This is a whalebone carving of a hunter with pack by Isa Piungituk from Clyde River. I am not sure about the carver as the information I have gives the name as reproduced above. I do wonder if it is the same person as Regilee Piungituk. Names are not always unique in Inuit culture. there can be variations in spelling and variations in combinations of names. The measurements are 6.5" x 8" x 9" and this carving dates from 1973. What I find attractive about whalebone carvings is the eery sense, or the mystical, spiritual sense that very often goes with a whalebone carving. Maybe it is the bone material, or maybe it is the lack of details, the vagueness of the outlines.
This carving shows nicely the heavy burden that this hunter was under while traveling. The minimal details of he face do give a good sense of the stoic nature of the traveler.

A lovely small carving from Baker Lake in the typical Baker Lake basalt black stone. The carving is by Hugh Haiqpi. I don't know much about Hugh, but I do have another carving by him. Maybe he is a new carver, but I like his style. This little Dancing Man measures 2 x 1 x 3.5 inches and Hugh seems to have captured quite a joyous moment. It's almost as if you can hear the guy singing for joy.

This is a large carving by Aisa Amittuk from Akulivik. The dimensions are 16 inches by 10 by 7 inches; quite large. Aisa presents here the almost impossible struggle between a hunter with just a knife and a bear where the latter seems to outmeasure, outweigh the poor hunter by quite a bit. Yet the hunter seems to be getting the upper hand. Fortunately for him! Yesterdays blog entry showed a bear ready to munch on a seal. It seems that today the tables are changed.

Tutuiya Qatsiya, born 1966, is the carver of this impressive sculpture.








The dimensions are 13 inches by 8 inches by 12 inches and executed in a beautiful greenish stone. The carvings I have seen from Tutuiya all carry a strong, powerful statement. In this carving, called faces, you will notice numerous faces in the lower part of the carving, on the side you will also notice the emergence of a hawk, but out of it all rises a new identity: man as being created out of, and through his community. I don't know if that's what Tutuiya's intent is, but that's how the sculpture speaks to me. A marvelously strong carving. Tutuiya Qatsiya is from Cape Dorset.