INUIT ART - ESKIMO ART FROM CANADA'S CENTRAL ARCTIC REGION

There are numerous definitions for the Arctic. The boundary is generally considered to be north of the Arctic Circle (66° 33’N). The Arctic is mostly a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by tree-less, frozen ground, that teems with life, including organisms living in the ice, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals and human societies.

The Arctic region is by its nature a unique area. The cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions. From the perspective of the physical, chemical and biological balance in the world, the Arctic region is in a key position. It reacts sensitively particularly to changes in the climate, which reflect extensively back on the global state of the environment. From the perspective of research into climatic change, the Arctic region is considered a so-called-early warning system.
The Arctic is also known as the Land of the Midnight Sun.

CANADIAN ARCTIC and THE INUIT 
Canadian Inuit live in Nunavut (a territory), in Nunavik (northern part of Quebec), in Nunatsiavut (Labrador), and in the Northwest Territories.

Nunavut has a population of approximately 29,300, 85% of whom are native peoples, primarily Inuit. It is the least populated yet the largest (2,093,190 sq. km) of the provinces and territories of Canada -7.5% of the area is water. If Nunavut were a sovereign nation, it would be the least densely populated nation in the world: nearby Greenland for example is almost the same size yet has twice the population. Nunavut has supported a continuous population for approximately 4000 years. Most historians also identify the coast of Baffin Island with the Helluland described in Norse saga.

Nunavut is comprised of three regions; 
 · Kitikmeot 
 · Qikiqtaaluk or Baffin Region 
 · Kivalliq (formerly "Keewatin region")

The Kitikmeot Region (Central Arctic) is 457,209 sq.km and includes the southern and eastern parts of Victoria Island with the adjacent part of the mainland as far as the Boothia Peninsula, together with King William Island and the southern portion of Prince of Wales Island. Approx. 4,800 live in the Kitikmeot region in seven hamlets: Bathurst Inlet, Cambridge Bay (Iqaluktuuttiaq), Gjoa Haven, Kugaaruk (Pelly Bay), Kugluktuk (Coppermine), Taloyoak and Omingmaktok (Bay Chimo).

Gallery Canada specializes in Inuit art carvings and Eskimo art sculptures from the Kitikmeot region.