Celebrating Canadian Aboriginal Art in 2002 Postage
Beautiful, heartwarming native art, the works of Aboriginal painters and a sculptor, were components in series of postage stamps for Canada Post, issued Christmas 2002.
Every Christmas, Canada Post issues festive postage for the holiday mailings of seasonal cards and packages. In 2002, a special series was produced: a set of three exceptional stamps featuring art by Canadian Aboriginal artists. Two of the stamps were images of captivating paintings, the third a photo of a beautiful soapstone sculpture.
Sculptor Irene Katak Angutitok
On a base of ivory, the soapstone carving of “Mary and Child” was created in 1952 by Irene Katak Angutitok. Photographed and enhanced with background colour, the art piece was included as the Canada Post $1.25 international stamp issued on November 4, 2002. Irene Katak Angutitok was born in Utkusikhalik, Northwest Territories in 1914.
‘Mary and Child’ postage for Christmas 2002. Sweet sculpture carved by Irene Katak Angutitaq of Naujaat, Northwest Territories (Repulse Bay), featuring Mary and baby Jesus. Ivory on soapstone base.
At the tender age of 15, Irene Katak married Athansie Angutitok and moved to Repulse Bay, living “in tents during the summer and in a snow house during the winter,” said Canada Post. Her son, the Honourable Peter Imiq, became the Commissioner of Nunavut. Carving whalebone, ivory, and soapstone, she brought the stone to life, creating people in action. Her sculptures are part of the collections of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Eskimo Museum, Ottawa’s Museum of Civilization and various galleries. Irene Katak Angutitok passed away in 1971.
Cecil Youngfox, Painter
“Winter Travel”, a 65-cent stamp issued in November 2002 was created by Aboriginal painter, Cecil Youngfox. Infused with rich colour, the art shows people with a reindeer in a winter setting. Youngfox painted the piece as a potential stamp twenty years before it became part of the Christmas collection, at that time placing a 30-cent denomination in the corner.
Indigenous artist Cecil Youngfox’s dramatic ‘Winter Fox’ was part of the Canada Post 2002 series of Christmas Aboriginal Art. Youngfox painted at his studio in Toronto.
Born in 1942, Cecil Youngfox’s parents were Metis and Ojibwa living in Blind River, Ontario. Attending the Newman Theological College in Edmonton, Alberta, Youngfox built his skills as an artist. On completing school, he opened his own studio in Toronto, supporting himself through his art. The artist, said Canada Post, “is renowned for his vivid images of native cultural traditions,” and that his paintings reflected “ceremonies and symbols of spirit and spirituality.” A gifted artist who encouraged other natives in their artistic dreams, Cecil Youngfox died in 1987 at only 45 years of age.
Revered Painter Daphne Odjig, Member of the Order of Canada
On Manitoulin Island, Ontario in 1919, Dorothy Odjig was born on the Wikwemikong Reserve. Surrounded by her family of artists, it was only natural that Daphne would become an artist. Her English mother embroidered, her native father sketched and painted, and her grandfather chiselled beautiful tombstone lettering.
Daphne Odjig painting title ‘Genesis’, a colourful Christmas representation of mother and baby. Odjig was one of Canada’s celebrated Indigenous artists.
A wartime worker at the Inglis plant in Toronto in the late 1930s, Daphne explored art at the galleries and libraries of the big city. Marrying, Daphne and her husband opened an art gallery featuring Aboriginal artworks. The gallery “became a magnet for a group of artists that eventually became known as the ‘Indian Group of Seven’,” said Canada Post.
Daphne expanded her artistic skills to include a wide range of mediums and surfaces. The National Museum of Man in Ottawa commissioned her to paint a mural, “The Indian in Transition”. Awarded the Order of Canada in 1986 for her place “in the development of Native Art in Canada,” in 1989 Daphne also received election to the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts. She was presented with honorary degrees from the University of Toronto, Laurentian University and Nipissing University.The Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts was given to Daphne in 2007 for her achievements in art, said Collections Canada
“Mary and Child” are the subjects central in Daphne Odjig’s painting transformed into the .43-cent domestic postage of the Aboriginal art stamp series in November 2002. Executed in bold lines and bright colours, the painting is an example of Daphne’s skill at touching the spirit with her art. A respected and revered Canadian artist, Dorothy Odjig died on October 1, 2016 in Kelowna, British Columbia.
The 2002 Aboriginal Art Collection of stamps for Canada Post brought the work and lives of three Indigenous artists to light for Canadians to admire and enjoy.
This article first appeared on Suite101.com in December 2009. Copyright Susanna McLeod.