Helen Kalvak

Helen Kalvak (1901-1984) was an Inuinnait graphic artist from Ulukhaktok, NWT. She was born at Tahiryuak Lake, Victoria Island, and moved to Ulukhaktok in 1960, where she began making drawings and helped establish the Holman Eskimo Co-operative. Through her art, she chronicled the traditional lives of the Inuinnait, as well as Inuit oral histories. She was a prolific artist, making more than 1,800 drawings over her life. Between 1965 and 1985, 154 of her drawings were made into prints included in the annual Holman Island print releases, the largest body of published work by an Ulukhaktok artist. Her work is found in many prominent public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, Canadian Museum of History and Winnipeg Art Gallery. She was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1975 and appointed to the Order of Canada in 1978.