Pudlo Pudlat
ᐊᓈᓇᖅᑐᑦ | Art is Life | L'art, c'est la vie
September 11 – December 21, 2026
College Art Gallery 1
A national touring exhibition presented by Kinngait Arts Foundation.
In partnership with West Baffin Cooperative and Kenojuak Cultural Centre.
About the Exhibition
Pudlo Pudlat ᐳᓗ ᐳᓚ (1916 – 1992) was a Canadian Inuit artist whose preferred medium was a combination of acrylic wash and coloured pencils. His works are in the collections of most Canadian museums. At his death, Pudlat left a body of work of some 4000 drawings and 200 prints.
Born at Kamadjuak Camp on Baffin Island in Nunavut, Pudlat lived for much of his life in the Kimmirut region, hunting and fishing with his family along the southwest coast of the island. Until he was six, he lived near Coral Harbour, later moving to the region of Kimmirut (formerly Lake Harbour). Pudlat began drawing in the early 1960s after he abandoned a semi-nomadic way of life and settled in Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset). He experienced firsthand the radical transformation of life in the Arctic that occurred in the 20th Century and reached its peak in the 1950s. In the late 1950s, when he was already in his 40s, he moved to Kiaktuuq near Kinngait to recover from a bout of tuberculosis. It was there he met Inuit art pioneer James Houston and began his career as an artist. In 1950, he married fellow Inuit artist Innukjuakju Pudlat, and they remained together until her death in 1972.
Pudlat spent 33 years creating art. He began by carving sculpture, but he found carving difficult because of an arm injury, so he switched to drawing around 1960. Initially encouraged by Houston and then by Terry Ryan of the West Baffin Cooperative, he embraced drawing and later printmaking and painting as these media were introduced in the North. Pudlat occasionally traveled south and to other parts of the Arctic for medical treatment. The objects he encountered on his travels, especially airplanes, are prominent in his subject matter.
Pudlat died in 1992, at Kinngait. His last prints appear in the annual Cape Dorset Print collection and catalogue of 1993.
—Exhibition text, Pudlo Pudlat: 'Art Is Life', 2025, English Harbour Arts Centre, Port Rexton, NL.
Image: Pudlo Pudlat, 'Untitled', 1977/78, coloured pencil, ink and acrylic on paper, 56.4 x 75.9 cm, 024-2274.
Image: Pudlo Pudlat, headshot. Courtesy of Kinngait Arts Foundation.
Programming and Events
Opening Reception and Curatorial Tour: Thursday, September 10, 2026 from 5:00-7:00 PM in the upper College Art Gallery. Snacks and refreshments will be available to guests.
Please check back for updated programming schedules.
All programming and events are free and open to the public.
Our Partners
The Kinngait Arts Foundation was founded in 2001 as a not-for-profit organization responsible for communications, promotion, advocacy, government relations and special projects as related to the Inuit art of Kinngait, Nunavut. The Foundation works closely with the West Baffin Cooperative offices in both Kinngait and Toronto to realize key initiatives aimed at building profile and professional capacity for artists. The Kinngait Arts Foundation is the only Arctic-based organization actively working on local and international cultural fronts. The organization maintains administrative offices and a gallery space in Toronto with its Community House located at the Kenojuak Cultural Centre in Kinngait.1
1 Kinngait Arts Foundation, Kinngait Arts Foundation, retrieved July 7 2026. https://www.kinngaitartsfoundation.com
The West Baffin Cooperative, also known as the Kinngait Co-operative is an Inuit co-operative in Kinngait, Nunavut best known for its activities in buying, producing and selling Inuit artworks. The co-operative is part of Arctic Co-operatives Limited, a group of locally owned businesses that provide fundamental services in the Canadian north. The co-operative sets prices for the sale of its member's works, pays the artists in advance and shares its profits with its members.1
Inaugurated September 2018, with an overall area of 10,440 square feet, the Kenojuak Cultural Centre and Print Shop combines a community hub and gathering space with a reliable, robust physical infrastructure for printmaking and studio space for artists to work, share and teach techniques. Features of the building will include: meeting and activity spaces for program activities and use by Elders and other groups in the community; modern print shop facilities with studios for lithography, etching, stone cutting and drawing; Dynamic temporary exhibition space complementing the permanent gallery, offering both contemporary and important historical drawings, prints, carvings, and artifacts of the printmaking process; beautiful exterior terrace; retail area and Visitor Centre; along with temperature, light and humidity-controlled archives.2
1 West Baffin Cooperative, West Baffin Cooperative, retrieved July 7 2026. https://www.westbaffin.com
2 Kenojuak Cultural Centre, West Baffin Cooperative, retrieved July 7 2026. https://www.westbaffin.com/kenojuak-cultural-centre