IQALUIT - A retrospective of the work of Germaine Arnaktauyok is on display at the Iqaluit Fine Arts Studio this month.

Work by artist Germaine Arnaktauyok is featured at the Iqaluit Fine Arts Studio this month. - Daron Letts/NNSL photo

Arnaktauyok, originally from Iglulik, is a Yellowknife-based artist who creates prints and detailed pen and ink drawings depicting Inuit legend. The exhibit features 46 pieces dating back to 1994, including four new prints and 19 drawings produced this decade.

"The subject matter to a large extent is based on traditional Inuit stories, which she knew from her upbringing and which she researched over the years," said gallery co-owner Thomas Brewster.

"Her style is very unique. There are certain younger artists beginning to copy her style. There are no straight lines in her work. It's not quite pointillism, but it is that style of deriving an image using points and dots and squiggles. There is a lot of movement and feeling in the work."

In 2005, the National Gallery of Canada acquired three of Arnaktauyok's etchings for its permanent collection.

"She is very well collected by lots of people across the country, in the U.S. and Europe," Brewster said. "She has produced work of dazzling intensity."

Arnaktauyok releases new prints every five years or so. She created her most recent prints while working with the New Leaf Print Shop in Vancouver last fall.

"Sometimes I have my own ideas and sometimes I read a lot of legends," she said. "That's how I do my artwork – I read. I don't like to make up things when I read legends, but Inuktitut doesn't have a lot of description, so I have a right to make up what they're wearing and the setting, but I follow the story."

The exhibit continues at the gallery until Nov. 20.