Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok
MOTHER WITH CHILDREN; MOTHER AND CHILDREN; FACES; MOTHER AND CHILD; GROUP OF PEOPLE; FAMILY

Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok’s stone figures are primarily carved through the various effects and stories of environmental circumstance found already inscribed on her source rocks. These figures are emphasized with only minimal intervention by the artist’s hand to portray gatherings of families and communities. Her sculptures do not imitate life, but evoke the life that is already in the stone through the interaction between material and imagination.

Artist bio:

“Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok was born just south of the N.W.T. border in Nunalla, Manitoba in 1934. After her father's death, Tasseor lived with her grandparents in and around Nunalla and Churchill. Tasseor married Richard Tutsweetok in Rankin Inlet in 1960, and moved to Arviat, N.W.T. soon after. She began carving in the early 1960s.

Tasseor drew inspiration from the memories of sand drawings that she and her grandfather (whom she considers to be the greatest influence on her life) had made when she was a child. Her sculptures, representing mothers and children or family groups, are carved in a semi-abstract style in which the human figure is rarely defined. Tasseor works the stone very sparingly, leaving large undulating surfaces uncarved, decorated with incised drawings.

For Tasseor, a flat stone plane has as much expressive power as a face. Human subjects are suggested by faces, arms and legs that emerge from the stone, often only along the edges of the carving. Subtle variations in the positioning or expression of heads and faces provide clues to understanding the meaning of specific sculptures. Tasseor herself assigns very specific meanings or moods to each of her works."

-Ingo Hessel, from Visions of Power, 1991

Tasseor passed away in 2012.

Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok, MOTHER WITH CHILDREN, late 1970s. Carved stone. Courtesy of Feheley Fine Arts. Photo by Brad van der Zanden

Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok, GROUP OF PEOPLE, late 1980s/early 1990s. Carved stone. Courtesy of Feheley Fine Arts. Photo by Brad van der Zanden

Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok, MOTHER AND CHILDREN, 1974. Carved stone. Courtesy of Feheley Fine Arts. Photo by Brad van der Zanden

Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok, FACES, 1978. Carved stone. Courtesy of Feheley Fine Arts. Photo by Brad van der Zanden

Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok, MOTHER AND CHILD, late 1980s. Carved stone. Courtesy of Feheley Fine Arts. Photo by Brad van der Zanden

Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok, GATHERING, late 1980s. Carved stone. Courtesy of Feheley Fine Arts. Photo by Brad van der Zanden