Tips on How to Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Numerous visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the nation. These are the stunning handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in a few of the significant Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist areas popular with global visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at numerous retail shops and showed at some museums. Since Inuit art has actually been getting increasingly more worldwide exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art type at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous tourists and art collectors to choose that they want to buy Inuit sculptures as good souvenirs for their houses or as very unique gifts for others. Assuming that the objective is to get an genuine piece of Inuit art instead of a inexpensive tourist replica, the concern emerges on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the phonies?
It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece only to learn later on that it isn't really authentic or even made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their terrific artwork, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, specifically in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The safest locations to shop for Inuit sculptures to ensure authenticity are always the credible galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides found in hotels.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres entirely to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be found in the downtown traveler locations of significant cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other normal traveler souvenirs such as postcards or tee shirts . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not handle fakes or imitations . Just to be even safer, ensure that the piece you are interested in includes a Canadian government Igloo tag certifying that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed. Be conscious that an unsigned piece might still be certainly genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now reliable online galleries that also specialize in genuine Inuit art.
Some traveler shops do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all types of tourists. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and for that reason needs to have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and absolutely nothing else on the shop racks will look precisely like it.
This can be a genuine gray area to those unknown with authentic Inuit art. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will have details on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was sculpted. The authentic pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are normally kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) rack within the store.
Since Inuit art has been getting more and more international exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian great art type at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Respectable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated entirely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver Kurt Criter either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.