Ohotaq Mikkigak

Ohotaq (Oqutaq) Mikkigak (, 1936 - 2014) was a Cape Dorset (now Kinngait) based Inuk artist from southern Baffin Island. Mikkigak was involved with Cape Dorset printmaking in the program's early years, providing drawn designs for printing.

Career

Formative years Mikkigak drew for the Cape Dorset printmaking program when it was in its early stages of operation. A print of Mikkigak's work called Three Ravens (2001-2005) was also included in 2001 catalogue for the West Baffin Eskimo Co-Operative (Kinngait Co-operative). The Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, New York, U.S.) The Canadian Museum of History (Hull, Quebec) The Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College (Traverse City, Michigan, U.S.) The Glenbow Museum (Calgary, Alberta) The Klamer Family Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Ontario) The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinburg, Ontario) The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec The National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa) The Arnold Aubert Vernon Inuit Collection at Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.) The University of Michigan Museum of Art (Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.) The Winnipeg Art Gallery (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

Major influences Mikkigak's time hunting on the land and stories from his grandmother highly influenced his work. It has been observed that Inuit artists of Mikkigak's period drew significant inspiration from the apprenticeship structure of Arctic co-ops (such as the Cape Dorset printmaking studio). While Mikkigak was a practicing artist, he worked with James Houston and others based out of the Cape Dorsert (Kinngait) printmaking studio's first location, a government-issued building known as the sanaguavik. Houston was known for encouraging Inuit artists to draw based on their isumanniivit (their own thoughts), which is likely to have influenced Mikkigak's work.

Style Mikkigak's work covered a board spectrum of subjects and themes, and was often done in pencil crayon (a medium that was particularly prevalent among Inuit graphic artists). Mikkigak's work also consistently emphasized the sky and weather patterns, often using an aerial view for the composition. It was common for artists, including Mikkigak, to use Inuktitut syllabics at the bottom of a piece in order to explain the scene in detail, as well as to use larger formats and manipulate scale in order to convey the Arctic landscape's expansiveness. A theme in Mikkigak and other Inuit artists' work is the use of landscapes to represent memories connected to the represented land, rather than purely the reality of the scene depicted. Mikkigak's drawings did not seek to abstract the landscape, despite his later images taking on a more contemporary style and tone. Instead, he took inspiration from both imagined and real spaces in order to represent their expansive and all-encompassing nature, while focalizing Northern Canada as a fertile rather than barren landscape of colour and open space. He is noted for his autobiographical illustrations, and has said that he enjoyed making drawings filled with colour; especially landscapes, and scenes using animals (particularly birds) and people.

Personal life Mikkigak was married to Qaunak Mikkigak (sometimes spelled Haunak or Qaunak), an Inuk throat singer and carver. They lived the traditional Inuit lifestyle together before settling in Cape Dorset.