Aliktiluk, Eva Talooki

Eva Talooki Aliktiluk (1927-1995) was born near Dubant Lake of the Kivalliq region, but lived in Arviat from the early 1960s. She sold her first wallhangings in 1965, and carved since 1967. She created Arctic animals, but her main subject interest was human figures, particularly female. She usually carved the hard steatite stone that is available locally, but liked to experiment with different materials. She became known for her innovative use of multicoloured glass trade beads in her textiles and sculpture. The use of beads on carvings was pioneered by her aunt, Susan Ootnooyuk, in the late 1960s. This coincided with the advent of elaborately beaded dolls and figurative wall hangings made for sale in Arviat, based on ceremonial clothing designs popular in the Kivalliq Region since the mid-nineteenth century. Talooki’s carved and beaded women were usually small and toy-like in appearance. A much larger example in the WAG collection seems quite monumental.

Talooki’s works were included in WAG exhibitions Inuit Amautik in 1980, Eskimo Point/Arviat in 1982, and a major touring exhibition, Northern Rock: Contemporary Inuit Stone Sculpture, organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, (1999). She was one of four artists featured in an article in Inuit Art Quarterly in 1999 (v. 14, no. 4) 4-10.