Heads up -- Rankin Inlet masterworks



John Kavik (1897-1993) and John Tiktak (1916-81) were the premier first-generation sculptors in Rankin Inlet. One wonders what their work would have looked like if they had lived in Cape Dorset, with its brilliant green serpentinite that was relatively easy to carve and to polish. Instead, their raw material was steatite, which is much harder to carve and to polish. Lyta Josephie, who moved from Lake Harbour (which shares a quarry with Cape Dorset) to Arviat (near Rankin Inlet), said, "When I came to Arviat . . . I thought the carvings were half done and they were so rough." (Northern Rock, p. 111)

Ingo Hessel writes in Inuit Modern: "The hunters and other figures of Kavik . . . are both the crudest and the most energetic [of the early Keewatin carvers]; they are sawn, rasped and drilled to form raw, elemental forms. Tiktak's faces and figures range from the subtly carved and coolly elegant to the starkly expressive." The Tiktak head shown above and the Kavik head shown below are perfect illustrations of Hessel's comments.
Susan Gustavson writes of Tiktak: "His imagery is simplified, timeless and elegant, giving his figures a monumentality that far exceeds the physical dimensions of the sculpture."

Mark Gilbert and Heather Lane write of Kavik: "Initially, Kavik had difficulty selling his work . . . it being deemed too crude. . . Later critics realised . . . his extraordinary understanding of form, alnd ability to translate this into beautifully expressive carvings with minimal impact on the stone. Kavik is now regarded as one of the great Keewatin masters, even his smallest works have a monumental quality, brought about by the bold, robust mass and chiselled, unrefined qualty of his carving. . . . There is a visceral honesty in his refusal to hide the chisel, file and saw markes in the roughly hewn stone; we can see the creative process in every inch of his work."
About Alaska on Madison

In keeping with our self-description as a virtual gallery run by collectors for collectors, we are offering a limited number of pieces. Every piece is one that we would be happy to have in our personal collection, and the description of each piece explains why. 

We are happy to assist you with inquiries, with searches for particular pieces or artists, with organizing your collections and with buying or selling at auction. Our  Inuit artist search tool  is available on our website , and we would be delighted to help you use it. If you prefer to puzzle things out for yourself,  Deciphering Inuktitut Signatures  will help you to identify artists. 
 
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Ann and Michael Lesk
Alaska on Madison | (908) 487-5757 | alaskaonmadison@gmail.com | www,alaskaonmadison.com