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Pitaloosie Saila
Canadian, born 1942
Pitaloosie Saila is a graphic artist and printmaker from Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset), NU. Born in 1942, near Kinngait, to Samuellie “Sam” Pudlat and Qataugak Mingireak, Saila spent much of her childhood in hospitals in Quebec and Ontario getting treatment for tuberculosis and recovering from a spinal injury from a fall as a child. During this time Saila learned English and faced difficulty relearning Inuktitut when she returned to Baffin Island in 1957, although she is now one of the few of her generation who speak both English and Inuktitut fluently. Saila married her husband Pauta Saila, a sculptor, in the early 1960s. They had eight children, four of whom were from previous relationships or adopted.
Saila began drawing around 1965 and produced over 1,450 drawings and 165 prints in her lifetime. Saila grounds her drawings in her knowledge of traditional Inuit ways of life and of how she remembers her relatives living. A favourite theme was that of mother and child, and Saila worked to help inspire future generations of artists, including her granddaughter, graphic artist Ooloosie Saila, who began drawing in 2015. Ooloosie describes that she was influenced by both her grandmother and Kenojuak Ashevak, who she fondly remembers watching make drawings in her home.
Gaining much acclaim, Saila’s works have been exhibited across Canada and internationally, and her drawings and prints have been included in the Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection since 1968. In 1977, one of her print’s was reproduced on the Canadian 12-cent stamp and a lithograph was chosen to represent the Northwest Territories in the National Parks of Canada Centennial celebration. Saila and her husband Pauta Saila, were appointed to the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 2004.
Saila began drawing around 1965 and produced over 1,450 drawings and 165 prints in her lifetime. Saila grounds her drawings in her knowledge of traditional Inuit ways of life and of how she remembers her relatives living. A favourite theme was that of mother and child, and Saila worked to help inspire future generations of artists, including her granddaughter, graphic artist Ooloosie Saila, who began drawing in 2015. Ooloosie describes that she was influenced by both her grandmother and Kenojuak Ashevak, who she fondly remembers watching make drawings in her home.
Gaining much acclaim, Saila’s works have been exhibited across Canada and internationally, and her drawings and prints have been included in the Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection since 1968. In 1977, one of her print’s was reproduced on the Canadian 12-cent stamp and a lithograph was chosen to represent the Northwest Territories in the National Parks of Canada Centennial celebration. Saila and her husband Pauta Saila, were appointed to the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 2004.