Palaya Qiatsuq

Palaya was born in Cape Dorset May 10, 1965 and began carving around 1977. He learned to carve from his father, the well-known sculptor and printmaker, Lukta Quiatsuq. He carved his first two pieces at the age of 12, a bird and a bear. Palaya works in soapstone and bone and carves each sculpture with much attention to detail.

Qiatsuq has demonstrated, lectured, and shown his artwork across Canada, Europe and the United States. He has been employed as a Community Constable for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, at the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative, and has served as mayor of his Community, Cape Dorset. He works hard to balance time devoted to his outside job, his carving, and his family.

“I like to carve transformations. That’s one of my favorite (themes) and shamanism…when I do transformation or shamanism carvings (I hope) the younger people will see the carving in a book or in a gallery. I want them to know that these traditions have to be carried out. How do I put this? They have to know that our ancestors had a hard time to live, to hunt… sometimes, they were starving. Those carvings are important to me and I want to show these younger people, and others, that this happened before…” *

* Excerpt from: “Padlaya Qiatsuk: Encouraging Young Carvers to Persevere”
Matthew Fox, Inuit Art Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring 2001. Pp. 26 – 28.
Exhibitions
2011 Stone and Paper, Cape Dorset 2011, Native Art Gallery, Oakville, ON
2011 Birds, Canadian Arctic Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2011 Continuum, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia
2010 Dancing, Drumming, Singing, Canadian Arctic Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2010 Arctic Wind III: An Expression of Survival, Coastal Peoples Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
2010 Polar Bears, Canadian Arctic Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2010 Mothers in Inuit Art, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario
2010 Nunannguaq: In the Likeness of the Earth, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario
2009 Small Sculptures by Great Artists, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario
2009 Masterworks VII, Canadian Arctic Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2008 Mini Masterworks II, Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
2007 Arctic Birds by Cape Dorset Carvers, Gallery Indigena, Stratford, Ontario
2006 Home and Away Gallery, Kennebunkport, Maine, U.S.A.
2006 Canada House, Canada Day Celebration, London, England
2006 In the Shadow of the Sun: Sami and Inuit Art, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario
2005 Momentum – 7 Emerging Artists, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia
2005 Palaya Qiatsuq Sculpture, Albers Gallery, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
2005 Cape Dorset Sculpture, Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
2004 Masterworks III, Canadian Arctic Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2003 Johnny Lee Pudlat and Palaya Qiatsuk: Sculpture, The Albers Gallery, San Francisco, California, U.S.A
2003 The Qiatsuk Family, Canadian Arctic Gallery, Switzerland
2001 Small Sculptures By Great Artists, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2000 Padlaya Qiatsuk: The Artist’s Hand Inuit Sculpture Portfolio, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC
2000 Seven Emerging Artists From Cape Dorset, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC
1998 Sculpture From The Canadian Arctic, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1997 Singing & Dancing & Playing, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1997 Stone & Bonde, The Inuit Master Carvers of the Canadian Arctic, The Northwest Company, Sun Valley Centre for the Arts and Humanities, Ketchum, ID
1996 Small Sculptures by Great Artists V, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1995 Miniaturen, Inuit Galerie, Mannheim, Germany
1994 The Great Northern Arts Festival, Inuvik, NU
1994 Three Young Carvers From Cape Dorset and Drawing by Aoudla Pudlat, Albers Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1993 Sculpture and Graphics from Cape Dorset, Art Space Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1993 The Next Generation – Inuit Sculpture, Gallery Indigena, Stratford, ON
1993 The Theme of Transformation in Inuit Sculpture,The Isaacs/Innuit Gallery, Toronto, ON
1991 Granville Island Canadian Inuit Sculpture Exhibition, Vancouver Inuit Art Society, Vancouver, BC
1989 Arctic Images: Major Sculptures by Canada’s Leading Contemporary Inuit Artists, D/Erlien Fine Art Ltd, Milwaukee, WI
1989 Masters of the Arctic: An Exhibition of Contemporary Inuit Masterworks, Amway Corporation, United Nations General Assembly, New
York, NY
1988 Tundra and Ice: Stone Images of Animals and Man, Orca Aart, Chicago, IL
1987 L’art Inuit, l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Chambre de Commerce de Chateauroux, France
1986 L’art et la Matiere: Peintures au Sable de Claude Durand – Sculptures d’Art Esquimaux Conseil Municipal, Deauville-Touques, France
1986 A New Selection of Masterful Sculptures from Cape Dorset, Houston North Gallery, Lunenburg, NS
Our Land Transforming: Celebrating the Enduring Spirit of the Inuit, Arctic Raven Gallery, Friday Harbour, WA