Lissie Saggiak

Lissie Saggiak was born near Sugluk in Arctic Quebec. She crossed Hudson Strait with her family and her husband Saggiak (1897-1980), and settled in the Andrew Gordon Bay area at Igalaalik camp. When Saggiak, a great carver, obtained a job at the nursing station in Cape Dorset (now Kinngait), he and Lissie moved permanently into the settlement. Lissie drew for a brief period of about six years. Her drawings are delicate in style—fine hatching marks have the same quality as those found in engravings. Five prints in the Cape Dorset annual collections between 1960 and 1967 were by Lissie. Her sister, Mary Ashevak Ezekiel (1932-), was also an artist. Lissie’s son, Kumakuluk (1944-), is a sculptor. 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.