Elsie Klengenberg

Elsie Klengenberg
COURTESY THE ARTIST

Biography

Elsie Klengenberg is a renowned artist from Ulukhaktok, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT. In 1962, Klengenberg moved with her family from their home on Read Island to Ulukhaktok. Her father, Victor Ekootak (1916-1965), also helped to form Ulukhaktok’s print facilities and artist cooperative [1]. Klengenberg is known for her creation of prints and drawings.

Klengenberg started to draw in 1980, and also collaborated with fellow artists Mary Okheena and Mabel Nigiyok in Ulukhaktok’s print studios. Together, they designed a stencilling technique that employed mylar (thin polyester film, overlays [2]. The new technique enabled printmakers to produce prints with a variety of tones and colour layering, which led to figures having a three-dimensional appearance on the image’s surface. For example, Klengenberg's stencil print, Going Down River (1989) illustrates the impact of this technique through various values and the figures' three-dimensional appearances. This artwork features two male figures on either side of the composition. The left figure is wearing a bright, turquoise parka while his counterpart on the right is wearing a brown parka. The pair are attempting to catch light grey fish swimming in the blue water beneath the thick ice. Their dogs eat a fish head and tail on a raised land mound in the distance. Klengenberg’s artworks primarily depict northern environments, hunting, animals and figures. She was quoted in Inuit Art Quarterly’s Arts Alive: Special Issue (2004) noting: “I like to tell the old stories so the children will remember” [3].

Klengenberg's artwork has additionally been included in numerous exhibitions and artistic projects. Her work has been in the annual collection Holman Prints between 1970 and 1995, and also in the annual Holman Prints (printmaker) Collection from 1982 to 1993. In 1998, she created 20 stencil prints that depict the story of Uvajuq. This legend is well-known and significant to many Inuit families and communities in the western Arctic, and highlights how three hills developed within the predominantly flat landscape in Iqaluktuuttiaq (Cambridge Bay), NU [4]. Uvajuq, Amaaqtuq and their child were a family of giants who lived on Kitlineq (Victoria Island), but they experienced starvation and died [5]. According to the legend, the families' bodies developed into hills within the surrounding flat natural environment [6]. Uvajuq, the father, is considered to have formed the largest hill [7]. Klengenberg has also been featured in the exhibitions Elsie Klengenberg: The Legend of Uvajuq and Holman: Forty Years of Graphic Art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1999 and 2001 respectively.  

Klengenberg’s prints are in a number of collections including the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Manitoba, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, NT, and the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, QC. She was also included in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program “Adrienne Clarkson Presents” with artists Okpik Pitseolak (1946-2019) and Oviloo Tunnillie, RCA (1949-2014) in 1997, and has taught various workshops in stencilling.



This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada.
Ce projet est financé en partie par le gouvernement du Canada.


Accomplishments
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1995: Moved to Inuvik, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT, to complete Fine Arts courses at Aurora College

1997: Participated in two-week pan-Arctic Women's Workshop at Ottawa School of Art

1997: One of three Inuit women artists, with Okpik Pitseolak (1946-2019) and Oviloo Tunnillie, RCA (1949-2014), to be featured in "Adrienne Clarkson Presents" (CBC program)

1998-2000: Attended Nunavut Arctic College courses in jewellery-making at the Iqaluktuuttiaq (Cambridge Bay), NU campus

Elsie Klengenberg est une artiste renommée d’Ulukhaktok, dans la région désignée des Inuvialuit, NT. Klengenberg est connue pour ses gravures et ses dessins, ainsi que pour avoir contribué au développement d'une nouvelle technique de pochoir avec ses collègues artistes Mary Okheena et Mabel Nigiyok au studio de gravure Ulukhaktok. Ses œuvres ont été présentées dans de nombreuses expositions, ainsi que dans la collection annuelle d’estampes de Holman entre 1970 et 1995.
ᐃᐅᓪᓯ ᑭᓕᖏᒃᐳᒃ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᐅᑦᑎᐊᖅᑐᖅ ᓴᓇᖕᖑᐊᖅᑎ ᐅᓗᒃᕼᐊᖅᑐᖅ, ᐃᓅᕕᐊᓗᐃᑦ ᓄᓇᖓᓂ ᐊᕕᒃᑐᖅᓯᒪᔪᓂ, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᖅ. ᑭᓕᖏᒃᐳᒃ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᐅᑦᑎᐊᖅᑐᖅ ᓴᓇᓲᖅ ᑎᑎᖅᑐᒐᖅᓯᒪᔪᓂᒃ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑎᑎᕋᐅᔭᖅᓯᒪᔪᓂᒃ, ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᑲᔪᓲᖅ, ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᑲᔪᓲᑦ ᐱᕙᓪᓕᐊᑎᑦᑎᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐱᕙᓪᓕᐊᑎᑦᑎᓪᓗᓂ ᑎᑎᕋᐅᔭᕈᓯᕐᒥᒃ ᓴᓇᖕᖑᐊᖅᑎᓄᑦᑕᐅᖅ ᒥᐊᓕ ᐅᕼᐃᓇ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᒪᐃᐳ ᓂᒋᔪᒃ ᐅᓗᒃᓴᖅᑑᖅ ᑎᑎᖅᑐᒐᕐᕕᖓᓂ. ᓴᓇᔭᖏᑦ ᐃᓚᓕᐅᑎᔭᐅᓯᒪᔪᑦ ᐊᒥᓱᓂ ᑕᑯᔭᒐᖃᕐᕕᖕᓂ, ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐊᕐᕌᒍᑕᒫᑦ ᕼᐅᒪᓐ ᑎᑎᖅᑐᒐᖅᑕᖏᑦ ᓄᐊᑕᐅᓯᒪᔪᑦ ᐊᕙᑖᓂᑦ 1970 ᐊᒻᒪᓗ 1995.

Artist Work

About Elsie Klengenberg

Medium:

Graphic Arts

Artistic Community:

Ulukhaktok, NT

Date of Birth:

Artists may have multiple birth years listed as a result of when and where they were born. For example, an artist born in the early twentieth century in a camp outside of a community centre may not know/have known their exact date of birth and identified different years.

1946