Lucy's Owl

Lucy Qinnuayuak (1915-1982) was an Inuit graphic artist and printmaker from Kinngait, Nunavut (Cape Dorset). Born in or near Salluit, Quebec, she moved to Baffin Island with her family as a child, eventually settling in Cape Dorset after her father's death and her mother's remarriage. Qinnuayuak began creating drawings and etchings in the late 1950s while living at Kangia camp, working alongside her brother-in-law Niviaqsi at the request of James Archibald Houston. She would bring her drawings to Houston for appraisal during resupply trips to Kinngait, becoming one of the first artists to participate in what would become the renowned Cape Dorset printmaking program.

Qinnuayuak's artistic career spanned over two decades, with her work first appearing in the Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection in 1961 and continuing in nearly every subsequent collection until her death in 1982. She initially worked in stonecut prints, the dominant technique of the time, but expanded her practice in the 1970s to include acrylic paints, watercolours, felt-tip pens, and coloured pencils. Her method involved using broad, fluid strokes to create backgrounds and figure outlines, then adding details with felt-tip pens and coloured pencils. In 1973, she worked closely with visiting Toronto artist K.M. Graham, who introduced her to pastels and watercolour-style acrylic painting techniques, despite a language barrier that sometimes required her grandson Otiloo to serve as interpreter.

Qinnuayuak's work is characterized by surreal, colourful compositions that frequently depict birds, particularly owls, gulls, and geese, as well as scenes of traditional Inuit domestic life, camp activities, and community gatherings. Her early birds were identifiable species defined by bold outlines and formalized bodies, but over time became increasingly amorphous and surreal, with bodies dense with colourful patterns. She typically composed her work against white backgrounds, rarely depicting landscapes. Notable works include Owls of Baffin (1982), Bird Fantasy (1977-78), and Opiit (Group of Owls) (1976), one of the first lithographs included in the Cape Dorset collection.

Qinnuayuak achieved significant recognition during her lifetime, including having one of her designs selected for promotional banners for the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. Her print Sun Bird (1969) was reproduced on a UNICEF card in 1972, and her 1964 stonecut We All Have Something to Do became part of the Senate of Canada's Aboriginal art collection. By the time of her death, 136 of her prints had been published in the Cape Dorset collection. Her work is held in major institutions worldwide, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Tate in London, and numerous museums across North America. She was married to sculptor and graphic artist Tikituk Quinnuayuak, and they raised fourteen children together, including five orphaned children of Tikituk's brother. Her niece was the renowned artist Kenojuak Ashevak.