September 4, 2024 CO Shop

2024 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection

Image Artwork: Nasali (The One With a Hat) by Ningiukulu Teevee (cropped)

For over 60 years an annual print collection has been distributed from artists in Kinngait (Cape Dorset, Nunavut), initially titled The Annual Graphics Collection in 1959. The 2024 collection has now been released and can be viewed here! Dorset Fine Arts was established to develop and serve the market for Inuit fine art produced by the artist members of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative. The Co-operative is unique among the Arctic Co-operatives for its focus on the art, culture, and artists of the community. Sales and exhibitions of prints, drawings and sculptures are made through the Dorset Fine Arts showroom in Toronto to galleries around the world, such as Craft Ontario.

Dorset Fine Arts was established in Toronto in 1978 and every year since 1959 the printmaking studios (now known as Kinngait Studios) have released an annual catalogued collection of between 30 and 60 images as well as numerous commissions and special releases. Kinngait Studios is the longest continuous running print studio in Canada.

Pictured: Qavavau Manumie at Kinngait Studios

Image Artwork: Lost Soul by Qavavau Manumie

Although the graphic artistry of the Inuit has been known to be an integral and historic facet of Inuit culture; from incised ornaments and tools as well as appliquéd garments and bags, very little works on paper were done prior to access to printmaking tools in the North in the late 1950’s.

Before the 1950’s several small editions of sealskin stencils were produced; it was a cumbersome and limiting process. However it was discovered that the local carving stone used for sculpture was an ideal medium for relief printing and eventually the stone cut technique became the most common medium of printmaking in Kinngait. Later on the technique of engraving was introduced and in the 1970’s the first litho press was set up. In recent times, stone cuts, etchings and lithographs have comprised the mediums of each collection thus allowing the artists a greater variety of expression.

Pictured: Qavavau Manumie at Kinngait Studios

Lithography was introduced at the Kinngait Studios in the early 1970s. Unlike stonecut and etching, hand lithography requires no cutting of the printing surface. Instead, the design is simply drawn on a limestone block or aluminum plate with grease pencils or with a greasy liquid. The stone or plate is then inked with a grease-based ink while being continuously sponged with a thin film of water. The water repels the greasy ink, confining it to the area defined by the original drawing. Multi-colour prints usually require a separate stone or plate for each colour.

Pictured: Cee Pootoogook at Kinngait Studios

We extend a very deep thank-you to Dorset Fine Arts for connecting Craft Ontario and our patrons with artists and artworks from the North, since the time of the Craft Council and the Guild Shop. The 2024 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection is now available to view and will be available for purchase on October 19! Craft Ontario has the honour of having been selected as the Official Host Gallery of this year’s collection! With this privilege of being the Official Host Gallery, Craft Ontario will have the first edition of the collection available to our patrons!

This is an incredible opportunity for long-time and new collectors alike to acquire a most exclusive edition of the Cape Dorset Print Collection. The annual prints are crafted in a very limited run and are an impressive product of printmaking and skilled artistry from Kinngait.