Artist Info
Marion Tuu'luq
Marion Tuu’luq was a renowned textile and graphic artist from Qamani'tuaq (Baker Lake), NU. Born at Innituuq camp, in Utkuhiksalik, near the Chantrey Inlet in 1910, Tuu’luq and her two older brothers were left in the care of their father, Ekinilik, and other relatives, as her mother passed away when she was a baby. Her family faced many hardships including starvation. Her father was unable to walk and died by suicide when Tuu’luq was ten years old. Tuu’luq married her first husband in 1928 when she was eighteen; he later died in 1954. The next year she married graphic artist Luke Anguhadluq, who was the cousin of renowned Qamani’tuaq artist Jessie Oonark.
Tuu’luq lived a traditional Inuit lifestyle until 1961 when she and Anguhadluq moved to Qamani’tuaq to provide access to schools and medical care for their children. Tuu’luq had between sixteen and seventeen children, however, only four survived to adulthood, including textile artist Ruth Qaulluaryuk Nuilaalik. Tuu’luq began her artistic pursuits late in life, building on the sewing skills she learned as a child from other women. Tuu’luq became known for her vibrant wall hangings, which used images drawn from stories, legends, and personal experiences. Experimenting with making clothing out of wool duffle, Tuu’luq also created creating cloth pictures out of scrap material. In the early 1970s, she began working with beads, and as the decade went on, Tuu’luq shifted her colour palette from rich earth tones to bolder colours.
Tuu’luq’s inclusion in the 1974 Exhibition Crafts from Arctic Canada shown in both Toronto and Ottawa was a key point in her career, earning steady attention from southern Canada. A newly developed skin allergy to wool in 1989, however, ultimately forced Tuu’luq to abandon her textile work. Over her artistic career, Tuu’luq became a respected elder of the Qamani’tuaq community. She later joined the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1978 and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta in 1990. UNICEF also selected one of her works as an illustration for its North American Heritage greeting card series in 1990. Tuu’luq’s wall hangings and drawings have been featured in exhibitions across Canada and internationally, and have been presented in the Sanavik (Baker Lake) Co-operative Print Collections from 1977 to 1981.
