Okittuq, Maudie Rachel

Maudie Okittuq (b. 1944) has been carving since 1968 and has developed a powerful personal style. She is one of a small group of people who began carving in Taloyoak in the 1960s and is still actively working today. She was born near Thom Bay on the Boothia Peninsula. The family spent their winters in the Gjoa Haven area where foxes were plentiful for trapping. She was named after her grandmother, Muati, which was later Anglized to “Maudie.”. Her brother, Gideon Qauqjuaq, is also a talented carver. They moved to Taloyoak in 1966, and in that year, married James Okittuq. As she has described:

Some people began carving after [1966], so in 1968, Okittuq and I began to carve. We used to carve together, using only hand tools such as axes and files, because there were no power tools then. We started using whale bone first, then stone later. We were like teachers to each other. I would criticize his carving and he would do the same to me.

When I am in the first stages of a carving, it is hard to see what it will be—for me anyway. I never know what I am making until I start chipping away at it. Only when I see a figure, do I start knowing what it will be. Sometimes I think I see what I can make out a piece of stone, but as a carver you can never be sure that it will turn out that way.I never thought that carving would be a part of my life, and I never dreamed that I would rank with the better carvers.
(Maudie Okittuq, interview with Louise Anaija, Taloyoak, November, 1996.)