Mosesie Kolola

Mosesie Kolola was a Kimmirut, NU-based artist who created scenes of camp life, birds and animals throughout his art practice and imagery. Kolola and his wife, crafts artist and carver Ningiugapik (1937-1985), also lived in Iqaluit [1], NU with their five children who also became artists [2].

Kolola’s carvings in serpentinite stone and bone vary in scale, characterized by their fine polish. Depicting hunters with tools, women at work and animals at play showcasing the diversity of Kolola’s artistic practice. In Camp Scene (1973), Kolola carves a camp with a many figures, four human, three animal, two igloos, and one qamutiik (dogsled). One igloo can be opened to reveal an interior scene of two figures kneeling within, keeping warm by a qulliq, a traditional oil lamp, with an ulu, a woman’s knife, resting by a drying rack. The human figures outdoors are in motion, in a flurry of activity.

Mosesie Kolola was a prolific carver, his work appeared in many influential exhibitions about Inuit art, including Grasp Tight the Old Ways: Selections from the Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art which travelled across Canada from 1983-1985. Kolola was an active member of his community, and was elected to the Board of Directors of Canadian Arctic Producers Co-operatives Ltd. in 1974 and 1978 [3]. His work is held in numerous public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Canadian Museum of History.