Beth Biggs, instructor of fine arts and crafts at Nunavut Arctic College, left, and Victoria Henry, the director of the Canada Council Art Bank, look at prints created by students.
(PHOTO BY MIRIAM HILL)
In the bank
The Canada Council’s Art Bank has $100,000 to spend on Inuit art — your work could be chosen
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MIRIAM
HILL
Nunatsiaq News
It hasn’t always been easy for artists in Nunavut to tap in to resources of the Canada Council for the Arts. But this week, two representatives from the Crown corporation were in Cape Dorset and Iqaluit to explain the process in the hope of encouraging more northern artists to apply for funding and to have their works purchased by the Canada Council’s Art Bank.
Victoria Henry, director of the Art Bank, and Louise Profeit-LeBlanc, aboriginal arts coordinator for the aboriginal arts secretariat of the Canada Council, spoke to about 15 people gathered at the Parish Hall in Iqaluit.
Since 1972, the Art Bank has purchased works by Canadian artists and rented them out to government agencies, corporations and institutions. The collection already includes some 18,000 paintings, prints, photographs and sculptures by more than 2,900 artists, but the Art Bank wants more.
For the past two years the Art Bank has been able to purchase works with funds solely from rentals, with no money coming from Heritage Canada. Art Bank clients are requesting more and more contemporary aboriginal art but, ironically, it is the most under-represented genre in the collection.
"Every work rented has an information plaque attached," Henry explained, "so it’s a great way to make sure all the art is recognized, that it’s from the Art Bank and who the artist is." Art Bank employees install the work, making sure the framing is top-quality and works are protected.
To mark the Art Bank’s 30th anniversary and the Canada Council’s 45th year, the Art Bank has decided to embark on a one-time shopping spree of aboriginal art from across Canada, with a $100,000 budget. Interested artists must send a slide or digital image to the Art Bank before Jan. 31. A jury of five, made up of aboriginal artists, arts administrators and two Art Bank employees will meet in Ottawa Feb. 18 and 19 to decide which submissions will be purchased.
A few artists at the meeting in Iqaluit expressed concern that the Jan. 31 deadline was too soon for them to submit an image of a finished work, but Henry pointed out there is still an opportunity for artists to submit to the Art Bank’s annual call. The deadline for that contest is June 30. This year $150,000 will be spent on works by artists from across the country.
The Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association has volunteered to shoot digital images for artists in Iqaluit.
Profeit-LeBlanc said the Canada Council recognizes that not enough money is flowing to artists in the North and it’s something she is working on changing.
She is on the lookout for an Inuktitut-speaking person to work as a Canada Council officer in Ottawa and serve as a liaison between Inuit artists and the corporation.
"We want to develop programs you would like to have here," she said. "Not what we think you should have."
There are dollars available, including those under the Aboriginal People’s Collaborative Exchange program, which can be applied for if an individual artist, organization or collective has a project in mind or wants to travel to learn or share artistic concepts.
Mosha Arnatsiaq said he knew the Canada Council gave out grants to a select number of artists, but wasn’t aware he too could apply for dollars.
The 26-year-old is a third-year student in the goldsmithing program at Nunavut Arctic College.
Arnatsiaq’s father and two brothers are carvers, but he found his niche in jewelry making, he explained, and is still learning and getting a feeling for different materials.
"I started off sanding carvings my father did when I was 10, 11 years old and then as a teenager I did sanding and texturing," he said.
Finding the right jewelry-making tools in his home community of Igloolik has always been a problem, he said, and now that he’s aware he can apply for funding to upgrade his skills, he’s encouraged to try.
Suzanne Evaloardjuk, also a jewelry student at the college, said she knew the Canada Council doled out money to artists, "but rarely did I ever shake hands with someone who received any money."
She said the government does not value artists until Christmas, when workers need to buy gifts to send to their families.
"I have ideas and several other students here have ideas, too, about ways to better themselves," she said, and, after hearing the Canada Council representatives’ presentations, she’s less hesitant about applying for funding.
"Being here today I can see some real light," she said. "When the sun comes out in the North at this time of the year it’s still dark and dim, but now it seems brighter."
She said when people tried to explain the application process in the past there seemed to be so many obstacles, like snow banks, in the way.
"After this explanation it’s more understandable to me," she said. "And I think everyone here felt the same way."
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