CULTURAL GROUP:
Inuit

BORN:
June 16, 1977

BIRTHPLACE:
Iqaluit, Nunavut

Mosesie Pootoogook was born in Iqaluit, but raised in Cape Dorset. He began carving at age eleven, learning under his father, well-known carver, Paulassie Pootoogook. Mosesie’s late mother, Ishuhungitok, was also an artist, and his brother, Anakadlak, is a carver. He sometimes collaborates on pieces with his father, with whom he learned carving techniques. Mosesie most often depicts seals, walrus, and dancing bears in serpentine, a stone similar in composition to jade found on the southern end of Nunavut’s Baffin Island. Mosesie’s work has been shown in exhibitions such as Our Land Transforming: Celebrating the Enduring Spirit of the Inuit at Arctic Raven Gallery in Friday Harbor, WA (1995), Miniaturen at Inuit Galerie in Mannheim, Germany (1995), Small Sculptures by Great Artists at Feheley Fine Arts in Toronto, ON (1996), and Singing & Dancing & Playing in Feheley Fine Arts in Toronto, ON (1997).