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Kingmeata ᑭᒥᐊᑕ Etidlooie
Canadian, 1915 - 1989
Kingmeata Etidlooie was a graphic artist and sculptor. Etidlooie was born in 1915 at Itinik camp close to Kimmirut (Lake Harbour), NU. After the death of her mother Tyara, her father Ningoochiak, adopted out three of her sisters and moved Etidlooie and her brother Kopapik to various camps around Kinngait. Etidlooie married Elija and the couple had five children, losing three of them. Soon thereafter, Elija became ill and passed away.
It was after the death of Elija that Etidlooie began her artistic pursuits, drawing and sculpting figures in the late 1950s. In the mid-1960s, Etidlooie moved to Kinngait with her second husband, Etidlooie Etidlooie. They lived there with his son, Samuellie, and Mathewsie, the adopted son of Kingmeata’s deceased brother. Both Kingmeata and Etidlooie became members of the Kinngait Co-operative (formerly the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative). Although she worked in a number of media, Kingmeata is most importantly known for her experimentation with painterly styles and becoming one of the first artists in Kinngait to work with watercolours.
Inspired by Etidlooie’s work as a sculptor, her children and grandchild also became respected artists in their own right: children Etulu Etidlui, Omalluq Oshutsiaq, Pukaluk Etungat and Kellypalik Etidlooie, and grandson, Pitseolak Oshutsiaq, are all sculptors. Etidlooie's work has been featured across North America, and has been highlighted in several exhibitions in Asia and Europe. Her works have been exhibited in the ULAG 2008 exhibition, The Arctic Landscape, and most recently in the 2020 ULAG Unikkausivut: Stories from the North.
It was after the death of Elija that Etidlooie began her artistic pursuits, drawing and sculpting figures in the late 1950s. In the mid-1960s, Etidlooie moved to Kinngait with her second husband, Etidlooie Etidlooie. They lived there with his son, Samuellie, and Mathewsie, the adopted son of Kingmeata’s deceased brother. Both Kingmeata and Etidlooie became members of the Kinngait Co-operative (formerly the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative). Although she worked in a number of media, Kingmeata is most importantly known for her experimentation with painterly styles and becoming one of the first artists in Kinngait to work with watercolours.
Inspired by Etidlooie’s work as a sculptor, her children and grandchild also became respected artists in their own right: children Etulu Etidlui, Omalluq Oshutsiaq, Pukaluk Etungat and Kellypalik Etidlooie, and grandson, Pitseolak Oshutsiaq, are all sculptors. Etidlooie's work has been featured across North America, and has been highlighted in several exhibitions in Asia and Europe. Her works have been exhibited in the ULAG 2008 exhibition, The Arctic Landscape, and most recently in the 2020 ULAG Unikkausivut: Stories from the North.