Art Museum of Sport Exhibits Its Inuit Collection

“Katajuk”, 1978 Stone Cut Print by Kakulu. Part of the Inuit Art Exhibit on display in the National Art Museum of Sport in University Place until June, 2007.

INDIANAPOLIS - For the first time since the National Art Museum of Sport moved to University Place Conference Center on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus, its complete collection of art of the Inuit people of Northern Canada is on exhibit.

The Inuit collection will be on exhibit until June 15, 2007.

The 53 prints, 22 sculptures and tapestry in the collection capture the action and joy of such games as blanket tosses, drum dances, acrobatics, and wrestling. They were collected by Richard Windhorst, a Minnesota anthropologist whose interest was in preserving a record of the pastimes of a once nomadic people of Alaska, Canada and Greenland. Windhorst’s collection was given to the National Art Museum of Art in 1991.

Most of the work in the collection was produced in the 1960s and ‘70s, just a decade or two after the Inuits abandoned living off the land for village life. Some of the artists, such as Pitseolak Ashoona (1904-1983) and Agnes Nanogak (1925-2001), were among the last generation to grow up in the traditional Inuit life of hunting, gathering, and shamans dating back to before 1000 B.C. They drew upon their memories and the legends they heard as children.

Most of the prints in the National Art Museum of Sport collection are stonecut prints, a technique that grew out of the Inuit experience with incising images into stone and bone. The health hazards produced by the stone dust diminished its popularity. Today’s Inuit prints are usually lithographs and stencils, more colorful and sophisticated than the vigorous black and white prints of 40 years ago.

The National Art Museum of Sport is one of the nation's largest collections of art depicting sport. It is located in University Place Conference Center & Hotel, 850 West Michigan S. The museum is open to the public free of charge from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For additional information call, 317-274-3627, or visit www.namos.iupui.edu.