Andy Miki was born in 1918 near the Kazan River and died in 1983 in Aqviat. Miki started selling his craft work to "qablunaat" (southerners) when he lived at Ennadai Lake. While in the Ennodai Lake region he and his family lived in the Owlijoot's camp depending, like other inland Inuit, on the annual caribou hunt for survival.

Through the 1920s caribou herds diminished as did the price of animal furs. This was accompanied, in the 1940s and 1950s, by famine and disease that ravaged Keewatin area residents. Miki moved to Eskimo Point in 1959, and on to Rankin Inlet, then to Whale Cove, and moved back to Eskimo Point in 1969.

Whimsical is a word often used to describe Miki's sculptures. The subjects of his carvings often reveal his sense of humour - they have been described as visual puns. His work either appeals to the viewer or it doesn't. As one observer noted: there is no middle ground with his work.

Miki's sculpture is stylized. He has taken animal forms and abstracted them. They are simplified into pristine geometric shapes. Abstraction is a characteristic of Aqviat sculpture but not animal sculptures, which is the focus of Miki's work.

The stone of Aqviat is hard and with small-scale tools is difficult to work with. Consequently, even today, Aqviat carvers tend to create works that conform to a stone's form and avoid elaborate designs. Miki's work tends to have the rough marks of his tools left on them. They, therefore, have a matte, tactile look of a fine file or sandpaper finish.

Andy Miki's abstract sculptures have a timeless quality. They symbolize a man of both resourcefulness and who had a singular and individual vision.

COLLECTIONS:

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec
Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, Michigan, U.S.A.
Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet, Northwest Territories
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Sarick Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario
Toronto-Dominion Bank Collection, Toronto, Ontario
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
Williamson Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Consignments

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