- Museum of Inuit Art
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Coordinates: 43°38′20.0″N 79°22′49.9″W / 43.63889°N 79.380528°W
Museum of Inuit Art 
Established 2007 Location Queens Quay Terminal at Toronto, Ontario’s Harbourfront Centre, Canada. Type Inuit art Website www.miamuseum.ca The Museum of Inuit Art, located within the historic Queens Quay Terminal at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, is Canada’s only public museum south of the Arctic to be devoted exclusively to Inuit art and culture. Officially launched in June 2007, the museum exists due to the efforts of David Harris — a former teacher in Nunavut and founder of The Harris Inuit Gallery, a respected commercial gallery for Inuit art — and a group of dedicated partners.
The Museum of Inuit Art occupies more than 6,000 square feet (560 m2) of exhibition space and is home to hundreds of extraordinary pieces of Inuit art ranging from sculptures carved from stone, antler, ivory and bone to ceramics, prints and wall hangings.
The space housing the Museum of Inuit Art was designed by gh3 inc. and has won two design awards: the Ontario Association of Architects Design Excellence Award, and the Canada Interiors’ Best of Canada Design Competition Award.[1] “The interior of the museum has been designed to remove visitors from the commercial clutter of the adjacent downtown shopping arcade and transport them to a more rarefied environment for viewing art — a neutral white shell evoking the iconic landscape forms of the arctic ice.”[2]
The Museum of Inuit Art Gallery, MIA Graphics Gallery and Museum Shop
The Museum of Inuit Art owns and operates a 1,800 sq ft (170 m2). gallery featuring collector quality, original works of art created by contemporary Inuit artists. As a non-profit institution, all proceeds from the Museum of Inuit Art and the Museum of Inuit Art Gallery support cultural, educational and acquisition programs at the museum.
The sculptures, wall hangings, and original fine art prints on sale at MIA Gallery and Graphics Gallery are acquired from the various Inuit co-operatives that represent Inuit artists working in the North. As such, all proceeds from the sale of art at the gallery directly support the work of contemporary Inuit artists and their communities. The shop also carries jewellery, packing dolls, and books on Inuit art.
Previous Exhibitions
The Museum of Inuit Art's previous exhibitions are varied. From wall hangings and prints to legends and history, each has presented a unique, and important, aspect of Inuit Art. Previous exhibitions are listed here:
A New Legacy: Stitching Myths and Memories, 2007: Exuberant wall hangings from Baker Lake.
The Urge to Abstraction: The Graphic Art of Janet Kigusiuq, 2008: Janet Kigusiuq’s evolution of artistic vision, from figures to explorations of form and pattern: abstract landscapes and still-life collages.
New Directions in Cape Dorset Drawing, November 2008 - April 2009: Contemporary Cape Dorset experimental drawings by a new generation of artists.
The Art of Inuit Wall Hangings, November 2008 - September 2009: Wall hangings from three communities: Baker Lake and Arviat appliqué and embroidered hangings; Pangnirtung woven tapestries.
Inuit Prints and Drawings: A Community Survey, November 2008 - May 2009: Graphic art from five communities: Cape Dorset, Puvirnituq, Baker Lake, Ulukhaktok, and Pangnirtung.
Combs of Our Ancestors: the creation of a new Pangnirtung tapestry designed by Germaine Arnaktauyok, April - June 2009: A large tapestry, the original drawing design and a working wall depicting the entire creative process from early designs, through weavers’ experiments, to the finished tapestry.
James Houston: Artist, Author, Inuit Art Pioneer, May - August 2009: James Houston’s own prints and drawings, writings and books, and Inuit art created when Houston was in the Arctic in the 1950s.
The Inuit Sea Goddess, August 2009 - January 2010: Sedna - a creation myth, a tale with many versions, a creature with many names, and a compelling subject for Inuit artists working in all media – sculpture, drawing, prints, ceramics and tapestry. This exhibition explores all these possibilities of the most powerful being in Inuit mythology.
Inuit Dolls from the Kivalliq, October - December 2009 (borrowed from Burnaby Art Gallery): Dolls created with great imagination in 2007 in all seven communities of the Kivalliq region: Arviat, Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet, Coral Harbour, Rankin Inlet, Repulse Bay and Whale Cove.
Inuit Dolls from the Esther Sarick Collection, October 2009 - April 2010: A wonderful collection of traditional and modern Inuit collector’s dolls from across the Canadian Arctic, in a wide variety of materials and regional clothing styles.
Big, Bold and Beautiful: Large-scale Drawings from Cape Dorset, January - April 2010: Six contemporary large-scale works by various artists in several media: oil stick, coloured pencil and ink, and watercolour.
Kananginak Pootoogook: Celebrating Five Decades of Artistic Achievement, February - May 2010: Prints from each of the five decades of Kananginak’s career and a selection of recent drawings. Works depict the artist’s two chief interests: animals, and the social changes occurring in the Arctic.
Affiliations
The Museum is affiliated with: CMA, CHIN, and Virtual Museum of Canada.
References
- ^ Ontario Association of Architects Announces Awards, DDI Magazine, April 18, 2008.
- ^ Craig Moy, Bone Up On Inuit Art, Where Toronto, April 2008.
External links
Categories:- Museums established in 2007
- Museums in Toronto
- Art museums and galleries in Ontario
- Inuit art
- First Nations museums in Canada
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