Kenojuak Ashevak
/B. 1927 - 2013
Cape Dorset, Nunavut Territory
Kenojuak Ashevak is recognised internationaly as a world class artist. With a career spanning half a century, she worked primarily with drawing mediums; pen, ink, and prismacolour pencils. She also practiced printmaking, stained glass, sewing, and carving. Kenojuak has been involved in the success of the art program at Cape Dorset since its inception in the late 1950s. She is the daughter of the late Ushuakjuk and Silaqqi.
Her work is strongly focused on bold graphic representations of birds and other creatures, alongside female hunters.
She is the most famous woman artist in Cape Dorset and a pioneer of Inuit art. She has had over 200 exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Japan, Holland, Greenland, South Korea, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, France and Germany.
Awards:
Companion of the Order of Canada (1982)
Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1974)
Governor Generals Award in Visual and Media Arts (2008)
Inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame (2001)
Honorary Doctorate from Queens University and the University of Toronto
