Kimmirut

Kimmurut is located on Baffin Island just south of Nunavut's capital Iqaluit. It has a small population and access is restricted to air and water only.

Kimmurut hosts a small but thriving arts community and is famous for its beautiful dark and apple green colored serpentine stone. Sculptures from this region are highly representational, with naturalistic animal subjects that are smooth and very highly polished.

Although Kimmurut is not as large a community (in terms of numbers of artists) as its neighbor Cape Dorset, it is still home to two extraordinary cavers who are considered to be the best Inuit artists in the world. Mark Pitsiulak and Pitseolak Qimirpik . These two artists alone are within the highest ranks of world class master carvers and are internationally renown for their works on a global scale.

Pitseolik Qimirpik's most famous subject matter are his owls. His owls are done like no other. The smoothness and shine of the stone, as well as the beautiful lines, proportions and contours are all factors that have garnished his owls as being the best in the world. One of his owls is being preserved in Canada's national art collection (Ottawa, Ontario). Pits also carves eagles extremely well.

Both artists are master carvers and are considered to be among the top five Inuit artists active today. This says alot about Kimmirut as it is a considerably smaller community than Cape Dorset. The general theme artists in Kimmirut like to carve are animals and hunters in their natural settings.