Pitseolak Niviaqsi

Pitseolak was born in 1947 to artists Kunu and Niviaksiak, both of whom contributed to many of the early Cape Dorset Annual Collections, and his aunt and uncle were the well-known artists, Lucy and Tikituk Qinnuayuak.

Pitseolak had participated in the lithography program since its inception in the early 1970s. Initially he was an assistant to Pee Mikkigak, his brother Quiatsuq and Bob Patterson, who was acting arts advisor at the time. His name appears on 205 prints in sixteen annual collections.

In 1977, Pitseolak travelled to Holman Island to introduce lithography to the resident printers there. Although he stopped carving briefly in 1991 to build his own house, Pitseolak quickly resumed making art and continued to develop as a versatile, prolific and talented artist. His sculpture is often relatively large in size, highly polished and displays flowing forms and exquisite detail. His subject matter ranges from fanciful birds to sensitive portrayals of mothers with children. His own graphic work was included in two previous collections, 1992 and 1994. The Cape Dorset community lost Pisteolak last year at the age of 68.

Born on January 27, 1947 in resides in Cape Dorset, NU. Died on 2015. Nationality is Inuit

Exhibitions

2016 Cape Dorset Graphics Collection, Dorset fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1993 Sculpture Inuit et Retrospective Pudlo Pudlat, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal, PQ
1993 The Treasured Monument, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1993 Small Sculptures by Great Artists II, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1994 Arctic Spirit, 35 Years of Canadian Inuit Art, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
1975 - 95 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection
1977 - 82 The Inuit Print, National Museum of Man, Ottawa, ON
1981 - 83 The Murray and Marguerite Vaughan Inuit Print Collection, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB
1983 Bering Sea to Baffin Bay, The Arctic Circle, Los Angeles, CA
1983 - 84 Inuit Art at Rideau Hall, Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, ON
1987 The Lindsay and Swartz Collections: New Acquisitions, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, MB
1987 Cape Dorset Sculpture, Eskimo Art Inc., Ann Arbor, MI
1988 Building on Strengths: New Inuit Art from the Collection, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, MB
1991 Animals of the Arctic, Arctic Inuit Art, Richmond, VA
1991 Cape Dorset Sculpture, McMaster Art Gallery, Hamilton, ON
1991 Cape Dorset Stone Sculpture: Masters and the Next Generation, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC
1991 Sculpture Inuit, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal, QC
1991 - 92 In Cape Dorset We Do It This Way: Three Decades of Inuit Printmaking, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON
1992 Pangnirtung Print Collection, Pangnirtung, NU
1992 Sculpture Inuit, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal, PQ
1992 Small Sculptures by Great Artists I, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1994 Iyola Kingwatsiak and Pitseolaq Niviaqsi, Houston North Gallery, Halifax, NS
1994 Small Sculptures by Great Artists III, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1995 Sedna: Spirit of the Sea, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1995 Inspiration: Four Decades of Sculpture, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1996 Small Sculptures by Great Artists V, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1996 Emerging Spirit, The Banff Centre, Organized by Northern Art Impressions Inc., Banff, AB
1996 New Visions, Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1996 Sculpture Inuit, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal, QC
1997 Nunavut/Nunavik: Sculpture in the Time of Change, Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1997 Singing & Dancing & Playing, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1998 Cape Dorset Annual Graphics Collection, Dorset Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1998 Arctic Art: Master Works, Arctic Art Museum, Vancouver, BC
1998 - 99 Canadian-Inuit-Dene-Metis- Arctic Art, Canada Place, Arctic Art Museum, Vancouver, BC
1998 Sculpture from the Canadian Arctic, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1999 Pitseolak Niviaqsi: Facing Dorset; Exhibition by John Reeves, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2000 Arctic Spirit - Canadian Inuit Sculpture, Boise State University, Boise, ID
2000 Small Sculptures by Great Artists 2000, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2001 Living Arctic, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC
2001 Nuliajuk: Mother of the Sea Beasts, Houston North Gallery, Lunenberg, NS
2003 Then and Now- Inuit Prints form 1962-2002, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver Ltd., Vancouver, BC
1995 Pitseolak Niviaqsi, Canadian Guild of Handicrafts Quebec, Montreal, QC