Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona (b. 1986)

Ottawa based muti-media artist Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona uses her work to explore her Inuit identity and place within Canadian society. Her imagery acts as references to tradition and family, the granddaughter of Victoria Mamnguqsualuk and the great-granddaughter of Jessie Oonark, she comes from a long line of acclaimed artists. Kabloona was shortlisted for the 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award. She was commissioned by Google for the Google Doodle homepage in honor of artist Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk. Her work can be seen in the permanent collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Kenojuak Ashevak (b. 1927)

Kenojuak Ashevak (1927–2013) created some of the most iconic and instantly recognizable images in Canadian art. While she worked in sculpture, Ashevak is best known for her entrancing graphic works including drawings and prints. These works encompass imaginative and varied themes with her most-visited subject matter including birds, particularly, the lively owl.

Ashevak began drawing in the late 1950s in Kinngait (Cape Dorset) and continued up until her death in 2013. Throughout, she was constantly driven to experiment with new media and techniques. Ashevak embraced etching and engraving in the 1960s, lithography in the late 1970s, and etching and aquatint over the last decade of her life. She also experimented with glass and in 2004, designed the stained glass “Iggalaaq” window for Appleby College in Ontario.

Ashevak’s enthusiasm and devotion to her work has provided inspiration to generations of artists in Kinngait. She is the namesake of the community’s Kenojuak Cultural Centre and Print Shop which opened in 2017 and houses the contemporary art studios.

Ooloosie Saila (b. 1991)

Ooloosie Saila is among the youngest on our roster of emerging artists. As a child, she was inspired to draw by occasional visits to the home of her friend’s grandmother, celebrated artist Kenojuak Ashevak. These visits facilitated an environment where Saila would cultivate drawing skills and a sharp eye for the bold use of colour and composition which now characterizes her work, as well as an understanding of the importance of hard work and perseverance. She is also the granddaughter of Pauta Saila, renowned sculptor and graphic artist. By 2015, Saila started working in the Kinngait Studios. Saila continues to explore diverse themes and ideas in her work, with a recent focus on northern landscape and wildlife.

Saila’s work was included for the first time in the 2017 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection. Feheley Fine Arts presented Saila’s work for the first time at Art Toronto 2017, during which one of her landscape drawings was acquired by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Following this success, Feheley Fine Arts presented her at the Art on Paper fair in New York in 2018. At the early stages in her career, this graphic artist continues to draw attention from both Canadian and international collectors.

Pitseolak Qimirpik (b. 1986)

Pitseolak Qimirpik is a sculptor and graphic artist based in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut, Canada. He began to carve at a young age and quickly established himself as a technically skilled artist with an eye for the idiosyncratic. Rooting his practice in traditional Inuit art forms (figures, animals, scenes), Qimirpik often incorporates references to pop-culture and contemporary life in his work, increasingly blending the fantastical with the real in amusing ways. Feheley Fine Arts held the artist’s first solo exhibition Phantasmagoria online in April 2020.

Shuvinai Ashoona (b. 1961)

The dynamic compositions of Shuvinai Ashoona depict human figures, transformations, and imaginary beings with cleverly hidden imagery using a wide colour spectrum.

Ashoona began to draw in the early 1990s. Though never formally trained, Ashoona’s family and the Kinngait Studios provided her with a creative atmosphere. Her drawings are often a combination of reality and imagination in which she creates her own abstract outlook on life in the North.

Through fearless experimentation, Ashoona’s inventive drawings are consistently at the forefront of contemporary art. In 2018, Ashoona won the coveted Gershon Iskowitz Prize which is awarded annually to a remarkable contemporary Canadian artist. Her work is regularly shown in exhibitions, biennials, and public collections around the world.