{"product_id":"balance-original-drawing-by-jessie-oonark-1906-1985-inuit","title":"Balance - Original Drawing by Jessie Oonark (1906-1985), Inuit","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eBalance - Original Drawing, c. 1970\u003cbr\u003eby Jessie Oonark (1906-1985), Inuit\u003cbr\u003e\u003c!--{cke_protected}{C}%3C!%2D%2D%20x-tinymce%2Fhtml%20%2D%2D%3E--\u003eQamani’tuuq (Baker Lake), Nunavut\u003cbr\u003ecrayon, colored pencil, archival framing\u003cbr\u003e26” high x 34\" wide, framed\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'San Francisco', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eJessie Oonark (1906-1985) was born in a remote area of the Eastern Canadian arctic roughly 150 km north of Baker Lake, near the Back River in Nunavut. She was married at a young age, but in approximately 1953 was widowed with two of her eight children still dependent on her. During this period, the annual caribou migration - on which the Inuit in Kivalliq depended - shifted away from the area where she lived, leaving many Inuit to starve. Unable to support her children through hunting under such harsh conditions, she moved to Baker Lake in 1958. There, she started drawing, inspired by her children's efforts at the mission school in Baker Lake. Her first prints were published in 1960.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eDespite a late start (she was 54 years old when her work was first published) she was a very active and prolific artist over the next 19 years, creating a body of work that won considerable critical acclaim and made her one of Canada's best known Inuit artists.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eHer use of bold, flat areas of color distinguishes her individual style, which is thought to be firmly grounded in traditional Inuit sewing techniques. As a wife and mother, she sewed for her family. Her skills with clothing manufacture were adapted to suit the fabrication of wall hangings. Bernadette Driscoll points out that her experience as a seamstress may have given her a preoccupation with shape instead of line. Shapes are predominant in all of her work, drawings and prints, as well as wall hangings.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eFollowing a neurological operation in 1979, she lost much of her manual dexterity and produced only a few more pieces afterwards. The loss of the use of her hands greatly frustrated her because she had so many ideas for wall hangings and prints that she could not bring to fruition.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eHer career had lasted roughly 19 years, but its impact on Inuit art - and on the perception of Inuit art in the larger world - is considerable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eIn 1975 she was elected a Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and in 1984 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eThe Jessie Oonark Arts and Crafts Center in Baker Lake was dedicated in her honor. She passed away in Churchill, Manitoba in 1985 and her body was flown back to Baker Lake for burial.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'San Francisco', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Quintana Galleries","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53405219291247,"sku":null,"price":2500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1813\/7073\/files\/AC26001_Oonark.jpg?v=1782446318","url":"https:\/\/quintanagalleries.com\/products\/balance-original-drawing-by-jessie-oonark-1906-1985-inuit","provider":"Quintana Galleries","version":"1.0","type":"link"}