1)  Your drawings often speak to Inuit myths, stories and legends. Are there particular stories or legends that you enjoy drawing more than others?
     I like working with the owl and raven, trying on different designs, mostly on the owl.
2) Which artists, either Inuit or non-Inuit, inspire your work?
     Mialia Jaw’s stories mostly and her written stories.
3) Your drawings first appeared in the 2004 print release, when you were 41 years old. How long had you been drawing previously and what compelled you to start?
     Everybody started drawing in kindergarten. I started I guess when there was a staff meeting and they are long and I drew and drew scribbles, I guess that’s how it started.
4) Can you describe your artistic process? What goes through your mind when you start a drawing, while you are working on it and when it is finished? How do you know when it is done?
     I can look around or read stories, or try to think or see the same story in a different way. Then an image plays around in my mind but it rarely comes out the way I want it. I know I’m finished when I am satisfied with the way it looks.
5) Last year’s print collection was full of new, young artists. What do you think about the direction of art in Cape Dorset and more specifically the direction of the graphic arts program?
     I have never given it much thought but the ones before us are few now. I might not be fully understanding the question about where the art program is heading but its here and those who were here first used their experiences, Inuit stories of life or myth, their imaginations or portrayals are the same set today. Fresh ideas, ages and technical knowledge is, I guess is where its now, for now.

Return to Beyond the Surface: The Drawings by Ningiukulu Teevee Collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inuit Gallery of Vancouver Director Melanie Zavediuk with Ningiukulu Teevee in Cape Dorset in 2012.