Ningiukulu (Ningeokuluk) Teevee (born May 27, 1963 in

Cape Dorset Kinngait (Inuktitut meaning "high mountain" or "where the hills are"; Syllabics: ᑭᙵᐃᑦ), formerly known as Cape Dorset until 27 February 2020, is an Inuit hamlet located on Dorset Island near Foxe Peninsula at the southern tip of Baffin ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

writer and visual artist.

Biography

Formerly known as Ningeokuluk, as of March 2017 she uses the name, Ningiukulu, to reflect the modern orthography on her government issued identification. Teevee is the daughter of Joanasie (deceased) and Kanajuk Salomonie, and her father-in-law is the graphic artist

Jamasie Teevee Jamasie Teevee (July 2, 1910 – October 31, 1985) was an Inuit artist. Early life He was born in the Kimmirut (Lake Harbour) area of Nunavut. Career He began to draw in the early 1960s, first focusing on engraving copper plates. However, th ...

. Ningiukulu Teevee is recognized as one of the

Kinngait Co-operative The West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative, also known as the Kinngait Co-operative is an Inuit co-operative in Kinngait, Nunavut best known for its activities in buying, producing and selling Inuit artworks. The co-operative is part of Arctic Co-operativ ...

's leading artists. Teevee is a self-taught artist, who began her career in the 1990s.Jasmine Inglis, Acquisition Proposal for Ningiukulu Teevee’s Raven and Owl, accession #48515, Curatorial File, National Gallery of Canada She uses ink and coloured pencils as her primary mediums but is adept in a multitude of drawing media, including black fibre-tip pen, coloured pencil, oil sticks, and watercolour. Her subject matter is diverse and creative. She is known for constructing imagery that is built from cognitive memory and knowledge of

Inuit folklore Inuit religion is the shared spiritual beliefs and practices of the Inuit, an indigenous people from Alaska, northern Canada, parts of Siberia and Greenland. Their religion shares many similarities with some Alaska Native religions. Traditional I ...

, combined with the humorous aspects of contemporary life in Nunavut. The wealth of these Inuit stories depict, in her flattened 2D style (an abstraction of representation, referencing patterns found in nature), relationships between the land and animals that are used for sustenance, and the familial histories that define a wealth of cultural storytelling. As a modern day Inuk, raised in an urban community, the artist explores contemporary themes but also retains an interest in her cultural heritage including the Inuit oral tradition. While her interpretation of the stories heard from Elders are true to the telling, they are nonetheless interpreted through her own imagination and presented from her personal perspective. In addition to her talent as an artist, she is also an accomplished children's author. Her first children's book, ''Alego'', is an authentic introduction to Inuit tradition and lifestyle, and was a nominee for the 2009 Governor General's Award for children's literature illustration. ''Alego'' is an autobiographical tale (written and illustrated by Teevee) about adventure and discovery along the seashore; for the first time, a young girl goes clam-digging with her grandmother.

Solo exhibitions

Teevee's work has been exhibited extensively across Canada and internationally. In 2006, her first solo art exhibition was held at the Feheley Fine Arts Gallery in Toronto, entitled, "Ningeokuluk Teevee." In 2009 she had her second solo exhibition at Feely Fine Arts Gallery in Toronto, entitled "Drawings by Ningeokuluk Teevee," which included a public presentation of ''Alego.'' In 2017, 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 ...

opened ''Ningiukulu Teevee: Kinngait Stories'' at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, DC. Her artwork is featured in private collections and in the permanent institutional collections of 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 Bev ...

, 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 ...

, the

Canadian Museum of Civilization The Canadian Museum of History (french: Musée canadien de l’histoire) is a national museum on anthropology, Canadian history, cultural studies, and ethnology in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The purpose of the museum is to promote the heritage of C ...

, the

McMichael Canadian Art Collection The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (MCAC) is an art museum in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located on a property in Kleinburg, an unincorporated village in Vaughan. The property includes the museum's main building, a sculpture garde ...

, the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Group exhibitions

* ''Canada 150 Project'', Presented by Roche Bobois, Toronto (2017) * ''

Floe Edge ''Floe Edge: Contemporary Art and Collaborations from Nunavut'' was an exhibition of contemporary Inuit art and Inuit fashion, fashion staged by Quebec artist collective Axe Néo-7 and curated by Kathleen Nicholls of the Nunavut Arts and Crafts ...

: Contemporary Art and Collaborations from Nunavut'', Canada House, London, UK (2016) * ''Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection'', Kinngait Studios, Cape Dorset (2004 –2016) * ''15 Years: Kinngait 2000 –2015'', Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto (2015) * ''New Voices from the New North'', National Gallery of Canada (2014) * ''Women in Charge: Inuit Contemporary Women Artists'', Museo Nazionale Preistorica Etnografica, Rome, Italy (2012) * ''New Art from Cape Dorset'', Winnipeg Art Gallery (2011) * ''Uuturautiit: Cape Dorset Celebrates 50 Years of Printmaking'', National Gallery of Canada (2009) * ''Arctic Spirit: 50th Anniversary of Cape Dorset’s Kinngait Studios'', Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teevee, Ningeokuluk 1963 births Canadian children's writers Canadian illustrators Writers from Nunavut Artists from Nunavut Inuit writers Inuit illustrators Living people Canadian Inuit women People from Kinngait Writers who illustrated their own writing Canadian women children's writers Inuit from the Northwest Territories Inuit from Nunavut Canadian women illustrators 20th-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women artists