Tips on The Best Ways 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 touring the country. These are the stunning 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 global visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail stores and showed at some museums. Given that Inuit art has actually been getting increasingly more worldwide direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art type at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous tourists and art collectors to decide that they would like to buy Inuit sculptures as nice souvenirs for their houses or as very special presents for others. Assuming that the objective is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive traveler imitation, the concern occurs on how does one differentiate the genuine thing from the phonies?
It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece just to find out later on that it isn't genuine or perhaps made in Canada. If one is lucky enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, specifically in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The most safe places to buy Inuit sculptures to ensure authenticity are always the trustworthy galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.
Reliable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres totally to Inuit art. These galleries will normally be located in the downtown tourist locations of major cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and perhaps Native art but none of the other usual traveler keepsakes such as postcards or tee shirts . These galleries will have only authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with imitations or phonies . Simply to be even more secure, make sure that the piece you are interested in includes a Canadian government Igloo tag licensing that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed. So know that an anonymous piece may still be indeed genuine.
Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you might go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition web link to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now reliable online galleries that likewise specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some tourist shops do carry authentic Inuit art as well as the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of tourists. Genuine Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore must have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it.
This can be a genuine gray location to those unknown with authentic Inuit art. If a seller declares that such as piece is authentic, 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 sculpted. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are generally kept in a separate ( maybe even locked) shelf within the store.
Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more global exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian great art type at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. If one is fortunate 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 acquired from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Trustworthy directory Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated entirely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you could go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.