Beaver Hats to Hockey Pads: A Social History of Felt in Canada: Part 10
Inuit Culture
Nivinngajuliaat: felt stories from the North
Untitled by Jesse Oonark, image from Pubic Trustee for Nunavut, estate of Jessie Oonark, 1977, all rights reserved
Nivinngajuliaat, or wallhangings, may not be as well-known as soapstone carving or print-making in Inuit art, but these textiles emerged from the same craft traditions, and were particular to women’s work and the region of Qamani`tuaq (Baker Lake).
The site of Baker Lake was an Inuit gathering place that was colonized and settled when the Hudson’s Bay Company opened a trading post in 1916. Soon after, institutions such as churches, schools and medical facilities followed, forcing the Inuit to change their way of life from nomadic tradition in commune with the environment to housing developments and economic dependency.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Canadian government sponsored craft programs to boost local economies in these Northern townsites. The programs fostered creativity and provided work, but were controlled by markets in the South. However, some allies including artists Jack and Shiela Butler helped to establish these textiles alongside print-making as the foundation of the Sanavik Cooperative (1971) which has since grown to become an Inuit-controlled business that serves a number of vital functions within the Qamani`tuaq community.
Sewing is age-old in Inuit culture as women have transformed hides into clothing and shelters for centuries. Felt, like duffel and melton cloth, was introduced to Inuit through the craft programs, and was embraced as a medium for story-telling. After making popular items like mittens, the women of Baker Lake used the multi-coloured remnant cloth to illustrate narratives through appliqué. These wall-hangings are a unique art form in Canada, expressing tales of adaptation, transformation and survival.
Jessie Oonark, one of the biggest names in Inuit art lived in Baker Lake. She among many, have passed on these new traditions to the next generation. KW