Born in 1920 at Windy Lake, 300 km west of Arviat (Nunavut), Pangnark was a member of the Ahiamiut (people of the other side) Inuit. Pangnark resettled in Arviat in the late 1950s, like many others. He had experienced years of hardship due to the area's famines in the 1950s and until that time Pangnark had been living a "semi-nomadic hunting lifestyle." He would continue to hunt to support his family while they lived in Arviat.

Pangnark's artistic career began in the early 1960s and went through many phases. Carving the distinctive hard stone of the region dictated the artist's approach. In the mid-1960s the "curves and planes" of his sculptures softened and in the 1970s his approach became more minimal, his work was characterized by smooth and irregular surfaces incised with faint slits for facial features. His work focussed almost entirely on single figures but with many variations. 

Pangnark's work was included in major group exhibitions in the 1970s including a world tour of Inuit art called: "Sculpture of the Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic" exhibition (1971-73). He was also one of four Inuit artists to travel to Osaka, Japan for Expo 70 as artists in residence.
 

Exhibitions

• Arctic Mirror, Canadian Museum of Civilization
• Cultures of the Sun and the Snow: Indian and Eskimo Art of the Americas, Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal held at "Man and His World"
• Early Eskimo Sculpture, Arctic Artistry
• Eskimo Point/Arviat, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Eskimo Sculpture: Selections from the Twomey Collection, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Espaces Inuit, Maison Hamel-Bruneau
• 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
• Immaginario Inuit Arte e cultura degli esquimesi canadesi, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
• Inspiration Four Decades of Sculpture, Marion Scott Gallery
• INUA: 50 Works from the Cappadocia Collection of Inuit Art, McMaster Art Gallery
• Inuit Art: A Selection of Inuit Art from the Collection of the National Museum of Man, Ottawa, and the Rothmans Permanent Collection of Inuit Sculpture, Canada, National Museum of Man, Ottawa and Rothmans of Pall Mall Canada Ltd.
• Inuit Sculpture 1974/Sculpture Inuit 1974, Lippel Gallery
• Inuit Sculpture 1982, The Raven Gallery
• Kanuitpit? Kunst und Kulturen der Eskimo: Eine Auswahl aus den Museumssammlungen, Staatliches Museum fur Volkerkunde Munchen
• Major/Minor, Marion Scott Gallery
• Masterwork Sculpture 1985, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Oonark/Pangnark, National Arts Centre, curated by the National Museum of Man
• Pangnark, The Arctic Circle
• Pangnark Abstract Sculpture - Kakasilala Representational Sculpture, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Primitive Art from the Arctic, Arctic Artistry
• Pure Vision: The Keewatin Spirit, Norman McKenzie Art Gallery
• Rugged and Profound - Sculpture from Eskimo Point, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Sculpture of the Inuit: Lorne Balshine Collection/Lou Osipov Collection/ Dr. Harry Winrob Collection, Surrey Art Gallery
• Sculpture of the Inuit: Masterwork Exhibitors of the Canadian Arctic, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Sculpture/Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, Canadian Eskimo Arts Council
• Share the Vision Philadelphians Collect Inuit Art, Art Space Gallery
• Stones, Bones, Cloth, and Paper: Inuit Art in Edmonton Collections, Edmonton Art Gallery
• The Art of Keewatin, Arctic Artistry
• The Coming and Going of the Shaman: Eskimo Shamanism and Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Jacqui and Morris Shumiatcher Collection of Inuit Art, Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, University of Regina
• The Mulders' Collection of Eskimo Sculpture, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Stone Sculpture of Arviat, McMichael Canadian Art Collection
• The Williamson Collection of Inuit Sculpture, Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, University of Regina
• The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Uumajut: Animal Imagery in Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery

Collections

• Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston
• Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth
• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• Collection of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, London
• Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City
• Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton
• Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet
• Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal
• Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
• Sarick Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Williamson Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg