Tips on The Best Ways To Buy and Look 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 stunning 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 international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail stores and displayed at some museums. Since Inuit art has been getting increasingly more global direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art form at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous tourists and art collectors to choose that they want to acquire Inuit sculptures as nice souvenirs for their houses or as really distinct presents for others. Presuming that the objective is to acquire an genuine piece of Inuit art instead of a cheap traveler replica, the question 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 discover later on that it isn't really genuine and even 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 securely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more careful in other places in Canada, especially in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as tee shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.

The best places to shop for Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are always the reputable galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have ads in the city tourist guides found in hotels.

Respectable Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres entirely to Inuit art. These galleries will normally be located in the downtown tourist areas 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 typical traveler mementos such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have only genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with phonies or imitations . Just to be even safer, ensure that the piece you are interested in features a Canadian government Igloo tag certifying that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. Be conscious that an anonymous piece might still be certainly genuine.

Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could shop and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from home throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable online galleries straight from the source that likewise concentrate on authentic Inuit art. Since of lower overheads, these online galleries are a good option for purchasing Inuit art since the costs are generally lower than those at street retail galleries. Naturally, like any other shopping on the internet, one should be careful so when dealing with an online gallery, ensure that their pieces likewise feature the main Igloo tags to make sure credibility.

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 must have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and http://journals.oregondigital.org/index.php/OURJ/user/viewPublicProfile/5504 nothing else on the store shelves will look precisely like it.

This can be a real gray area to those unknown with genuine Inuit art. If a seller claims that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was sculpted. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the greatest priced and are typically kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) shelf within the store.


Since Inuit art has been getting more and more international exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian great art kind at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. If one is lucky 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 bought from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Respectable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted entirely to Inuit art. 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 sites so you could go shopping and buy genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.