Shuvinai Ashoona

Shuvinai Ashoona (b. 1961)

Shuvinai Ashoona, born in Cape Dorset, began drawing in 1996. She works with pen, ink, colored pencils, and oil sticks, often drawing inspiration from her surroundings in Cape Dorset. Her work first appeared in the Cape Dorset annual print collection in 1997, and she quickly became a prolific artist at Kinngait Studios. Shuvinai’s pieces have gained national and international recognition, appearing in exhibitions such as the McMichael Canadian Collection, Border Crossings magazine, and the Venice Biennale. Her notable awards include the Gershon Iskowitz Prize (2019) and the Governor General’s Artistic Achievement Award (2024).

Born on August, 1961 in Ksagginngait, NU. Nationality is Inuit

Exhibitions

2018 Cape Dorset Graphics Collection, Dorset Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2017 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2014-2015 SITElines: New Perspectives on the Art of the Americas (Unsettled Landscapes), SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
2014 North - South Encounter, Pierre-Francois Ouellette Art Contemporain, Montreal, PQ
2014 Cape Dorset: New Generation, Willock and Sax Gallery- Banff Art Gallery, Banff, AB
2014 Views from the North: Original Drawings from Cape Dorset, Alaska on Madison, New York, NY
2014 North South Encounter, Pierre - Francois Ouellette Art Contemporain, Montreal, PQ
2014 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2014 Women of the Ashoona Family: Inuit Print Retrospective, The Guild Shop, Toronto, ON
2013-2014 Winter Show: Gallery Artists, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2013 Shuvinai Ashoona: Merged Realities, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC
2013 Where Do We Come From? What are We? Where are We Going? Identity in Contemporary Cape Dorset Art, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON
2013 Animal Power: Images in Contemporary Inuit Art, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2013 Dorset Seen, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
2013 New Voices from the New North, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON
2013 Shuvinai Ashoona and John Noestheden: Earth and Sky, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON
2013 Sakahan: International Indigenious Art, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON (illustrated catalogue)
2013 Toronto International Art Fair, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, ON
2013 Sanaunguabik: Traditions and Transformations in Inuit Art, Enterprise Square Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2013 Cape Dorset Prints, Gallery 210, St. Louis, MO
2012-2013 Telling Stories: Inuit Art from Cape Dorset Toronto Pearson International Airport (Terminal 1) Toronto, ON
2012-2013 Oh, Canada: National Dreams Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art North Adams, MA
2012 Shuvinai Ashoona, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2012 Dorset Now, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2012 Sky Ecchymosis: Part of the Series - Women of the Arctic, La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Montreal, PQ & Toronto, ON
2012 The Unexpected, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2012 18th Biennale of Sydney: All our Relations, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2012 Shuvinai’s World(s), Feheley FIne Arts, Toronto, ON
2011-2012 Women in Charge, Inuit Contemporary Women Artists, Museo Nazionale Preistorica Etnografica, “Luigi Pigorini”, Rome, Italy (illustrated catalogue)
2010-2011 Ijurnaqtut, Whimsy, Wit and Humor in Inuit Art, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
2010-2011 It Is What It Is, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON
2011 Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON (Illustrated catalogue)
2011 Contemporary Reflections, The Canadian Guild of Crafts, Montreal, PQ
2011 Gallery Artists, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2011 Dorset Large: Large Scale drawings from the Kinngait Studios, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON (illustrated catalogue)
2011 Dorset Annual Print Collection, Galerie d’Art Vincent, Ottawa, ON
2011 Surreal: Eight Artists in the Fantastical Tradition, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2011 Contemporary North: Drawings from Cape Dorset, Madrona Gallery, Victoria, BC
2011 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2010 Facing Forward – New Works from Kinngait Studios, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2010 Uuturautiit: Cape Dorset Celebrates 50 Years of Printmaking, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON (illustrated catalogue)
2010 Big, Bold and Beautiful: Large Scale Drawings from Cape Dorset, Museum of Inuit Art, Toronto, ON
2010 Monster, West Vancouver Museum, West Vancouver, BC
2010 North Meets South, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2010 The Drawing Room, Pendulum Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2010 Nipirasait: Many Voices, Inuit Prints from Cape Dorset, The Canadian Embassy Art Gallery, Washington, DC
2010 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2009-2010 Nunannguaq: In the Likeness of the Earth, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON
2009 Shuvenai Ashoona Drawings, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
2009 Extreme Drawing, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2009 Noise Ghost, Shary Boyle and Shuvinai Ashoona, Justina M. Barnike Gallery, Hart House, Toronto, ON
2009 Mixed Media from Cape Dorset, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2009-2010 Arctic Spirit: 50th Anniversary of Cape Dorset’s Kinngait Studios, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
2009 Kenojuak Ashevak RCA, CC and Shuvinai Ashoona, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC
2009 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2008 Earth and Sky, Stadhimmel Citysky Project, Basel, Switzerland
2008 The Basel Project, Shuvenai Ashoona and John Noesthedan, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2008 Breaking Ground: New Oil Stick Drawings from Cape Dorset, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2008 Never let the Facts get in the way of the Truth, Western Front, Vancouver, BC
2008 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2007 Burning Cold: Emerging Artists from Across, The North and South, Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse, YK
2007 Three Cousins, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2007 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2006-2007 Ashoona: Third Wave, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
2006 Shuvinai Ashoona: Time Interrupted, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2006 Drawing Restraint, Saw Gallery, Ottawa, ON (catalogue)
2006 Landscape – Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC (catalogue)
2006 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2005 Unique Visions, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2005 Oye Canada,VIP Lounge, Canadian Pavilion, Expo205, Aichi, Japan
2003 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2001 Transitions 2 Indian and Inuit Art Centre Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Montreal, PQ (tour) (illustrated catalogue)
2001 Art by Women: An investigation of Inuit Sculpture and Graphics Feheley Fine Arts Toronto, ON
2000 Shuvinai Ashoona and Annago Ashevak Inuit Gallery of Vancouver Vancouver, BC
1999 Three Women, Three Generations: Drawings by Pitseolak Ashoona, Napatchie Pootoogook and Shuvinai Ashoona, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON (illustrated catalogue)