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Kiawak Ashoona
Canadian, 1933 - 2014
Kiawak Ashoona was a talented sculptor from Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU. Born at the Tariugajak camp on Baffin Island in 1933, his parents are the renowned graphic artist, Pitseolak Ashoona and community co-founder, Ashoona. At the young age of fourteen, Kiawak Ashoona began his artistic pursuits, sculpting miniature sleds out of walrus ivory. Ashoona was one of the first artists to begin sculpting in Kinngait and was involved in the developing Kinngait art community in 1951. Ashoona began his sculpture by first carving the heads of his figures, creating strong and refined facial expressions. Ashoona explained his reasoning for this technique: “When I carve it is hard for me to think what the carving is going to be. I will [then] start from the head. I try to put down a lot of details in the carvings that I do.”
Like their mother Pitseolak, Ashoona’s siblings also pursued artistic paths. His brothers, Namoonie Ashoona, Qaqaq Ashoona (Kaka), Kumwartok Ashoona (Konwartok), and Ottochie Ashoona became sculptors and his sister, Napachie Pootoogook, became a skilled graphic artist like their mother. Ashoona and his wife Soroseelutu, a graphic artist, encouraged their children to try their hand at art: their son Napachie (Nepachie) Ashoona became a sculptor and their daughters include Olooriak Ashoona (sculptor), Shuvinai Ashoona (graphic artist), Goota Ashoona (sculptor).
After living in Kinngait for a time, Ashoona returned to a traditional Inuit lifestyle on the land. He preferred to work in seclusion so he could be alone with his thoughts and create in a relaxed and unhurried way. Thematically, Ashoona centres Inuit values and oral traditions, including shamans, storytelling, hunting, and the relationships between people and non-human beings to one another and the land. Although best known for his sculpture, Ashoona did experiment with graphic art; his earlier prints are monochromatic scenes of animals, whereas his later works use more colours and community themes.
Ashoona has received much recognition for his works. In 1980 one of his sculptures was reproduced on the Canadian seventeen-cent stamp and in 1988, one of his sculptures was presented to then U.S. President Ronald Reagan at the Summit Meeting in Toronto. Ashoona was the recipient of the National Aboriginal Achievement Award (now the Indspire Award) in 1997, and won the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize in 1999. Ashoona was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000 and elected as a Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2003. Most recently, his works have been exhibited in the 2019 Inuit Sculpture installation, located in Level 9 of the LINC building at the University of Lethbridge.
Like their mother Pitseolak, Ashoona’s siblings also pursued artistic paths. His brothers, Namoonie Ashoona, Qaqaq Ashoona (Kaka), Kumwartok Ashoona (Konwartok), and Ottochie Ashoona became sculptors and his sister, Napachie Pootoogook, became a skilled graphic artist like their mother. Ashoona and his wife Soroseelutu, a graphic artist, encouraged their children to try their hand at art: their son Napachie (Nepachie) Ashoona became a sculptor and their daughters include Olooriak Ashoona (sculptor), Shuvinai Ashoona (graphic artist), Goota Ashoona (sculptor).
After living in Kinngait for a time, Ashoona returned to a traditional Inuit lifestyle on the land. He preferred to work in seclusion so he could be alone with his thoughts and create in a relaxed and unhurried way. Thematically, Ashoona centres Inuit values and oral traditions, including shamans, storytelling, hunting, and the relationships between people and non-human beings to one another and the land. Although best known for his sculpture, Ashoona did experiment with graphic art; his earlier prints are monochromatic scenes of animals, whereas his later works use more colours and community themes.
Ashoona has received much recognition for his works. In 1980 one of his sculptures was reproduced on the Canadian seventeen-cent stamp and in 1988, one of his sculptures was presented to then U.S. President Ronald Reagan at the Summit Meeting in Toronto. Ashoona was the recipient of the National Aboriginal Achievement Award (now the Indspire Award) in 1997, and won the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize in 1999. Ashoona was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000 and elected as a Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2003. Most recently, his works have been exhibited in the 2019 Inuit Sculpture installation, located in Level 9 of the LINC building at the University of Lethbridge.