Judas Ullulaq, ᔪᑕ ᐅᓗᓚ
Settlement: Gjoa Haven / Uqsuqtuuq
(1937-1999) — E4-342
Alternative Names: Ullulaq Ullulaq, Judas Ullulaq, Ooloolah Ullulaq, Ohloolah Ullulaq
Judas Ullulaq (Ooloolah, Ohloolah) was born in the Thom Bay area at a settlement on the Boothia Peninsula, in Nunavut, July 1, 1937. He died in Taloyoak (Gjoa Haven) Nunavut January 9, 1999.
Judas was the youngest of eight brothers and sisters, his brothers Charlie Ugyuk (1931-1998), Joata Suqslak (1918-1986), Stephen Aqqaq (1933-1985), Eeteemunga Niviaqsiaq (b.1938) and Nelson Takkiruq (1930-1999) were also sculptors. His nephew was the well-known sculptor Karoo Ashevak (1940-1974).
Judas is remembered as a community leader, as well as one of the most respected and "beloved of northern artists".
Judas and his extended family were Netsilingmuit or Netsilik ("people of the seal"). In his youth he watched his father and brothers hunt and fish to supply food for the family, they would also trade fox furs with the local Hudson's Bay Company post for essentials like ammunition. Judas remembered his childhood as one without much food but with great joy.
During his childhood Judas sewed dolls. This interest in figures was eventually expressed as sculpture around the time Judas's daughter (Rebecca Qamukkaaq, b. 1961) was born. His family followed a traditional hunting lifestyle until his daughters came of schooling age, around 1966-67, when they moved to Taloyoak. During his career Judas's sculptures would incorporate ivory, antler, bone, sinew and musk-ox horn.He would begin working in soapstone in 1973.
Judas's art generally focuses on humans participating in various activities. The distorted, wide-eyed, open-mouthed faces, and exaggerated gestures and body movements of these figures have a strong expressive and emotional presence. Darlene Coward Wright has suggested that some of the figures are self portraits.
With Nick Sikkuark, Charlie Ugyuk, Karoo Ashevak and other sculptors from the area Judas was one of the founding members of the "Netsilik "school" of fantastic art" that would gain international attention during the 1980s and 1990s.
Although his later years were marred by illness Judas continued to hunt and carve. He is remembered as a consummate professional who took pride in his "meticulous craftsmanship."36
Judas commented on his life a few years before his death: "as long as my health is good, and I breathe well, I will be carving...I don't exert myself but I work at it steadily...I just carve happily every day, enjoying my time."
Exhibitions
- A Preference for Bone, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
- Arctic Vision: Art of the Canadian Inuit, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Canadian Arctic Producers
- Art Inuit, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
- Art Inuit, Galerie Saint Merri
- Art Inuit, Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie Maite Aubert
- Art Inuit, Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Chapelle de la Visitation
- Brothers: Nelson Takkiruq, Judas Ullulaq, Charlie Ugyuk, Gallery Indigena
- Building on Strengths: New Inuit Art from the Collection, Winnipeg Art Gallery
- Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art of Canada, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, presented at the General Assembly Building, United Nations
- Die Kunst aus der Arktis, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, presented by Commerzbank
- Espaces Inuit, Maison Hamel-Bruneau
- Exhibition of Inuit Art, Harbourfront Centre organized by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
- Exhibition of Inuit Art, Wellington County Museum and Archives organized by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
- Gjoa Haven Sculpture/Wallhangings, Atlantic Galleries
- Gjoa Haven/Spence Bay Sculpture, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
- Glaciopolis: Art Inuit, Presented by l'Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Maison de Pesey
- Granville Island Canadian Inuit Sculpture Exhibition (first exhibition), Vancouver Inuit Art Society
- Im Schatten der Sonne: Zeitgenossische Kunst der Indianer und Eskimos in Kanada/In the Shadow of the Sun: Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art in Canada, Canadian Museum of Civilization
- Images from the Arctic, Galerie D'Art Vincent
- Images of our past, Art of Man Gallery
- Immaginario Inuit Arte e cultura degli esquimesi canadesi, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
