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Unlike Inuit sculpture, Canadian Inuit paintings and art prints from the Arctic are a twentieth century innovation in Inuit art. One of the most significant events that happened during the development of contemporary Inuit art was when James Houston taught the Inuit to make art prints by incising designs into linoleum tiles, stone blocks and stencils from sealskins. He had previously studied printmaking in Japan since the Japanese were considered innovators in this art process.
One day in 1957, Houston met up with a local Inuit art carver by the name of Osuitok Ipeelee in Cape Dorset. Ipeelee had been studying the identical printed images of a sailor's head on two cigarette packages he had. Houston demonstrated the process of printmaking to the Inuit carver by rubbing ink onto one of Ipeelee's ivory tusk carvings and made an impression of it on a piece of toilet paper. Upon seeing the resulting graphic, the Inuit artist said, "We could do that." This resulted in the birth of Inuit art prints. (See the Evolution of Contemporary Arctic Art for more details of James Houston's role in Inuit art)
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The
Cape Dorset Inuit artists soon integrated the new print making
methods
into their Inuit art and by 1960, their printmaking was a
growing
business. Inuit art prints by early artists such as Pitseolak
Ashoona
and Jamasie Teevee became much sought after artwork. Because
of the
success of Cape Dorset, other Inuit communities were
encouraged to
follow its example. So in addition to Inuit sculpture, art
prints
became another form of Inuit art that found commercial
success. Cape
Dorset has an annual release of Canadian Inuit paintings and
Inuit art
prints each year and often sell out. The Mississauga Civic Centre
has a collection of a few Cape Dorset prints. Another Inuit
community
known for their Inuit art prints
is Holman.
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