Bird Pattern
Provenance:
Private Collection, Winnipeg
The textile printing program in Kinngait was initiated in 1956 as part of the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative’s (WBEC) exploration of new artistic media. Early experiments employed hand-blocking with carved stone, followed by stencilling in the late 1950s, and eventually screen printing in the 1960s. A wide range of fabrics—including cotton and linen—served as the foundation for these designs. Motifs were selected from Inuit artists’ drawings and adapted into repeating patterns, aligning with the prevailing mid-century modern aesthetic.
The program garnered significant public attention, most notably at Expo 67, yet high shipping and production costs in the Arctic rendered it economically unsustainable. In 1968, the initiative was discontinued, and designs were subsequently licensed for manufacture in southern Canada.
This textile, designed by Kingwatsiak, demonstrates a more complex composition than the typical repetitive patterns produced for clothing and interior decoration. Its intricacy suggests that it was created in a limited run, and may represent a unique, one-off production within the broader fabric design program.
Anna Kingwatsiak
1911 - 1971
Anna Kingwatsiak was born in 1911 in a camp near Kimmirut on the south shore of Baffin Island, in what is now Nunavut. She was the oldest child in an artistic family; several of her siblings also became accomplished artists, including Keeleemeeoomee Samualie, Iyola, Tye Adla, and Mikigak Kingwatsiak. In the 1930s, her family moved closer to Kinngait (Cape Dorset), but Kingwatsiak, who had already married, remained in Kimmirut. After her husband died from tuberculosis in 1961, she moved to Kinngait to be closer to her sisters.
Kingwatsiak produced drawings depicting Inuit imagery and scenes of daily life. Many of her drawings were made into prints by the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative. She also designed printed home textiles during the 1950s and 1960s as part of an effort to develop a commercial market for the co-operative's work. She died in 1971. Her work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and the Art Gallery of Guelph.