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Overview
Yvonne Kanayuq Arnakyuinak was an Inuit artist who specialized in basalt carvings and sculptures. Arnakyuinak was born in 1920 in the region of Baker Lake, Northwest Territories, which is presently Baker Lake, Nunavut. She worked as a carver, alike many members of her family. Much of her work surrounded the themes of family and familial relations. Arnakyuinak particularly captured the relations between a mother and her children in her carvings. Her work has been included in several exhibitions and collections, such as the Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art in Toronto, Ontario and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

Personal Life
Not much is known about Arnakyuinak’s personal life. Arnakyuinak was born in the area of Baker Lake, Northwest Territories (Nunavut) in 1920. She died in 1998 in the Baker Lake region, Nunavut. Other than her birth and death in Baker Lake, it is unsure where Arnakyuinak lived for the majority of her life. However, it is suspected that she spent most of her days in the region of Baker Lake, up until 1985 where Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) found evidence to support that she had moved to live in Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset), Nunavut.

Arnakyuinak had a husband, Paul Arnakyuinak, as well as a son, Robert Oolamik. Both Paul Arnakyuinak and Oolamik were also carvers. Arnakyuinak and her husband also adopted Louie Arnayuirnaaq. Arnayuirnaaq, born in 1968, is a carver known for his basaltic, familial-themed works and continues to reside in the Baker Lake region presently. Arnayuirnaaq is also the biological son of one of Baker Lake’s artists, Tuna Iquliq. Iquliq also worked in sculptures, and had a similar familial-themed signature motif as Arnakyuinak did. It is unclear what the reason was behind the Arnakyuinaks’ decision to adopt Arnayuirnaaq, nor the date of when they did so.

Career
Arnakyuinak has been said to be one of the most notable female artists of the Baker Lake area in the 1950s and 1960s. It is noted that Arnakyuinak, along fellow female artists of the Baker Lake area, largely produced small, miniature sculptures and carvings, whereas the sculptures created by men artists of the Baker Lake area were often to scale of what they were depicting.

Major Works
One of her artworks is a stone carving titled Mother and Child (1968-1970). The piece itself is considerably larger than Arnakyuinak’s typically carvings, measured at 19.2 x 16.5 x 8.2 cm. It is more simplified in comparison to her other pieces, with the two figures are enveloped in the mother’s amautiq. This work is a part of the Albrecht Collection at Feheley Fine Arts. Arnakyuinak has another stone sculpture titled Mother and Child (1974), measured at 13.2 x 6.1 x 7.4 cm, from the John and Mary Robertson Collection of Inuit Art. Other pieces include Seated Woman (1975), measured at 10.2 x 7.6 x 7.6 cm; Kneeling Hunter, measured at 15.2 x 3.8 x 14 cm and Kneeling Woman, measured at 7.6 x 5.7 x 3.8 cm; and Crawling Inuk (basalt carving), measured at 5.1 x 7.6 x 2.5 cm.

Arnakyuinak also created Mother with Three Children (basalt sculpture) in 1973, measured at 13.2 x 5.6 x 9 cm, and Composition (1979, sculpture). Another piece is her Mother and Children (1967-68), which integrated black stone with caribou antler. It is measured at 11.5 x 7.7 x 9 cm. Mother and Four Children (1957) is a piece made of greenish-black stone measured at 11.3 x 7 x 9 cm. In contrast to her usual depiction of figures, Arnakyuinak created an untitled stone sculpture which consists of a group of five masks. It is from the William Rose Collection in Illinois.

Exhibitions
The earliest exhibition with record of Arnakyuinak’s work was in 1970, and her latest and last exhibition took place in 1987. Her first exhibition was displayed at the Canadian Eskimo Arts Council in 1970, during a celebration of the centennial of Northwest Territories, which consisted of varying competitions and exhibitions. Later, in 1974, one of her sculptures was included in the Canadian Guild of Crafts in Montreal, Quebec. In March of 1974, her work also appeared in the Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art in Toronto, Ontario. From March to July in 1976, her carvings were featured in the Mulders’ Collection of Eskimo Sculpture at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her pieces appeared again at the Winnipeg Art Gallery from August to November in 1978 in the Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art. Arnakyuinak was additionally included in the Six Women of Baker Lake exhibition in January of 1986 in a gallery in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In her most recent exhibition, Arnakyuinak’s work was in the Swinton Collection of Inuit Art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery from September to November in 1987.

Collections
Arnakyuinak’s carvings have appeared in numerous collections. These include the Canadian Museum of History (formerly Civilization) in Ottawa, Ontario; the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories; the Klamer family collection in the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Ontario; and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. Her work also appears in the Albrecht Collection at Feheley Fine Arts, and the William Rose Collection in Illinois.