Sep 24, 2016 to Jan 8, 2017
Innovative Spirit: The Prints and Drawings of Pudlo Pudlat
About the Exhibition
Innovative Spirit gathers seventeen works on paper by Pudlo Pudlat (1916–1992) from the collection of Peter Milligan and Dorene MacAulay. These works, a series of promised gifts to the Varley Art Gallery’s permanent collection, explore Pudlo’s rich and varied engagement with mark making. Ranging from early graphite drawings of silhouetted figures, to imagery reflecting the introduction of power lines and aircraft within the arctic landscape, the works on display speak to the various subjects and mediums explored by the artist. Spanning the breadth of Pudlo’s thirty-year career, they are but a sample of the 4,500 drawings and 200 prints produced during his lifetime.
Pudlo is a celebrated figure in the development of drawing in Cape Dorset (Kinngait), Nunavut, and one of the first Inuit artists to combine both traditional and modern imagery in his work. He used pen and paper to record the rapidly changing world around him and in the process, developed a unique visual style that stemmed from his own lived experience.
