Kiakshuk (Keeakshook) was born in 1886 on the south coast of Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin Island), Nunavut. He would move with his family to the Andrew Gordon Bay area east of Cape Dorset (Kinngait) in the early 1900s.

It was not until Kiakshuk was in his 70s that he tried drawing and print making due to the encouragement of James Houston.  Kiakshuk was an important participant in the development of Cape Dorset graphic arts creating 52 prints from 1960 until 1966.  His preferred medium was engraving due to the direct nature of the process.

Kiakshuk's drawings impressed not only southern buyers but fellow Inuit who recognized that he created real Eskimo drawings with imagery and stories from his traditional lifestyle and experiences on the land. Kiakshuk was an excellent hunter and trapper well versed in traditional hunting skills. He was also believed to have been a shaman as a young man.

In addition to his artwork Kiakshuk was admired for his story telling skills. He appeared in a 1958 National Film Board film called The Living Stone where his storytelling skills were featured. He was also known as a singer of traditional songs. In 1973 he and Pudlo illustrated Eskimo Songs and Stories, a book of traditional songs and stories gathered by Knud Rasmussen (1879-1938) during his 'Great Sledge Journey'.

Kiakshuk's own stories and experiences of the past about hunting, animals, family and camp life, shamans and spirit creatures, and oral history were the subject of his drawings and sculptures. He also recorded the modern life of Inuit which included stories about topics that ranged from musical instruments and living in wooden houses, as well as important events and creating his own art.

His son Lukta Qiatsuq is a graphic artist and a well-regarded sculptor who would often interpret his father's drawings into stonecuts and stencil form. His daughters, Paunichea and Ishuhungitok Pootoogook, were known for their graphic artwork.
 

