Description
Barbara Akoak is an visual and performing artist. Barbara P. Akoak
Barbara Akoak’s work carries themes often drawn from her Inuit ancestry, she depicts ancient tools, local animals such as the polar-bear, owl, caribou and the seal. Her choice of materials are ivory, baleen, musk-ox horn, feathers, beads, precious and semi-precious stones, pearls, silver, copper, brass and Dick’s gold. Barbara has been greatly influence by her extended family and especially her mother, Annie Akoak. Barbara’s extended family and immediate family would help each other prepare for a hunting trip, harvest local plants, cut up meat and cure furs, pluck birds and cook with each other. Annie taught Barbara how to sew, do patches, doll clothes when she was 6 years old, and Barbara would watch her do many sewing techniques. When Barbara was living in Halifax, NS in 2012 she learned how to do beadwork from her friend Killa Atencio of Mi’kmaq ancestry. From then Barbara decided jewelry was her passion and she decided to enroll into the Nunatta Arctic College’s Fine Arts program, Jewelry and Metalwork. Barbara believes working manually and creatively is a way to pass messages, make statements or get her ideas to become something tangible. Not many people get the opportunity to travel to Canada’s Arctic, and to be able to spread traditional Inuit knowledge through her arts is a way of spreading a part of her history as a modern day Inuk. Her practices started off from sewing, curing fur, and drawing then she later took on beadwork, and now she mainly works with metal and natural products.
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RECENT FACEBOOK POSTS
facebook.comSunday Edition | Inuit art
http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/sunday-edition/segment/12378619 #nunatsiavut
Sterling silver teapots, digital photos and wood carvings as Inuit art?
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/april-23-2017-the-sunday-edition-with-michael-enright-1.4076347/sterling-silver-teapots-digital-photos-and-wood-carvings-as-inuit-art-1.4076372 Dr. Heather Igloliorte on Nunatsiavummiutait art 💝Yes to Inuit made art!
Ludvig
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UPITTUNGA 💝 Proud of all my friends and all the artists who got the award! Now I got to snoop the rest of the peeps I don't know 💝 Kihiani huli Canada 20-30 thousand 😂
Timeline Photos
Too often people have reacted emotionally to their jewellery tarnishing! I apologize for assuming people understand basically EVERYTHING reacts to oxygen! Brass/ bronze/ Dix gold, copper, sterling silver, all kts of gold tarnish. Every single one of them. I personally and at Aayuraa Studio we refuse to coat them in TOXIC chemicals so they don't tarnish. A few times I was complimented on the hand-made hooks we make from our own sterling silver wire being very gentle on the ears. Tarnish adds character! I love the way copper tarnishes. Every natural element (the metals I work with) will react with oxygen. Today I cleaned silver earrings with: 1 small bowl lined with aluminum foil and 1:1 ratio of pineapple juice and water. Then rinse! It gently cleaned off the tarnish! Give it a gentle scrub with an old toothbrush at the same time! You can use lemon juice and vinegar as well but I like smelling like pineapples LOL
Inuit Broadcasting
💝💝💝💝💝💝💝
Featured Profiles
http://pauktuutit.ca/iwbn-new/featured-profiles/#anchor-akoak Upittunga :) quanaqutin, #pauktuutit. "Business shout-out" with Pauktuutit on #inukbarbiedesigns
Photos from Inuk Barbie Designs's post
Ulutnaaq / uluralaakkului $80 CAD + $10 shipping worldwide, or $2 Canada.
Timeline Photos
#tugaaq #sterlingsilver #inukbarbiedesigns $140 CAD + $20 shipping. Narwhal tusk pendant.
by Inukbarbie
I have an etsy shop! For those in #kalaallitNunaat or #alaska who wish to securely shop please visit my page! I'm filling up inventory :) https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/Inukbarbie?ref=hdr_shop_menu
As Inuit, we come from one ancestor. Though there are regional and national differences between Russia, the States, Canada and Greenland, we still have common motifs, styles and tools such as: kakivat, uluit, qilautiit, igluit to name a few. As one community we share these things. Literal objects are collective property and belong to our people. Modern departures of ancient designs are the intellectual property of the artists and should be treated like any other painting, written word or graphic design. We should all feel free to create and inspire! It is also important to acknowledge inspiration and to ask permission and give credit to the artists who have inspired a piece of work. When in doubt: 1: Ask the artist for permission to create your individual interpretation. 2: Give credit to your inspiration. 3: If there is a conflict between similarities, it is important to acknowledge the similarities and seek resolve with extra kindness, especially online where many misunderstandings happen. Inuit around the globe rely heavily on the creation of art as a source of income. It is how many of us feed our families. Let's keep our communities healthy by encouraging each other to fix our mistakes and by calling one another into the circle. We are stronger when we stand together. #inuitart #inuitartists #isupportinuitartists Feel free to copy and paste or share!
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