May 28, 2008 — Getting the right material is just one of many challenges in making art. Sometimes that takes more effort than usual! For two years now, Ottawa Correspondent Lucy Martin has found the Inuit Artists' Shop "Arts Alive" event a great way to meet artists from across the Canadian Arctic. The day of courtyard demonstrations lets the public see how the art is made and satisfy curiosity about life and art in the far north. Here's stone carver Mattiusi Iyaituk in a conversation with a visitor from British Columbia, at last April's event.  Go to full article

May 31, 2007 — Canadian Inuit artist Shirley Moorhouse's textiles are shaped by intrinsic Inuit traditions and collective experiences and memories of living on the land. She produces one-of-a-kind, hand-sewn wall hangings. Her hangings incorporate embroidery, beadwork, tanned caribou hide, wool, feathers as well as non-traditional found objects into the design. Shirley Moorhouse lives in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. Her work is exhibited nationally and internationally. This summer you'll find her work on display at Carleton University in Ottawa. She told Lucy Martin that each piece tells another chapter in an ongoing exploration of her Inuit ancestry.  Go to full article

May 03, 2007 — Today a Heard Up North from WAY up North. Inuit throat singing is traditional entertainment from a time and place where people had to amuse themselves. It's a copy-cat game, really, full of invention and rhythm. It takes a lot of breath control and a tough throat. With artists chipping rock statues near by, sisters Lynda and Tracy Brown and Kendra Tagoona taught the audience how to throat-sing at a recent Inuit event in Ottawa.  Go to full article

Apr 16, 2007 — The Arctic is among the regions hit hardest by early climate change. Inuit artists from Nunavut, Labrador and other Arctic territories are eyewitnesses to warmer winters. They gather in Ottawa twice a year for meetings of the Inuit Art Foundation. Lucy Martin spent an afternoon with the artists last April. They told her their lives are already changing. Note: The Inuit Art Foundation artists return to Ottawa for their "Arts Alive" celebration this Saturday, April 21, from 10 to 4.  Go to full article

Sep 15, 2006 — This weekend some of Canada's finest Inuit artists will gather in Ottawa. The occasion is the annual board meeting of the Inuit Artist's Shop, a non-profit co-op run by and for native artisans. After traveling so far from the Far North, it only makes sense to actually make some art while they're in the capital. Today and tomorrow Inuit artists will offer carving demonstrations. Lucy Martin has more from Ottawa. You can see carving, throat-singing, drumming, and dancing today and tomorrow 10-4 at the Inuit Artist's Shop in Ottawa.  Go to full article

Mar 07, 2001 — Martha Foley spoke with Norman Hallendy, author of Inuksuit: Silent Messengers of the North.  Go to full article

Mar 02, 2001 — Martha Foley reports on the Aqsarnit drum dancers and throat singers who visited Canton for St. Lawrence University's Festival of the Arts, focusing on Inuit culture.  Go to full article

Feb 27, 2001 — The Inuit people populate a huge swath of land from Alaska in the West, across Canada to the Atlantic Ocean, and East to Greenland. Despite the broad territory, they speak a common language, Inuktitut. In 1993, over twenty years of land claims with the Canadian Government resulted in new territories and self-government for the Inuit. A new province called "Nunavut", located north of Ontario and Quebec, joined Canada in 1999. St. Lawrence University is featuring Inuit and Nunavut Culture as the theme for this year's Festival of the Arts. Jose Kusugak, president of the Inuit Tapirisat, the advocacy organization for the Inuit in Canadian government, visited Canton to kick off the festival. When the land claim movement began in the early '70s, Kusugak was travelling the Inuit territories to learn more about the various dialects in the Inuit language. He discovered that people in the isolated towns he visited didn't understand the purpose of the land claims. He told David Sommerstein that he needed to shift his mission to teach the political implications of the talks with the Canadian government.

St. Lawrence University's Festival of the Arts is called "From Nanook to Nunavut: The art and politics of representing Inuit culture" Presentations of Inuit art, literature, music, and dance will run through March 7.  Go to full article