Kenojuak Ashevak, The Enchanted Owl, 8 minute video
Video and text are from TVO Arts.
Fantastical. Striking. Wise. The Enchanted Owl catches the eye with its gentle face, intelligent gaze and long whimsical feathers. Kenojuak Ashevak created it in 1960. Known for her highly stylized drawing and prints of Arctic wildlife. Today this striking bird can be seen at the Kenojuak Cultural Centre and Print Shop in Kinngait (Cape Dorset).
With crisp confident lines and fluid shapes, The Enchanted Owl stands out amongst the surrounding white space like an emblem. It was originally printed in both red and black, and in green and black.
Originally printed in both red and black, and in green and black.
The owl was a favourite subject of Kenojuak. In her career, she imagined the clever creature in 100 different prints. Still, this is the only print of hers that hung in her home. In 1970, Canada Post chose it, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Northwest Territories.
Printmaking had a profound impact on Ashevak and on the Kinngait (Cape Dorset) community (Cape Dorset) where she practised.
The video has much more discussion and history about the print and the artist. I was looking more into Inuit art after thinking about the Oopik, and I saw this print in one video. I really liked it, and the story of the artist in the video was
I made up another post with another article I found on her owls specifically. I’ll post that in a couple days. It’s got 30 owl prints! I’m curious to find everyone’s favorites.