Tips on How to Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. These are the spectacular handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in a few of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler locations popular with global visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at numerous retail shops and showed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has been getting increasingly more global exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian art kind at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many tourists and art collectors to decide that they would like to purchase Inuit sculptures as good souvenirs for their houses or as very special presents for others. Assuming that the intent is to obtain an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive traveler replica, the question occurs on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the phonies?
It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece just to discover later that it isn't 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 wonderful art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more careful somewhere else in Canada, particularly 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 sold.
The most safe places to shop for Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are constantly the credible galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.
Reliable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres completely to Inuit art. These galleries will normally be located in the downtown traveler locations of major cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and perhaps Native art however none of the other normal tourist souvenirs such as tee shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not handle fakes or imitations . Just to be even safer, make certain that the piece you are interested in includes a Canadian government Igloo tag licensing that it was handmade 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 mindful that an anonymous piece might still be certainly authentic.
Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you might shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some traveler shops do bring authentic Inuit art in addition to the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all kinds of tourists. When shopping at these types of stores, it is possible to differentiate the genuine pieces from the recreations. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and for that reason must have some weight or mass to it. Stone is likewise cold to the touch. A recreation 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 ever feature an artist's signature. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and absolutely nothing else on the store racks will look exactly like it. If there are duplicates of a particular piece with specific information, the piece is not authentic. If a piece looks too ideal in detail with outright straight bottoms or sides, it is most likely not real. Of course, if a piece includes a sticker suggesting that is was made in an Asian nation, then it is clearly a fake. There will also be a big cost distinction between genuine pieces and the replicas.
Where it becomes harder to identify authenticity are with the reproductions that view publisher site are likewise made from stone. This can be a real gray area to those not familiar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and might even have some type of tag indicating 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 main Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, place where it was made and the year it was carved. Move on if the Igloo tag is not available. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official 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 global exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian great art kind at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Trusted Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted totally 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 also have sites so you might shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.