Tips on How to Purchase and Shop for Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the nation. These are the spectacular handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists living 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 traveler areas popular with international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail stores and displayed at some museums. Because Inuit art has actually been getting a growing number of worldwide exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many travelers and art collectors to decide that they want to buy Inuit sculptures as great souvenirs for their houses or as extremely special gifts for others. Presuming that the intention is to obtain an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive traveler imitation, the concern develops on how does one tell apart the real thing from the fakes?
It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece just to learn later on that it isn't really authentic or even made in Canada. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic artwork, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more careful in other places in Canada, particularly in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The safest locations to look for Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are always the trustworthy galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Trusted Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted totally to Inuit art. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other typical traveler souvenirs such as tee shirts or postcards . The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now credible online galleries that likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some traveler stores do bring genuine 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 therefore should have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and absolutely nothing else on the store shelves will look precisely like it.
Where it ends up being harder to figure out authenticity are with the reproductions that are likewise made from stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some type of tag showing that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are probably not authentic. If a seller declares that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that features it which will have information on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. Move on if the Igloo tag is not available. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags Kurt Criter Denver will always be the greatest priced and are normally kept in a different (perhaps even locked) rack within the shop.
Since Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic artwork, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you could shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.