Artist Info
Ikayukta Tunnillie
Ikayukta Tunnillie (Disc Number: E7-927)
1911 - 1980
A printmaker and graphic artist, Ikayukta Tunnillie lived outside of settlements most of her life. She travelled around the Qikiqtaaluk region, eventually coming to live in Kinngait. There she became a part of the Cooperative, producing prints that illustrate animals and traditional Inuit lifeways. Her works were in multiple Cape Dorset Graphic Collections and group exhibitions; she produced 30 prints included in the Cape Dorset print collections over 9 years from 1971-1980. The Inuit Art Gallery of Vancouver held a retrospective of her work in 1981 called "Ikayukta Retrospect: Stonecuts, Lithographs and Drawings from 1972 to 1980." Ikayukta’s artwork is in numerous collections in institutions and galleries such as the Art Gallery of Alberta, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the National Gallery of Canada, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and others. In 1980, Tunnillie passed away.
Interesting fact: Ovilu Tunnillie depicted Ikayukta in three of her sculptures. Ovilu was the grandmother of her husband, Iyola. Oviloo was filmed carving this sculpture in 1997 for an Adrienne Clarkson Presents television episode, “Woman’s Work: Inuit Women Artists.” Oviloo spoke with great affection about Ikayukta. She told Clarkson: “I really liked my husband’s grandmother, so I like the carving. I can recognize her now. . . . I think of the advice Ikayukta used to give me, and I can still use the advice today.”1 Although Oviloo did not specify the precise nature of the advice Ikayukta offered, the younger artist clearly valued the elder’s artistic mentoring.
