Ashevak Tunnillie

Born: November 02, 1956
Community: Cape Dorset

The son of Tayaraq and master carver Qavaroak (Kabubuwa) Tunnillie, Ashevak has a style that embraces, but is distinct from, his father’s. His work embodies a fluid sense of movement and incorporates the inner nature of the particular stone. Skilled at carving in the round, Ashevak’s use of positive and negative space gives his sculptures an openness of design and a strong presence. His work was included in the 1989 “Masters of the Arctic: An Exhibition of Contemporary Inuit Masterworks,” which toured for more than a decade.*
* From Cape Dorset Sculpture, 2005. 
Collections:
Amway Environmental Foundation Collection, Ada, MI
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON
Exhibitions:
2000 Ashevak Tunnillie: The Artist's Hand Inuit Sculpture Portfolio, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC
1997 Ashevak Tunnillie & Kellypalik Qimirpik Sculpture, Albers Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1997 Stone & Bone, The Inuit Master Carvers of the Canadian Arctic, The Northwest Company, Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities, Ketchum, ID
1997 Stories in Stone: A Canadian Inuit Art Exhibition, part of a trade mission lead by Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Westin Chosun Hotel, Seoul, Korea
1996 New Visions, Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1996 Small Sculptures by Great Artists V, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1995 Sedna: Spirit of the Sea, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1995 Inuit Mythology, Arctic Experience, Hamilton, ON
1995 Miniaturen, Inuit Galeie, Mannheim, Germany
1994 Kunst van de Inuit Eskimo's, Gemeentelijk Kunstcentrum Huis Hellemans, Edegem, Belgium
1994 Mythic Image, Ancestral Spirits Gallery, Port Townsend, WA
1993 Sculpture and Graphics from Cape Dorset, Art Space Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1993 The Bear: Sculpture, Albers Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1992 Inuit Sculpture: New Acquisitions, Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA
1992 Inuit Art: Drawings and Recent Sculpture, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON
1991 Art Inuit, Douai at Le Theatre, La Ciotat, France
1991 Art Inuit, Douai at Palais de l'Europe, Le Touquet, France
1991 Art Inuit: Autour de la Collection de Cape Dorset 1991, Douai at Le Colombier, Ville D'Avray, France
1991 Art Inuit, Douai at Galerie Maite Aubert, Le Havre, France
1991 Glaciopolis: Art Inuit, Douai at Maison de Pesey, Les Arcs, France
1991 Art Inuit, Douai at Chapelle de la Visitation, Thonon, France
1991 Art Inuit, Douai at La halle aux Bles, Saint Malo, France
1991 Animals of the Arctic, Arctic Inuit Art, Richmond, VA
1990 - 91 A Family Tradition: Inuit Art from Canada's Arctic, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
1990 Art Inuit, la Sculpture des Esquimaux du Canada, Douai at Centre d'Action Culturelle du Bassin Houllier, Lorrain, Saint Avold, France
1990 Art Inuit, l'Art des Esquimaux du Canada, Douai at Maison Falleur, Cambrai, France
1990 Art Inuit, Douai at Palais de L'Europe, Le Touquet, France
1990 Early and Contemporary Sculpture and Prints by Well-Known Inuit Artists, Arctic Artistry, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
1990 Small Sculptures from Across the Canadian Arctic, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1990 Art Inuit: Autour de la Collection de Cape Dorset 1990, Douai at Centre Culturel Canadien, Paris, France
1989 Cold Stones, Warm Hearts: Inuit Art from the Northwest Territories, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA
1989 Masters of the Arctic: An Exhibition of Contemporary Inuit Masterworks, The United Nations General Assembly, New York, NY
1989 Birds: Sculpture from Cape Dorset, The Guild Shop, Toronto, ON
1989 Baffin Images, Orca Aart, Chicago, IL
1989 L'art Inuit, L'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie Autre Regard, Paris, France
1989 Art Inuit, Douai at Galerie Sanguine, La Rochelle, France
1989 The Art of the Eskimo, Newman Galleries, Philadelphia, PA
1989 L'art Inuit, l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at St. Marcellin, France
1989 Arctic Images: Major Sculptures by Canada's Leading Contemporary Eskimo (Inuit) Artists, D/Erlien Fine Art Ltd, Orca Aart, Chicago, IL, Milwaukee, WI
1988 Arctic Forms - Inuit Sculpture, Arctic Inuit Art Gallery, Richmond, VA
1988 L'art Inuit, chapelle de la Visitation, Thonon, France
1988 Tundra and Ice: Stone Images of Animals and Man, Orca Aart at the Adventurers Club, Chicago, IL
1988 L'art Inuit, Les Martres-de-Veyre, France
1988 Inuit Art Exhibition, Neiman Marcus, Chicago, IL
1988 L'art Inuit, Galerie des Tanneurs, Mulhouse, France
1987 - 88 Inuk, Inuit: Art et tradition chez les esquimaux d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, Musee des Beaux-arts d'Arras, Arras, France
1987 - 88 The Art of the Eskimo, Newman Galleries, Bryn Mawr, PA
1987 Art Inuit, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal, PQ
1986 Art Inuit, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal, PQ
1985 Cape Dorset Sculpture Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal, PQ
1984 Contemporary Art: Cape Dorset, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal, PQ
1984 On The Land, The Arctic Circle, Los Angeles, CA
1983 An Enduring Tradition II: Inuit Carving from the Northwest Territories, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC