16" Unique Colored Walking Bear by Tuk Nuna

Inuit art: Walking Bear
Inuit Artist: Tuk (Taqialuq) Nuna
Size: 15.5" long, 5.5" tall, 6" wide; 14 lbs
Community: Cape Dorset, NU
Stone: Serpentine
id: dfa-6111Nbjjjy

This monumental work is a departure for Nuna who usually carves medium sized walking bears. Tuk Nuna is a master carver of dancing and walking bears in particular.  He ranks with Nuna Parr and Joe Kavik as being the greatest of bear artists.  Tuk is a proficient sculpture of many Arctic animals but it is his love for the polar bear that captures the heart of many Inuit art collectors.

Powerful Walking Bear reflects Tuk Nuna’s understanding of the “nature” of a bear.  

The bear is in motion.  The left front paw is being pulled up as the bear is preparing to place it on the ground while the left back ankle is extended as the animal walks forward.  You can feel this animal moving. This sculpture is in perfect balance with only two limbs planted firmly on the ground. This ability to create perfect balance requires the skill of a master carver like Nuna.

Although this bear has a mature body habitus, Nuna has contoured the body with the rounded softness of a teddy bear.  

Powerful Walking Bear is a large bear with considerable mass but his nature is sweet  and winsome.  This would be the ideal bear for the person in your life who loves familiar literary bears like Rupert the Bear or Winnie the Pooh. But truly, anyone would fall in love with this carving’s engaging and joyful spirit.  

Tuk (Taqialuk) Nuna (1958 - )

Tuk Nuna is the son of Cape Dorset artist Sharky Nuna. Taqialuk learned how to carve through observing family and community members. He has since participated in various carving workshops and enjoys learning more about his art medium.

"… Tuk made his first works when he was 8. He became more serious about carving in his late 20's and carves today when he is not out hunting. His rounded comfortable style suits the animal and human subjects that so interest him."*

*quoted from Cape Dorset Sculpture, Douglas & McIntyre, 2005

Tuk Nuna Exhibitions:

2001 Small Sculptures by Great Artists, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON

2000 Taqialuk Nuna: The Artist's Hand, Inuit Sculpture Portfolio, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC

1999 Horizons, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC

1998 Sculpture from the Canadian Arctic, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON

1997 Singing & Dancing & Playing, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON

1997 Three Young Masters: Tuck Nuna, Turaq Ragee, and Toonoo Sharky, Loondance Gallery/Galerie L'envol Du Huart, Mont-Tremblant, QC

1997 itinraire inuit, recontrer un peuple travers son art, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France

1997 Transitions: Contemporary Canadian and Inuit Art, Indian Affairs & Northern Development, Foreign Affairs, & International Trade 

Canada, Paris, France

1996 Small Sculptures by Great Artists V, Feheley Fine Art, Toronto, ON

1995 Keeping Our Stories Alive: An Exhibition of the Art and Crafts from Dene and Inuit of Canada, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum,

Santa Fe, NM

1995 The Birds of Cape Dorset: A Collection of Scultpure by 32 Cape Dorset Carvers, Albers Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1995 Sedna: Spirit of the Sea, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON

1995 Canadian Inuit Sculpture, The Next Generation, Orca Aart Gallery, Chicago, IL

1995 Miniaturen, Inuit Galerie, Mannheim, Germany

1994 Small Sculptures by Great Artists III, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON

1993 The Theme of Transformation in Inuit Sculpture, The Isaacs/Inuit Gallery, Toronto, ON

1993 Kunstwerke der Inuit, CreARTion, Eppstein, in conjunction with the AGM of Association of Canadian Studies at the Hotel am Badersee, 

Grainau, Germany

1992 Scultpure Inuit, Canadian Guild of Crafts, Montreal, QC

1992 Inuit Sculpture - New Acquisitions, Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA

1992 Arctic Ice: Sculptures in Marble by the Artists of Cape Dorset, NWT, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC

1991 The Hand: Images in Inuit Sculpture, The Isaacs/Iqnnuit Gallery, Toronto, ON

1990 This is My World, Jordan Fine Arts, presented at Windmill Gallery, Phoenix, AZ

1990 Small Sculptures from Across the Canadain Arctic, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON

1989 Sculpture Inuit, Canadian Guild of Crafts, Montreal, QC

1984 Sculpture from Cape Dorset - The New Generation, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art, Toronto, ON

1979 Die Kunst aus der Arktis, Inuit Galerie, Mannheim, at the Rathaus Foyer, Mainz, Germany

Collections:

Inuit Art Centre, Indian and Northern Affairs, Ottawa, ON

Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet, NU

Credits

1992 Invited to give a demonstation of soapstone carving at the Snow-Goose Annual Mask Show

1988 Participated in the Third Experimental Stone Workshop, Iqaluit Jewellery Centre, Iqaluit, NU

1987 Participated in the Second Experimental Stone Workshop, Iqaluit Jewellery Centre, Iqaluit, NU

2005 Cape Dorset Sculpture FEATURED PAGE 65, 69