Extended Showing of Popular Inuit Textile Exhibit
The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum is excited to announce that the landmark
exhibition, ᖃᓪᓗᓈᖅᑕᐃᑦ ᓯᑯᓯᓛᕐᒥᑦ
Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios will remain on view thru December 14. Originally slated to close in late October, the extended showing will allow more visitors to enjoy this beautiful, popular exhibit.
On loan from the Textile Museum of Canada, the exhibit introduces audiences to the little-known story of a group of Inuit artists and printmakers who produced a collection of bold graphic textiles in Kinngait, Nunavut, Canada, in the 1950s and 1960s – a period of social change that disrupted traditional Inuit culture. The exhibit features stunning works by the first generation of well-known Inuit artists. New works by three contemporary Inuit fashion designers are featured as well.
The textile collection is on long-term loan to the Textile Museum of Canada from the West Baffin Cooperative and is a physical record of this short-lived experimental initiative. As part of the Textile Museum’s commitment to bringing Indigenous knowledge and voices to the foreground, the project included extensive consultations with both the Kinngait community in Nunavut and Inuit in the southern Canada. The Textile Museum of Canada is honored to have a part in sharing the story of these textiles and their artists.
The Arctic Museum is excited to be the first US venue to host this important exhibit. New England audiences have an extended opportunity to see these remarkable, rarely seen textiles and learn about the Inuit artists who created them.
This project was made possible in part by the Government of Canada, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and Government of Ontario. The West Baffin Cooperative Arts Committee and Dr. Heather Igloliorte served as project advisors. The Schreibers, William R. and Shirley Beatty Charitable Foundation, and David Sharpe, Bridging Finance Inc. funded the project.
The installation of the exhibit at the Arctic Museum was supported by a generous grant from The Coby Foundation, Ltd. and by the Arctic Museum’s Russell and Janet Doubleday endowment.
Land Acknowledgement
Bowdoin College is located on the ancestral homelands of the Wabanaki. Today the Wabanaki include the Abenaki, Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot nations, who have deep and enduring relationships with Maine’s lands and waterways. We acknowledge the painful legacy of the region’s colonial history and commit to better understanding it, while also celebrating the vibrancy of Native American cultures and working to build a more inclusive community.
