Reflections on 5 Berry Excellent Works

Whether you’ve been harvesting blueberries, crowberries, cloudberries, blackberries or raspberries this year, keep the summer season going just one week longer with this selection of works that show off the jewelbox world of berries in all their glorious hues.

Megan Kyak-Monteith Berry Picking (2020) © THE ARTIST

Berry Picking (2020)

When I think of berry picking, I think of summer and an activity to do with friends and family. I love how this watercolour by Megan Kyak-Monteith evokes a feeling of nostalgia, togetherness and relaxation. I wonder who the three people are—maybe a mother and her two kids? She is in the foreground, meditatively picking berries while the kids chatter in the background, bag full of berries in hand. The muted earthy tones of the paint—greens, greys and yellows—and the pastel orange sky make this painting evoke tranquility and warmth. Kayak-Monteith’s soft brush strokes infuse a sense of whimsy, and I can’t help but feel a bit sad that the season is over.

— Melissa Kawaguchi, Associate Editor

Nadja Kreutzmann Jewelry Bowl of Crowberries (2019) COURTESY Nuummi Eqqumiitsulianik Saqqummersitsivik © THE ARTIST

Jewelry Bowl of Crowberries (2019)

In Jewelry Bowl of Crowberries (2019) Kalaallit artist Nadja Kreutzmann presents you with an enticing bowl heaped with dark, round berries, inviting you to dive in for a snack. Be careful though, because these berries aren’t tender and juicy! They’ve been expertly cast in sterling silver, oxidized to give their deep colour and semi-matte finish, and adorned with 14 karat gold crowns. This delicious little bowl contains yet another surprise: reach in to pick up a crowberry and you’ll find them set on gold earring backs, mounted in ring settings or strung as a charm on a delicate chain. It seems fitting that in this game of disguise, berries are revealed to be jewels in themselves.

— Michelle Sones, Fact Checker

Ningiukulu Teevee Women Gathering Berries (1995) REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS COURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS © THE ARTIST

Women Gathering Berries (1995)

Everything about Ningiukulu Teevee’s Women Gathering Berries (1995) speaks to me. The scene is simple yet meaningful: a woman kneels, picking berries while carrying a baby in her amauti, while a young child eats berries out of a bucket beside her. Teevee’s soft pencil crayon strokes capture the calmness of an everyday moment. The time together picking berries is both family time and teaching time, the child learning by watching their mother. It brings back memories of picking berries with my mom and grandmother, when I too ate more berries than I brought home. Teevee depicts this memory with soft greens and blues, making the red berries pop and highlighting the togetherness of the subjects.

— Carly Brooks, Assistant Editor and Copy Editor

Mary Gordon Untitled (2021) © THE ARTIST

Untitled (2021)

There’s a burst of colour to Mary Gordon’s 2021 untitled photograph, teasing the likelihood of a burst of flavour for everyone fortunate enough to eat these berries. I can nearly taste the tartness of the aqpiit, and know I wouldn’t be able to resist snacking on some—or several—while picking them. The bold red and yellow hue of the not-fully-mature aqpiit are balanced out by the mellow orange of the ripe ones. Scattered amongst them, the dark tones of what appear to be a couple blueberries and a handful of crowberries provide a welcome contrast to both the colour and the flavour palette. As a photographer from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, QC, berry picking season must be a lovely time of the year for Gordon to capture happy moments while harvesting tasty treats.

— Tiffany Raddi, Assistant Editor

Mm Black and Blueberries (2019)

Berries give me all the feelings. I’m a fruit enthusiast generally, but I especially love tundra berries. Oloreak Etungat’s Mm Black and Blueberries (2019) combines my love of paurngait (the seedy and tart crowberry) and kigutangirnait (which are a smaller blueberry but similar in taste to their grocery store staple cousin) with my obsession with hyper-realistic coloured pencil drawings. Etungat captures the depth of the berries (even the black crowberries!) by layering colour to highlight the shadows in the bowl of indehiscent fruit. With sporadic instances of matte, blueberry-skin blue and the pale yellow of a lichen stem, the artist highlights both the versatility of coloured-pencils and the nostalgia of picking berries on the land. There are always more paurngait and the sweet but less frequent bursts of blueberry, along with the inevitable tundra debris, are a quintessential part of experiencing berry season in the Eastern Arctic. You can tell this drawing took time and meticulous care. If I were in the room for this still-life, the bowl would be empty and my stomach would be upset before Etungat finished drawing her oblong wood grain.

— Napatsi Folger, Tauttunnguaqti