- Inspiration Four Decades of Sculpture, Marion Scott Gallery
- Inuit Art from the Canadian Arctic, Bayly Art Museum University of Virginia
- Inuit Art: from the collection of Maurice Yacowar, Collector's Gallery
- Inuit Masterworks, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
- Inuit Masterworks: Selections from the Collection of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, McMichael Canadian Collection
- Judas Ooloolah, Alaska Shop, Gallery of Eskimo Art
- Judas Ooloolah, Gjoa Haven, The Upstairs Gallery
- Judas Ululaq, Houston North Gallery
- Kanuitpit? Kunst und Kulturen der Eskimo: Eine Auswahl aus den Museumssammlungen, Staatliches Museum fur Volkerkunde Munchen
- Keeping Our Stories Alive: An Exhibition of the Art and Crafts from Dene and Inuit of Canada, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum
- Kitikmeot, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
- Kitikmeot-Land of the Spirits, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
- Kitikmeot: Sculpture from Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak and Pelly Bay, Isaacs/Innuit Gallery
- Kunst van de Inuit Eskimo's, Gemeentelijk Kunstcentrum Huis Hellemans
- Kunstwerke der Inuit, Presented by CreARTion, Eppstein in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association of Canadian Studies at the Hotel am Badersee
- Masters of the Arctic: An Exhibition of Contemporary Inuit Masterworks, Presented by the Amway Corporation at the United Nations General Assembly
- Masterwork Sculpture 1985, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
- Miniatures from Pelly Bay, Repulse Bay, Spence Bay, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
- Mother & Child, Marion Scott Gallery
- Mother and Child: Sculpture and Prints, Albers Gallery
- Muskox-Umingmak, Houston North Gallery
- Mythic Image, Ancestral Spirits Gallery
- Northern Exposure: Inuit Images of Travel, Burnaby Art Gallery
- Not Just a Dancing Step..., Galerie D'Art Vincent
- Nouveau Territoires... 350/500 Ans Apres, Presented at les maisons de la culture Cote-des-Neiges, Notre-Dame- de-Grace, and Rosemont-Petite Patrie, Montreal Recreation and Community Development Service and les Ateliers Visions Planetaire
- On Collectors and Collecting: Selections from the Herb & Cece Schreiber Family Collection, The Art Gallery of Hamilton
- Ooloolah of Spence Bay, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
- Salon International Europ'art '92, presented by Galerie Saint Merri
- Sanaugasi Takujaksat: A Travelling Celebration of Inuit Sculpture, Presented by Canadian Arctic Producers Ltd., with the assistance of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa
- Share the Vision Philadelphians Collect Inuit Art, Art Space Gallery
- Small Sculptures from across the Canadian Arctic, Feheley Fine Arts
- Spence Bay Artists, Galerie Elca London
- Spence Bay Sculpture, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
- Spence Bay Sculpture, Houston North Gallery
- Spence Bay Sculpture by Ooloolah and Ugjuk, Gallery Indigena
- Sunakutagnuvalautut: Things from the Past, Feheley Fine Arts
- Taste Of The Wild, Orca Aart
- The Arctic Project: A Photographic Exchange, Surrey Art Gallery
- The Bear: Sculpture, Albers Gallery
- The Inuit Imagination, Winnipeg Art Gallery
- The Spirit of the Land, The Koffler Gallery
- The Spirit of the North, Snow Goose Associates
- The Treasured Monument, Marion Scott Gallery
- Tundra & Ice IV, Orca Aart Gallery
- Tundra & Ice: Exceptional Sculpture from Canada, Orca Aart Gallery
- Umingmak-Muskox, Houston North
- Useful Bits of Bone, Winnipeg Art Gallery
- Whalebone Sculpture: Gjoa Haven Featuring Judas Ooloolah, Northern Images
- [Inuit art], Galerie Saint Merri
Collections
- Amway Environmental Foundation Collection, Ada
- Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
- Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
- Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City
- Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet
- Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
- Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
- McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg
- Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal
- Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
- Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, Brunswick
- Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
- Sarick Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
- Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg