Tips on How to Purchase and Shop for Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the nation. These are the stunning handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the significant Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist areas popular with international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at numerous retail stores and showed at some museums. Since Inuit art has been getting increasingly more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian fine art type at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for many tourists and art collectors to choose that they would like to acquire Inuit sculptures as great keepsakes for their houses or as extremely special gifts for others. Presuming that the intent is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost traveler imitation, the question emerges on how does one tell apart the real thing from the fakes?
It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece only to discover later that it isn't genuine or perhaps made in Canada. 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 presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more cautious somewhere else in Canada, particularly in traveler locations where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, essential chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.
The most safe places to shop for Inuit sculptures to guarantee authenticity are constantly the credible galleries that focus on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Reputable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted totally to Inuit art. These galleries will typically be located in the downtown tourist locations of major cities. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other normal traveler mementos such as postcards or tee shirts . These galleries will have just authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not deal with imitations or phonies . Simply to be even more secure, ensure that the piece you are interested in includes 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 however not all authentic pieces are signed. So understand that an unsigned piece might still be certainly authentic.
A few of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could shop and purchase Kurt Criter Denver genuine Inuit art sculpture from home throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now trusted online galleries that also focus on genuine Inuit art. Since of lower overheads, these online galleries are a great alternative for buying Inuit art considering that the prices are typically lower than those at street retail galleries. Of course, like other shopping on the internet, one should beware so when handling an online gallery, make sure that their pieces likewise feature the main Igloo tags to ensure credibility.
Some tourist shops do carry genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy keepsakes in order to cater to all types of travelers. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and for that reason needs to have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and nothing else on the shop racks will look exactly like it.
This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. If a seller claims that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was carved. The genuine pieces with the accompanying authorities Igloo tags will always be the greatest priced and are usually kept in a different ( possibly even locked) rack within the store.
Because Inuit art has been getting more and more international direct exposure, people might be seeing this Canadian great art type 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 artwork, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are likewise noted in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is devoted totally 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 likewise have sites so you could shop and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home Kurt Criter Denver anywhere in the world.