Soroseelutu Ashoona

SOROSILUTO ASHOONA          (WAKTA; SOROSEELUTU; SOROSILUTU; SHOROSHILUTO;
SOROSILUTOO)

Date of Birth:    March 16, 1941                                      Male/Female:    Female E7-1172

Place of Birth:   Cape Dorset

Mother:
Father: 
                                                                                                                                                           

Sorosiluto is married to the sculptor, Kiawak Ashoona.  She is the granddaughter of artists, Pootoogook and Ningeookaluk.  Sorosiluto is also the half-sister of Joanasie Solomonie.

“If it weren’t for Pitseolak, my mother-in-law, I don’t think I would have ever learned to draw.  For a long time, she kept asking me to try but because I was afraid to try, it wasn’t until a year later that I started. Sometimes I try to do some pictures of stories I have heard about the old days. Sometimes it seems when I begin to draw that not on purpose, I am drawing the same thing I have done before.  Sometimes when I see the finished print, I can’t really remember when I did the drawing but I like the prints better than the drawings because of the colours.”

                                                            Cape Dorset Print Catalogue, 1978.

EXHIBITIONS:

1965, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1975,                            Cape Dorset Graphics
1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980,                            (annual collection)
1993                                                                                         (illustrated catalogue)

August – September 1968                                 
Eskimo Sculpture, Eskimo Prints and Paintings of Norval Morrisseau
Art Association of Newport
Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)

1973                                                                
Canadian Eskimo Lithographs: Third Collection
Presened under the auspices of Cultural Affairs Divison of the Department of External Affairs Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

1975 – 1976                                                     
Inuit Women in Transition
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Ottawa, Ontario
(tour)

1975 – 1976                                                     
We Lived by Animals/Nous Vivions des Animaux
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
In cooperation with the Department of External Affairs
Ottawa, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

May 1975                                                         
Original Drawings by Nine Cape Dorset Women
Gallery of Fine Canadian Crafts
Kingston, Ontario

October 1975 – December 1977                        
Inuit Games/Inuit Pinguangit/Jeux des Inuit
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Ottawa, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated brochure)

1976
Sanasitit/Good Makers
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Ottawa, Ontario

1976 – 1982
Shamans and Spirits: Myths and Medical Symbolism in Eskimo Art
Canadian Arctic Producers and the National Museum of Man
Ottawa, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

January 1977 – June 1982                                 
The Inuit Print/L’Estampe Inuit
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
And the National Museum of Man
Ottawa, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

August 1978                                                     
Inuit Games and Contests: The Clifford E. Lee Collection of Prints
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
(illustrated catalogue)

November – December 1978                             
Polar Vision: Canadian Eskimo Graphics
Jerusalem Artists’ House Museum
Jerusalem, Israel
(illustrated catalogue)

July 1979 – May 1980                                       
Inuit Art in the 1970’s
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
And the Agnes Etherington Art Centre
Kingston, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

November – October 1984
Shamans and Spirits: Myths and Medical Symbolism in Eskimo Art
Arts and Learning Services Foundation
(this is a duplicate of the C.A.P. and National Museum of Man exhibition of 1976 – 1981)
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.
(tour)

August – October 1980
The Inuit Amautik: I Like My Hood To Be Full
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(illustrated catalogue)

September – October 1980                               
La deesse inuite de la mer/The Inuit Sea Goddess
Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal
Montreal, Quebec
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

July – August 1981                                           
Eskimo Games: Graphics and Sculpture/
Giuochi Eschimesi: grafiche e sculture
National Gallery of Modern Art
Rome, Italy
(illustrated catalogue)

September – October 1981
The Jacqui and Morris Shumiatcher Collection of Inuit Art
Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery
University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan
(illustrated brochure)

June – October 1982                                        
Inuit Art from the Art Centre Collection
Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
Guelph, Ontario

December 1982                                                
The Beat of the Drum
The Arctic Circle
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
(illustrated brochure)

February – March 1983                                     
Return of the Birds
Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
Vancouver, British Columbia
(illustrated catalogue)

June 1983                                                        
Return to Origins III
The Arctic Circle
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

October – November 1983                                
The Cape Dorset Print
Presented at Rideau Hall by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
Ottawa, Ontario

June 1984                                                        
Demons and Spirits and those who wrestled with them
The Arctic Circle
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

September – October 1984                              
On The Land
The Arctic Circle
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

October 1984                                                  
Images of the Far North
Studio Art Gallery
State University of New York
Binghamton, New York, U.S.A.

