Germaine Arnaktauyok

I was in Banff the first time I ever laid eyes on an original Germaine Arnaktauyok print. There is just something about an etching that I find absolutely irresistible. Dark colours emerge like velvet and suck you in and the tiniest line and finest gradient are all inked lovingly by hand. Yes I mean lovingly because to create an edition of 75 hand inked, hand pulled prints you have to love being a print maker and more specifically you have to love etching.

Germaine Arnaktauyok's work has always influenced me. I am drawn to her work in particular not only because it is beautifully crafted and technically perfect but because of her content. I can not think of any other artist off the top of my head that depicts such a close relationship between animals and humans. I love that there is a kinship between the species that you rarely find in other work that explores the human/animal relationship. Much of her inspiration comes from the oral history of the aboriginal people of Nunavut from a time when magic was still alive and the culture was untainted by missionaries.

Even her drawings look a lot like etchings as you can see below. Her self developed technique dubbed “squiggles,” involves layers of thousands of fine, coiled lines the resulting texture which sometimes makes a drawing look similar to an etching.

“I never questioned being an artist. I guess I was lucky. It seemed I knew exactly what I wanted to be, and then I just worked at it”