JOE KILOONIK (1938-2011) TALOYOAK (SPENCE BAY)
Shamans Calling the Animals, 1996
stone and antler, 18.75 x 11.75 x 16.5 in (47.6 x 29.8 x 41.9 cm)
apparently unsigned.

Provenance
Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver;
Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection, California.

Exhibited
Vancouver, Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Joe Kiloonik: Sculpture, 1998, cat. 2.

Published
Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Joe Kiloonik: Sculpture, (Vancouver: Spirit Wrestler Gallery, 1998), cat. 2.

As missionaries were trying to subvert traditional Inuit beliefs in their zeal to convert the Inuit to Christianity, many artists chose to invest their works both defiantly and proudly with profound spirituality. Examples range from images of transformation to powerfully overt portrayals of Inuit shamans. Many of the most striking examples hail from the Kitikmeot Region, particularly Taloyoak (Spence Bay) and Uqsuqtuuq (Gjoa Haven). Karoo Ashevak (1940-1974) is the best known artist from the region, but perhaps because of his tragic early death many people do not realize that he was in fact a contemporary of artists such as Judas Ullulaq (1937-1999), Charlie Ugyuk (1931-1998), and Joe Kiloonik.

Kiloonik was born in Gjoa Haven but moved with his family to Taloyoak in the mid 1960s. He only began to carve in earnest in the early 1970s after losing a foot and not being able to find regular employment; luckily the Spence Bay carving economy was experiencing a boom. While all the sculptors active in Taloyoak at the time owed a stylistic debt to Karoo, it is perhaps Kiloonik whose works most tend to exhibit a true Karoo-esque aesthetic. Kiloonik, however, disliked working in bone. His stone sculptures are easily recognized by their smooth surfaces and rounded forms. Never a prolific artist, Kiloonik had his only solo show in 1998 at Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver, which featured a number of spectacular compositions including this magnificent Shamans Calling the Animals.

References: See the solo exhibition catalogue Joe Kiloonik: Sculpture, (Vancouver: Spirit Wrestler Gallery, 1998). See the section on the artist in Darlene Coward Wight, Art & Expression of the Netsilik, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2000), pp. 78-79. For a drum dancer by Kiloonik, see Susan Gustavison, Northern Rock: Contemporary Inuit Stone Sculpture, (Kleinburg: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1999), fig. 54, p. 159.