Eleeshushe Parr

Well over 1,000 drawings in the Archival Collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative are by Eleeshushe Parr, including six that were selected for the annual print collections between 1966 and 1972. She was well respected by her peers for her artistic accomplishments, including her ability to create and sew elaborate designs for traditional skin clothing—designs that others sometimes copied. Occasionally, she also liked to carve. Over the years her work has been shown regularly in group exhibitions of Inuit art, including the 1991-92 McMichael Canadian Art Collection exhibition, Cape Dorset Drawings and Prints. Eleeshushe was married to Parr (1893-1969), who created more than 2,000 drawings in the last eight years of his life. He and Eleeshushe lived at Fish Lake a few miles from Cape Dorset (now Kinngait) until Parr suffered such severe frostbite that he lost part of a foot and they moved into the community itself.

Excerpted, with light edits, from Strange Scenes: Early Cape Dorset Drawings by Jean Blodgett and Susan Gustavison, published by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, January 1993.