Quvianaqtuk Pudlat

BIOGRAPHY

Based in Kinngait, Nunavut, Quvianaqtuk Pudlat worked collaboratively with EP Head of Editions Alastair Clark to produce a printed lithograph for sale in Scotland and in Canada. 

Quvianaqtuk's parents were both printmaking artists, and his grandfather Simeonie Quppapik was a well-known artist, printmaker, and typographer.

For many years, Quvianaqtuk was a well-respected sculptor, and his carvings of animals and birds are in many fine art collections. Recently he began drawing, and several of his prints have been included in the Cape Doreset Annual Print Collection since 2017. In the spring of 2020, Quvianaqtuk was the Inuit artist-in residence at Open Studio in Toronto. While there, he produced two serigraph editions, Playful Foxes I and II.

Quvi, as he is referred to by his friends, is a serious hunter and his keen observations of the natural world are reflected in the movement and anatomy of the animals in his compositions.

Quvi describes this print as '[The wolf] howling in the midst of tender snow falling around it.'

PrintArctic is a collaborative print project between Kinngait Studios in Kinngait, Nunavut, and Edinburgh Printmakers supported by the Scottish Government’s Arctic Connections Fund. 

PrintArctic incorporated shared learning activities over the course of its duration, designed to bridge the gap to cultural understanding and empathy between artists from Scotland and indigenous artists from the north of Canada.  

Helping Edinburgh Printmakers and our community establish new partners in the Arctic, it enabled an exchange of expertise on shared issues, stimulated cooperation around common ambitions, and created new international creative learning and research opportunities between artists and printmakers who would not ordinarily have the opportunity to work collaboratively.  

Setting the scene for longer-term initiatives between Scotland and the Arctic, this work enabled Kinngait to access European markets via Scotland and sell their work to new audiences. The project built on the strong cultural links between Scotland and the Arctic region to strengthen connections between people and empower communities through creativity, and be leaders in encouraging international dialogue.