Exhibitions

• 4th National Burnaby Print Show, Burnaby Art Society
• A Tribute to Cape Dorset Male Artists, Inukshuk Gallery
• Ancient Meeting: Works of Kiakshuk 1960-1966, Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Arctic Spirit 35 Years of Canadian Inuit Art, Frye Art Museum
• ART ESKIMO, Galerie de France
• Art/Facts, McMaster Art Gallery
• Art/Facts, McMaster Art Gallery
• By the Light of the Qulliq: Eskimo Life in the Canadian Arctic, Smithsonian Institution, A travelling exhibition of Inuit art from the Feheley Collection
• Canadian Eskimo Arts Festival, Alaska Methodist University Galleries
• Cape Dorset - A Decade of Eskimo Prints & Recent Sculpture, National Gallery of Canada, in cooperation with the Canadian Eskimo Art Committee
• Cape Dorset Engravings, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, circulated by the Art Gallery of Ontario
• Cape Dorset Engravings, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
• Cape Dorset Graphics *60, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *61, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *62, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *63, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *64/65, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *66, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *67, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Printmaking 1959-1989, McMichael Canadian Collection
• Cape Dorset Revisited, McMichael Canadian Art Collection
• Cape Dorset Revisited - a collection of previously unreleased prints, exhibited at selected commercial galleries, organized by, West Baffin Eskimo Co-op
• Cape Dorset Sculptures and Engravings, McMichael Canadian Art Collection
• Contemporary Canadian Eskimo Art, Gimpel Fils
• Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
• Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Muscarelle Museum of Art College of William and Mary
• Die Kunst aus der Arktis, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, presented by Commerzbank
• Eskimo Art, Embankment Gallery
• Eskimo Carvings and Prints from the Collection of York University, Art Gallery of York University
• Eskimo Fantastic Art, Gallery 111, School of Art, University of Manitoba
• Eskimo Narrative, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• From Drawing to Print: Perceptions and Process in Cape Dorset Art, Glenbow Museum
• Granville Island Canadian Inuit Sculpture Exhibition (second exhibition), Vancouver Inuit Art Society
• Graphic Art by Eskimos of Canada: First Collection, Cultural Affairs Division, Department of External Affairs, Canada
• Graphic Art by Eskimos of Canada: Second Collection, Cultural Affairs Division, Department of External Affairs, Canada
• Grasp Tight the Old Ways: Selections from the Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art, Art Gallery of Ontario
• Hunters of Old, Inukshuk Galleries Inc.
• Images of the Inuit: from the Simon Fraser Collection, Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University
• Immaginario Inuit Arte e cultura degli esquimesi canadesi, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
• In Cape Dorset We Do It This Way: Three Decades of Inuit Printmaking, McMichael Canadian Art Collection
• Inoonoot Eskima: Grafik och Skulptur fran Cape Dorset och Povungnituk, Konstframjandet
• Inuit Art from the Art Centre Collection, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
• Inuit Art From the Glenbow Collection, Glenbow Museum
• Inuit Drawings, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Inuit Graphic Art from Indian & Northern Affairs Canada, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Inuit Graphics and Drawings from 1959-1990, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Graphics from the Past, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Graphics Through the Year: Rare Prints from the Arctic, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Masterworks: Selections from the Collection of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, McMichael Canadian Collection
• Inuit Traditions in Graphics: 1961-1987, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Woman: Life and Legend in Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Inuitkonst fran Kanada - skulptor och grafik, Millesgarden
• Looking South, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Media and Techniques, McMaster Art Gallery
• Native Hands: Inuit art from past and present, Oakville Galleries
• Night Spirits: Cape Dorset 1960-1965, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Noel au Chateau - Art inuit de la collection Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre Guelph, Ontario presented at Chateau Dufresne
• On the Land, The Arctic Circle
• Print Making Today, Shell Centre Gallery
• Return to Origins, The Arctic Circle
• Return to Origins II, The Arctic Circle
• Return to Origins III, The Arctic Circle
• Sculpture/Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, Canadian Eskimo Arts Council
• Selections from the John and Mary Robertson Collection of Inuit Art, Agnes Etherington Art Centre Queen's University
• Selections from the McMaster Art Gallery Collection, McMaster Art Gallery
• Share the Vision Philadelphians Collect Inuit Art, Art Space Gallery
• Sojourns to Nunavut: Contemporary Inuit Art from Canada, at Bunkamura Art Gallery, presented by the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology and The McMichael Canadian Art Collection
• Spoken in Stone: an exhibition of Inuit Art, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
• The Art of the Eskimo, Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University
• The Cape Dorset Print, Presented at Rideau Hall by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
• The Eskimo Art Collection of the Toronto-Dominion Bank, Toronto-Dominion Bank
• The Inuit Print/L'estampe inuit, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the National Museum of Man
• The Jacqui and Morris Shumiatcher Collection of Inuit Art, Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, University of Regina
• The Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art from the Art Gallery of Ontario, University of Guelph
• The Murray and Marguerite Vaughan Inuit Print Collection, Beaverbrook Art Gallery
• The Spirit of the Land, The Koffler Gallery
• The Swinton Collection of Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Ulu/Inua: Form and Fantasy in Eskimo Art, Casino Gallery, Ravinia Park
• Uumajut: Animal Imagery in Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• We Lived by Animals/Nous Vivions des Animaux, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in cooperation with the Department of External Affairs

Collections

• Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston
• Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth
• Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria
• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor
• Art Gallery of York University, Downsview
• Art Gallery, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's
• Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton
• Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal
• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• CIBC Collection, Toronto
• Confederation Centre of the Arts, Charlottetown
• Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City
• Department of Foreign Affairs, Ottawa
• Glenbow Museum, Calgary
• Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet
• Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury
• London Regional Art Gallery, London
• Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
• McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
• Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal
• Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
• Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
• Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
• Shell Canada Collection, Calgary
• Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby
• Toronto Board of Education Archives and Museum, Toronto
• Toronto-Dominion Bank Collection, Toronto
• Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
• Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg

Publications

• INUIT WOMEN ARTISTS: An Art Essay., Author: Withers, Josephine, Publication: Feminist Studies 10 (1):84-96, Spring. (1984)

Accomplishments

His 1960 print, The Summer Tent, was released as a stamp in 1979.