A Print by Kenojuak Ashevak & a Diagnostic

19 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by michelinewalker in Aboriginals, Art, Canada, Sharing

Tags

a Diagnostic, Canada, Gabriel Dumont, Inuit Art, Kenojuak Ashevak, Métis

The late Kenojuak Ashevak , considered one of the pioneers of Inuit art, saw her first-ever print, Rabbit Eating Seaweed, included in the 1959 Cape Dorset collection. The early work points to the distinctive style for which the famed artist would become renown. (Historymuseum.ca) (Photo credit: CBC.ca)

The Red Fox by Kenojuak Ashevak (Photo credit: Nunatsiaq News (See Aboriginals in North America)

I apologize for not posting for a long time. There has been a change in my life, but it is not a serious change.

Here is my story. A few weeks ago, I told my doctor that my memory was playing tricks on me. Test confirmed mild cognitive impairment. I will lose my driver’s license and my precious little red Toyota.

Do not be alarmed. I was not diagnosed until the early 1990s, but I have suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME since 1976. Victims get lost in mid-sentence and don’t remember words and names. I continued working and had a successful but shorter career than I would have liked. The only difference between the old and the new diagnostic is age. I am now older. But it could simply be that moving tired me out and that taking a mortgage, at my age, was stressful. Life is not always easy.

In short, I could not work on posts for several days because I was making various arrangements that would allow me to stay home for many long years, despite mild cognitive deficiency. Ironically, destiny led me to purchase a lovely apartment in the appropriate building. It has elevators, a heated interior swimming pool, and, as I have told you in an earlier post, it is located very near a small market place that includes a post office and most of the facilities I require.

My next post is on Métis leader Gabriel Dumont and the North-West Rebellion. Métis and Amerindians were losing their land, so surveyors can cut it up into little squares while a railroad was being built that woul take citizens from sea to sea: A Mari usque ad Mare, the Canadian motto.

Canadian Confederation was very costly,

As a leader, Gabriel Dumont was second only to Louis Riel. They resisted losses brought by Canadian expansion westward. The video inserted below is a fine account of events that took Canada from sea to sea, but a post is necessary.

Gabriel Dumont (Photo credit: The Canadian Encyclopedia)

The Art of Kenojuak Ashevac

19 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Aboriginals, Art, Inuit

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Dorset Culture, Inuit Art, Kenojuak Ashevac, Prints mainly

Birds over the Sun, Kenojuak Ashevac (Photo credit: LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01)

I am researching the harm Europeans caused Aboriginals: one of the worst was the establishment of residential schools. Settlers took Aboriginal children away from their reserve and family. The schools were mainly denominational and the teachers, mostly untrained.

My thoughts were with you yesterday, but given that my refrigerator was literally empty, I had to go shopping.

When I was in the grocery store, I kept thinking: here I am, hunting!

I wanted to show my favourite Kenojuak prints.

It is now back to our Amerindians.

With kindest regards ♥

Kenojuak Ashevak – Inuit Artist

Au pays des jours sans fin

16 Saturday May 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Aboriginals, Art, Canada

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Au pays des jours sans fin, Baffin Island, Beluga Whales, Douglas Wilkinson, Hunting, Inuit Art, Land of the Long Day, Narwhals, Nuvanut, Seals

Inuit Art, The Province

http://www.theprovince.com/entertainment/Inuit+Roadshow/9472655/story.html
https://www.nfb.ca/film/land_of_the_long_day

Baffin Island, Nuvanut

In the land of endless days

“Documentaire sur les Inuits de la terre de Baffin, pendant le court été arctique, qu’ils mettent à profit pour faire leurs provisions en vue du long hiver à venir. Dans la région de Pont Inlet dans l’île d’Alukseevee, les Inuits Tununermiut chassent le phoque ainsi que le narval et le béluga. Nous rencontrons la famille d’un chasseur, dont chaque membre a un rôle à jouer.”

(Documentary on the Inuit of Baffin Island. On the island of Alukseevee, Tununermiut Inuit take advantage of a brief summer to prepare their supplies for the long winter ahead. They hunt for seals, as well as narwhals (le narval; FR) and beluga whales (le béluga). We meet a hunter in whose family every one has a role to play.)

Narwhals have a long tusk. As for seals, in French, they are called phoques (pronounced ‘fuck’). Using that word in an English-speaking environment can be somewhat dangerous. My sister and I shocked two ladies when we exclaimed: “Quels beaux phoques!” (What beautiful seals!) during a visit to Vancouver’s Stanley Park.

Kindest regards to everyone. ♥

https://www.nfb.ca/film/land_of_the_long_day (EN)