Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts
| Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts | |
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Tapestries at the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts
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Location in Nunavut
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| Former names | Pangnirtung Tapestry Studio (1991) Craft Gallery (1991) Pangnirtung Print Shop (1994) |
| General information | |
| Type | Arts and crafts centre prints tapestry wallhangings |
| Location | Pangnirtung, Nunavut |
| Coordinates | 66°08′49″N 065°42′31″W / 66.14694°N 65.70861°WCoordinates: 66°08′49″N 065°42′31″W / 66.14694°N 65.70861°W |
| Website | |
| http://www.uqqurmiut.ca/ | |
Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts is an arts centre that was established by the Uqqurmiut Inuit Artists Association (UIAA) in 1990, in Pangnirtung, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. The Centre includes a Tapestry Studio, a Craft Gallery, and Print Shop. In spite of its remote location and small population, numerous Inuit from Pangnirtung have successfully marketed their prints, carvings, sculptures, and textile arts, such as woven wall hangings, to southern collectors. Starting in the 1970s, limited edition prints from the original Print Shop were published annually as the Pangnirtung Prints Collection through the then-Eskimo Co-operative. In 1970 a weaving studio was established and over time the tapestries attracted an international market.
The Centre's architecture echos the circular shapes of igloos and skin tents from traditional Inuit settlements.
In 2002 a major exhibition entitled, Nuvisavik: the place where we weave was shown at the Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC) (now known as the Canadian Museum of History) in Ottawa, Canada. The exhibition catalogue was edited by Maria Von Finckenstein, the curator for Inuit art at the CMC.
The fully Inuit-owned and run organization, The Uqqurmiut Inuit Artists Association (UIAA), which was incorporated in 1988, is the major shareholder in the The Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Craft. In 1999, Nunavut Development Corporation (NDC) owned 51-per-cent majority interest in the Centre. The NDC, which invests in Nunavut's economy by creating jobs and opportunities for Nunavut residents in small hamlets, is a Territorial corporation of the Government of Nunavut corporation, enabled by the Nunavut Development Corporation Act.
Uqqurmiut means "the people of the leeside" in Inuktitut. Pangnirtung is at the edge of Pangnirtung Fjord, a fjord near Cumberland Sound in the lee side of a mountain.
The newer buildings that replaced both the weave and print studios, are interconnected to echo the design of large igloos. They resemble "traditional circular tents of old Inuit settlements" and the interconnected nature of large igloos.
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Wikipedia