Kenojuak Ashevak, Cape Dorset, Northwest Territories, 1961, by B. Korda

With the assistance of Toronto artist James Houston, Inuit artists began developing their skills and marketing their works to southern markets in the late 1940s. In 1957-1958, after learning about Japanese printmaking, Houston introduced printmaking to the Cape Dorset artists’ cooperative, where Kenojuak Ashevak (born 1927) became the first Inuk woman artist to produce such works. Her talents were quickly recognized.

The National Film Board made a documentary on Kenojuak in 1961, and soon after, she began selling her works all over the world. Her print The Enchanted Owl was used on a 1970 postage stamp, and has become perhaps the most famous of all Inuit prints. Several books have been written about her, and a 30-year retrospective exhibition was held in 1986 at the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg, Ontario.

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