Alec Lawson Tuckatuck   InuitStoneCarving.com Montreal, Quebec, Canada Tel.514.776.8850 Email:alec@inuitstonecarving.com Skype: alec.lawson.tuckatuck   EXHIBITIONS 2011  Solo Exhibit at Canadian Guild of Crafts (date to be announced) -Montreal, Quebec, Canada  2010 Exhibit, demonstrate, and sales - Vancouver 2010 Olympics - Feb.17th-28th Exhibit & Demonstrations - Northern Lights 2010 Business & Cultural Showcase - January 27th-30th, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Solo Exhibit at Feheley Fine Arts - Spring of 2010 (date to be announced) -Toronto, Ontario, Canada Exhibit & Demonstrations - Great Northern Arts Festival 2010, Inuvik, North West Territories, Canada, July (dates tba, usually mid July for 10 days)  Exhibit & Demonstration - 35th International Arts & Crafts Fair Jerusalem, Israel - August 2nd-14th, 2010  2009  "Expression Tradition" - Canadian Guild of Crafts -Group Exhibit - November 19th-December 26th -Montreal, Quebec, Canada  Great Northern Arts Festival - July 10th-19th -Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada First Peoples Festival 2009 - June 19th-21st -Montreal, Quebec, Canada Canadian Guild of Crafts - June 4th-27th -Montreal, Quebec, Canada Demonstrations for Montreal West Island School Board -Montreal, Quebec, Canada 2008 Francois Houde Prize Exhibit - December 5th-21st -Montreal, Quebec, Canada Festival des arts traditionnels et contemporains de Wendake - August 29th-31st -Wendake, Quebec,Canada Exhibit & Demonstrations - August 16th & 17th -Kennebunkport, Maine,USA Great Northern Arts Festival - July 11th-20th -Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada First Peoples Festival 2008 - June 20th-22nd -Montreal, Quebec, Canada Northern Lights 2008 Tradeshow & Conference -Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 2006 Exhibit & Demonstrations -Kennebunkport, Maine, USA 2005 National Aboriginal Hockey Tournament Arts Exhibit -Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada RECOGNITIONS Selected to attend the Vancouver 2010 Olympics to exhibit & demonstrate Musee des Confluences - Lyon, France:  "Sad Kiviuq" sculpture purchased and on permanent display  Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum - Bowdoin College, Maine, USA:  "Brother Moon Sister Sun" sculpture purchased and on permanent display City of Montreal - Montreal, Canada:  "The Offering" sculpture purchased and on permanent display   AWARDS 2010 Recipient of the 2010 Great Northern Arts Festival Artist Choice Award                     2009 Recipient of the Paul Qayutinnuaq Award For Artist Excellence 2008 2008 Francois Houde Prize Finalist Recipient of the 2008 Great Northern Arts Festival Artist Choice Award for Sculptors MEMBERSHIPS Conseil des arts de Montreal Conseil des Metiers d'art du Quebec EDUCATION 2001 Bachelor of Physical Education -University of New Brunswick 1983-1987 Sculpting training with my grandfather & uncle: My grandfather, before he passed away, started teaching me how to envision what is in the stone and started to teach me how to use his tools when I was seven years old. After he passed away, my uncle began taking my grandfathers role as a teacher and leader. PRESS NTD TV Television Interview for "Expression Tradtion" Group Exhibit at the Canadian Guild of Crafts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, November, 2009 CBC Radio Interview for "Expression Tradition" Group Exhibit at the Canadian Guild of Crafts, November, 2009 CBC Radio Interview for Canadian Guild of Crafts Exhibit put on by First Peoples Festival, June , 2009 "Northwest Territories' cultural crossroads" - Pure Canada, Rebecca Silver Slayter, 2009  "New Brunswick's Inuk artist-in-exile: Alec Lawson Tuckatuck won't let geography get in the way of a family carving legacy" Nunatsiaq News, Jane George, June 23, 2006  "Keeping the Ancient Ways Alive: Alec Lawson Tuckatuck Pursues His Passion & His Destiny" Bread 'n Molasses Magazine, Kellie Underhill, June, 2007, Volume 1 No. 1  Alec Lawson Tuckatuck Inuit 5 minutes, Tele-QuebecTv: Ca Mangue a ma culture, Guillaume Fortier, January 21, 2008  Sculpting Demonstration: Making a polar bear, 2 min. 14 secs., Guillaume Fortier, January, 2008   ARTISTIC STATEMENT The core of my artwork is a means of cultural affirmation and expression. I sculpt using traditional as well as non- traditional Inuit media. My expression is what, I believe, people outside our culture, but more importantly, our own people need to learn, keep, and remember of our cultural past and present. I sculpt, ultimately, to pass on my own knowledge of our people, but to also learn more of our traditions so that we maintain and preserve this knowledge. Many of my inspirations come from my experiences as a hunter and also what I have seen, encountered, and learned from the land. My passion comes from the traditional legends, myths, stories, and living of our people. Our traditions and language, although still quite strong, are not only changing but also being lost and forgotten. We have survived for thousands of years through the cold and challenging conditions. We now have a new challenge that we must accept in order for our language and culture to survive for thousands of more years. Every single one of us are important in how we survive, protect, and preserve our culture. I have accepted this challenge and it is through sculpting that I passionately do so. Most often I will take a moment out of a story or legend or personal experience and sculpt it. These moments that I capture are often subjective to my sentiments on that particular scene or story. They can also be significant or symbolic and crucial to the overall definition. In any instance, they have to reach or affect me in a way that I absolutely have to create its meaning. It is from those exact moments that I will envision its final outcome and see what materials it wants to be created out of. The material that I work with, whether if it is soapstone, caribou antler, or what have you, will often tell me what they want to be. Sometimes I have no choice but to sculpt the beauty that is already revealing itself in its own medium. When these materials expose themselves, it is next to impossible to fail to create its chosen destiny. If I can acquire material, mainly soapstone, from my homeland, I will, but it is very difficult to do so. Quarrying is quite difficult and the local artists will often only be able to carry enough stone for a few sculptures for themselves. It is also very expensive to ship stone from the north. So, it is much easier, never the less still a challenge, for me to get walrus tusks, caribou antler, musk ox horns, whale bone, wolf skulls, essentially lighter materials, from the north and order stone from distributors and suppliers in the south. Traditionally we would sculpt by using raw material on raw material or by making tools out of raw material. When rasps, files, riflers, chisels etc were introduced many years ago, they were the modern tools of the day. The modern tools of today, I and most of the new generations of artists use powered rotary tools such as dremels, foredoms, and angle grinders. I have invested a lot of money into modern equipment such as band saws, belt sanders, drill presses, concrete saws and more. These enable me to create in a way that the tools of the past couldnt allow. Therefor, I am able to capture my intentions much more effectively. Alec Lawson Tuckatuck