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 residing in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler locations popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail shops and showed at some museums. Considering that Inuit art has been getting a growing number of global direct exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous tourists and art collectors to decide that they would like to purchase Inuit sculptures as great keepsakes for their houses or as extremely distinct presents for others. Assuming that the intent is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive traveler replica, the concern occurs on how does one tell apart the real thing from the phonies?
It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece just to discover later on that it isn't really genuine or perhaps 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 art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more careful somewhere else in Canada, especially in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The safest places to shop for Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are constantly the respectable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.
Credible Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted totally to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be found in the downtown tourist areas of significant cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other usual traveler souvenirs such as postcards or t-shirts . These galleries will have only genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not handle replicas or phonies . Simply to be even more secure, make sure that the piece you have an interest in includes a Canadian federal government Igloo tag accrediting that it was handmade by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. Be conscious that an anonymous piece might still be undoubtedly genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you might go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now trusted online galleries that also specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some tourist stores do carry genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to deal with all kinds of tourists. When shopping at these types of shops, it is possible to tell apart the real pieces from the reproductions. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason must have some weight or mass to it. Stone is also cold to the touch. A reproduction made of plastic or resin from a mold will be much lighter in weight and will not be cold to the touch. A recreation will sometimes have a company name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never feature an artist's signature. An authentic Inuit sculpture is http://journals.oregondigital.org/index.php/OURJ/user/viewPublicProfile/5504 a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the shop racks will look precisely like it. If there are duplicates of a certain piece with precise information, the piece is not genuine. If a piece looks too best in detail with absolute straight bottoms or sides, it is most likely not real. Of course, if a piece features a sticker label showing that is was made in an Asian nation, then it is clearly a fake. There will also be a huge cost distinction between genuine pieces and the replicas.
This can be a genuine gray area to those unknown with genuine Inuit art. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will have details on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are normally kept in a different (perhaps even locked) shelf within the store.
Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art form 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 terrific 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 authentic. Credible Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted completely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you might shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.