Lucy Qinnuayuak

Lucy Qinnuayuak (1915–1982) was an Inuit graphic artist and printmaker. Qinnuayuak was born in or

near Salluit, Quebec in 1915. At an early age her family moved to Baffin Island, where they settled in

Cape Dorset. Qinnuayuak began drawing in the late 1950s and was one of the first to respond to James

Archibald Houston request for Inuit printmaking. Her work was first included in the Cape Dorset print

collection in 1961, and by the time of her death in 1982, 136 of her prints were published in the

collection. Qinnuayuak worked primarily in graphite and colored pencils, but did more experimenting in

the 1970s–80s with watercolor and acrylic paints. In the final two decades of her life, she created

thousands of images of the stylized birds and scenes depicting women's roles in the traditional Inuit

culture. Known for her renderings of arctic birds, Qinnuayuak's work has exhibited extensively in and

outside of Canada. One of her designs was used in promotional banners for the 1976 Summer Olympics

and her stone cut We all have something to do is part of the Senate of Canada's Aboriginal art collection.

We have one of her works in the collection at this time and she is in numerous other public collections in

Canada.

Website: https://www.inuitartfoundation.org/iad/artist/Lucy-Qinnuayuak

Twitter/Instagram/Facebook: @DorsetFineArts