuit spirituality and stories. The source of these motifs are principally drawn from childhood experiences at the family camp, ''Kitikat'' in the Back River region. Through out her career she experimented with many artistic mediums, including drawing, print, textiles, wall hangings. She adopted

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...

following the family's move to Baker Lake and between 1970 and 1988 she contributed to the Baker Lake print collections. Her mature work saw the development of pencil crayon colour fields and collage techniques, the latter prompted by the onset of

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

Selected exhibitions

* ''Janet Kigusiuq: Recent Drawings. 1996.'' Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, MB. * ''The Urge to Abstraction: The Graphic Art of Janet Kigusiuq''. 2008,

Museum of Inuit Art The Museum of Inuit Art (2007-2016), also known as MIA, was a museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada located within the Queen's Quay Terminal at the Harbourfront Centre. It was devoted exclusively to Inuit art and culture. Despite such popularity, it ...

. * ''New Lines: Contemporary Drawings from the National Gallery of Canada.'' June - Oct 2014.

Art Gallery of Alberta The Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) is an art museum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The museum occupies a building at Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton. The museum building was originally designed by Donald G. Bittorf, and B. James Wensley, alth ...

* ''Janet Kigusiuq.'' June 8 - September 26, 2019, The

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

. * ''Breaking Ground: Freda Diesing, Helen Kalvak, Janet Kigusiuq, Rita Letendre.'' September–November 2019.

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) (french: Centre national des Arts) is a Arts centre, performing arts organisation in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre build ...

Collections

Her work can be found in a number of museum and gallery permanent collections such as: * The

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

in Ottawa, ON * The Macdonald Steward Art Centre, Guelph, ON * The

in Toronto, ON * The

Winnipeg Art Gallery The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collect ...

in Winnipeg, MB. * The

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec ( en, National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), abbreviated as MNBAQ, is an art museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The museum is situated in Battlefield Park and is a complex consisting of four bui ...

in Quebec City, Quebec
Feheley Fine Arts
in Toronto, ON

References

;Bibliography *

Work

Selected exhibitions

Collections

References

Further reading