May – June 1987                                              
Inuit Graphics from the Past
Arctic Artistry
Scarsdale, New York, U.S.A.

November 1987                                                
Inuit Traditions in Graphics: 1961 – 1987
Arctic Artistry
Hartsdale, New York, U.S.A.

June – September 1988                                    
The World Around Me
University of Lethbridge Art Gallery
Lethbridge, Alberta

June – September 1990                                    
Inuit Graphics and Drawings from 1959 – 1990
Arctic Artistry
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.A.

November 1993 – January 1994                         
Contemporary Inuit Drawings
Muscarelle Museum of Art
College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)

June 1995- February 1996                                 
Inuit Women: Life and Legend in Art
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(tour)
(illustrated brochure)

December 1995 – March 1996                           
Imaak Takujavut: Paintings from Cape Dorset
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, Ontario

March – June 1996                                           
Imaak Takujavut: The Way We See It
Paintings from Cape Dorset
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)

June – August 1997                                          
Art from the Top of the World
The Story of the Inuit at 360
Isaacs/Innuit Gallery and 360 Restaurant at the CN Tower
Toronto, Ontario

November – December 2000                             
Paintings from Cape Dorset
The Albers Gallery of Inuit Art
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)

April                                                                
Women of the Ashoona Family: Inuit Print Retrospective
The Guild Shop
Toronto, Ontario

October – June 2005                                        
The Power of Dreams
The Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba

COLLECTIONS:

Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.A.
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia
Art Gallery of York University, Downsview, Ontario
Art Gallery, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, Ontario
Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal, Quebec
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec
Clifford E. Lee Collection, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, Michigan, U.S.A.
Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta
Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario
Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury, Ontario
London Regional Art Gallery, London, Ontario
Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario
McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario
Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife, NWT
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario
Simon Frasser Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

HONOURS, ACHIEVEMENTS and EVENTS:

1984     Commissioned by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development,
Ottawa, to make a series of drawings to be included in the exhibition, “Inuit women in Transition”.

1875     Commissioned by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, to make a series of drawings describing Inuit games in honour of the 1976 Summer Olympics.

SELECTED REFERENCES:

Canada.  Department of Indian and Northern Affairs
ABOUT ARTS AND CRAFTS.  Ottawa: Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, 1977.

Canada.  Department of Indian and Northern Affairs
INUIT PINGUANGIT – INUIT GAMES. Ottawa: Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, 1975.

Houston, James A.
ESKIMO ARTISTS. The Geographical Magazine, Vol. 34, No. 11, March, 1962. Pp. 638 – 650.

Jackson, Marion E.
THE ASHOONAS OF Cape Dorset:  In Touch with Tradition.  North/Nord, Vol. 29, No. 3, Fall 1982. Pp. 14-18.

Muscarelle Museum of Art  (Williamsburg)
CONTEMPORARY INUIT DRAWINGS: The gift collection of Frederick and Lucy S. Herman, Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S.A.: The College of William and Mary, 1993.

Nasby, Judith
REVEALING THE TRUTH OF THE ARTIST’S HAND: Contemporary Inuit Drawings. Inuit Art Quarterly: 9(3), Fall 1994, pp. 4 – 13.

National Museum of Man
THE INUIT PRINT – L’ESTAMPE INUIT:  A Travelling Exhibition…
Une exposition itinerante… Ottawa: National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada, 1977.

Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery
THE JACQUI AND MORRIS SHUMIATCHER COLLECTION OF INUIT ART.
Regina: The Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, 1981.

Routledge, Marie
INUIT ART IN THE 1970’s/L’ART INUIT ACTUEL: 1970 – 1979. Kingston, Ontario:
The Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 1979.

Routledge, Marie
SOROSILUTO ASHOONA (1941 - ). In North American Women of the Twentieth Century:
A Biographical Dictionary/Garland, 1995.