Three Birds - Original Drawing by Marion Tuu'luq (1910-2022), Inuit

Three Birds - Original Drawing, c. 1970
by Marion Tuu'luq (1910-2022), Inuit
Qamani’tuuq (Baker Lake), Nunavut
crayon, colored pencil, archival framing
30” high x 37.5" wide, framed

Marion Tuu’luq was a renowned textile artist and printmaker. She was born on the land in 1910, at the Innituuq camp near Chantry Inlet. Tuu'luq lived a traditional lifestyle with her family before moving to Qamani'tuaq (Baker Lake), NU in the 1960s with her husband Luke Anguhadluq. There, Tuu’luq began making artwork, including prints, drawings and textiles.

Tuu’luq used her traditional sewing skills and adapted them to beading, and later wall-hangings. Known for her vibrancy of colour and symmetrical designs, Tuu’luq began to work in beadwork and textiles in 1969, and continued for the next two decades to make textile work that depicted legends, traditional stories, as well as the daily life of herself and those around her, capturing the transition between life on the land and life in a settlement.

Tuu'luq's drawings and prints show her characteristic use of vibrant colours in harmony and juxtaposition, creating striking depictions of people and animals. An act of cultural transition, Tuu’luq’s practice engages with identity and notions of home. Her hangings explore cultural perceptions of the land, as well as her innate humor and personal identity as a woman artist. Taken from the foundation of sewing clothing, these skills translate into a highly individual style, with a penchant for symmetry. Tuu’luq’s work is at once aural and visual, sound and movement manifest from the juxtaposition of colors and radial placement. 

Marion Tuu’luq’s long career spanned two decades, and her work across printmaking, drawing and textiles comprise a narrative of personal experiences and life on the land. Tuu’luq was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1978, and in 1990 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta, the same year her piece Harmony Between Man and Animals was selected for a North American Heritage greeting-card series. Her work has been featured in the Sanavik Co-operative Print Collections (1977-1981), and has been exhibited across Canada and internationally.