Aoudla Pudlat

Inuit

1951 - 2006

Pudlat practiced in many styles and mediums, becoming renowned as both a lithographer and illustrator. He began as a sculptor in the mid 1960s carving subjects such as families, northern wildlife and Sedna. In the 1970s Pudlat started drawing. About the time Aoudla began to draw, he also began his apprenticeship in the Kinngait Studios. As his mastery of the printing process progressed, he proofed and also editioned many of his own works. His work first appeared in the Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection in 1980 and continued to appear in subsequent collections, alongside lithographs he had produced of other artists’ works. Honing his artistic skill set, Pudlat came to both illustrate and print his own compositions for the catalogue by the 1990s. He often drew highly stylized bird images - a theme which he primarily concentrated on until his death.

Pudlat’s graphic style varied from photorealistic to fantastical. Pudlat played with framing and three-dimensional space within several of his works. Pudlat’s surreal renditions of birds frequently appeared in the Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection.

Pudlat’s work first appeared in the solo exhibition Aoudla Pudlat: Drawings (1980–1981) organized by Theo Waddington Inc. in New York, NY. Pudlat’s work continued to appear in exhibitions throughout the 1980s and 1990s in Canada, the United States and Europe. In 1996 Pudlat moved to Qamani'tuaq (Baker Lake), NU, to study printmaking techniques at Nunavut Arctic College. He contributed several innovative works to the Baker Lake Print Collection, including the woodcut and stencil Then and Now (2001). Pudlat continued to carve and make prints in Qamani'tuaq until his death in 2006. His works can be found in the permanent collections of numerous artistic institutions, including the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, ON, the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Manitoba and the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, QC.