Narwhal Spirit

Released in the 2013 Cape Dorset Print Collection.

Stonecut & Stencil  
62 x 78.3 cm

Tim Pitsiulak (1967 - 2016) was drawn to the arts and various forms of artistic expression for many years. He started to draw as a young boy and later took up carving. He first came to Cape Dorset in 2004 and made it his home.
Tim enjoyed working in the lithography studio with visiting arts adviser, Bill Ritchie. The land and its wildlife were initially the primary influences on Tim’s realist drawing style but he later became a chronicler of the everyday, drawing in large format, meticulously detailed descriptions of boats, heavy equipment and airplanes – the machinery of modern life in Cape Dorset.

Tim’s interest in pursuing jewellery as a career started in Kimmirut, where he took a jewellery course to learn to combine silver, gold and other metals with local gemstones. After moving to Cape Dorset, he studied further and completed a diploma in jewellery and metalwork from Nunavut Artic College. Tim had facility and aptitude for working in many art mediums and was technically proficient. Although he came from a family of carvers and was talented carver himself, he opted for jewellery making and drawing.

"I am a hunter and I know the land and animals of the north. I am particularly inspired by the bowhead whale, because nobody really knows much about them. My inspiration to be an artist comes from my aunt, Kenojuak Ashevak, because she is the oldest and the best." -Tim Pitsiulak