Works on Cloth

The small northern Canadian community of Baker Lake has been home to some of the foremost Inuit artists of contemporary times. While recognized widely for its stone sculpture and prints, it is in the realm of textile art that this remote community has made its most important mark on Canadian art. Invented by Baker Lake women artists in the early 1970s and practised to this day, Inuit wallhangings are a form of appliqué in which images are cut from felt and sewn to wool backings, often enlivened by embroidered surfaces. At once contemporary and traditional, these colourful images range in subject matter from the supernatural to the folkloric and ethnographic. Published by Vancouver's internationally respected Marion Scott Gallery in conjunction with its 2002 exhibition of Baker Lake wallhangings, Works on Cloth is the first fully illustrated catalogue of its kind devoted to this unique yet still misunderstood art form. With colour images of over thirty contemporary examples by fifteen different artists, stories accompanying some of the art, and featuring an informative introduction by gallery director Robert Kardosh, this beautifully designed publication makes a significant and timely contribution to art history and Native culture.Marion Scott Gallery is the author of 'Works on Cloth', published 2002 under ISBN 9780921634362 and ISBN 0921634366.