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GEORGE ARLUK (AIYARANI; ARLOO; ARLOOK; ARLU; ARLOOQ)
Born: May 5, 1949 Male E3-1049
Place of Birth: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Resides: Arviat; also lived in Baker Lake, Rankin Inlet
Sculpture
The sculpture of George Arlook appears non-traditional in many ways. As one of the foremost Inuit artists in the Keewatin Region, Northwest Territories, Arlook works in a highly formalized abstract expression, a departure from the more realistic depiction of Inuit life and art common to other artists. This form of expression is characteristic of the great master sculptors John Tiktak, John Pangnark, and John Kavik, all of whom exercised considerable influence over the young Arlook, as he served his "apprenticeship" as a carver under their tutelage in Rankin Inlet. Arlook's current work is a tribute to his teachers and an extension of the form through his highly personalized rendering of various themes.
George Arlook was born on May 5, 1949, at the King George Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba (hence the choice of his Christian name). He is the fourth child from a family of seven, and is the only one who carves. He spent his early childhood in Eskimo Point (now called Arivat), and has always considered it to be his home. His father, Sevuoi Aiyarani, was also a carver. Charlie Panigoniak, his brother, is a well known singer and song-writer in the north. George traveled extensively, and has lived and worked in Rankin Inlet, Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet, Winnipeg, and Churchil1, Manitoba.
Arlook lived in Rankin Inlet from 1956 to 1975. He began to teach himself how to carve at the age of nine, and sold his first piece for 75 cents in 1960. By 1968, George was becoming known as a very talented and original artist, He studied the works of Tiktak, Kavik, and Pierre Karlik, and spent many hours in conversation with these artists. As he gained confidence in his ability to work with the hard stone of the Keewatin region, he was encouraged by the older carvers to test his own expression.
While working with a variety of different stone types and experimenting with other media, Arlook has stretched his artistic vision in a contemporary style, all the while paying homage to the cultural and artistic traditions of the Keewatin master sculptors to which he is the heir. By the mid- 70s he had developed a highly unique style of semi-abstraction and became famous for it.
Arlook likes to depict single figures such as drum dancers, hunters, or mothers with babies in their hoods, as well as his favourite animal, the musk-ox. Sometimes he groups figures together to form abstracted compositions of gently curving forms that undulate rhythmically. Arlook's sculptures often have antler parts that protrude in complex patterns from the stone.
..."Arluk began to teach himself how to carve soapstone at age 9. In the
1960s he was influenced by sculptors Tiktak and Kavik and John Pangnark. By
the mid-1970s he had developed a unique style of semi-abstraction. He
depicts single figures such as hunters and mothers with babies in their
hoods. Most often he groups figures together to form abstracted compositions
of gently curving forms that undulate rythmically. His sculptures often have
antler parts added that protrude in complex patterns from the stone."
D. Wight
Canadian Encyclopedia 1985.
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Following is an extract from an interview conducted by Joe Camp, a staff writer for
the St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch, with George Arlook from Arviat.
Camp states that Arlook uses soapstone (also called steatite), and when Arlook visited
friends in Minnesota, he used pipestone (also called catlinite). Camp states that "some of
the work has been done with a hacksaw, some with a hammer, and some with a hatchet, but
most of it was done with wood rasps, freeing the whale from captivity inside the stone".
Camp also states that the raw soapstone looks gray like driveway gravel; but when the
carving is finished, they take on hues of shiny green, gray, and black. We listen to the story
Arlook tells through observing the carved figure, and we participate in his story through
touching the stone that then connects us to the earth from where the stone was obtained.
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EXHIBITIONS:
January - March 1972 Eskimo Fantastic Art
Gallery 111, School of Art,
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)
1974 Inuit Sculpture 1974/Sculpture Inuit 1974
Lippel Gallery
Montreal, Quebec
(illustrated catalogue)
March - July 1976 The Mulders' Collection of Eskimo Sculpture
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(illustrated catalogue)
August - Sep 1977 Two Artists - Sculpture/Arlook,
Drawings/Qarlisaq
Image of the Inuit
Contempo Westwood Centre
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
March - June 1978 The Coming and Going of the Shaman:
Eskimo Shamanism and Art
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(illustrated catalogue)
August - Nov 1978 The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(illustrated catalogue)
October - Nov 1978 Eskimo Art
Embankment Gallery
London, England
(illustrated catalogue)
March - April 1979 Sculpture of the Inuit: Lorne Balshine
Collection/Lou Osipov Collection/
Dr. Harry Winrob Collection
Surrey Art Gallery
Surrey, British Columbia
(illustrated catalogue)
July 1979 - May 1980 Inuit Art in the 1970s
Department of Indian Affairs
and Northern Development, and the
Agnes Etherington Art Centre
Kingston, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)
Nov - Dec 1979 In Celebration
Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
Montreal, Quebec
Jan - Feb 1980 Inuit Master Artists of the 1970s
Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
Vancouver, British Columbia
February - April 1981 Rankin Inlet/Kangirlliniq
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(illustrated catalogue)
Sep - Oct 1981 The Jacqui and Morris Shumiatcher
Collection of Inuit Art
Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery,
University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan
(illustrated catalogue)
April 1982 Sculpture Inuit: Stone/Bone
&n
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