Tips on The Best Ways To Buy and Shop for Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the country. These are the splendid handmade sculptures carved from stone by the Inuit artists residing in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other tourist areas popular with worldwide visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at various retail shops and showed at some museums. Since Inuit art has been getting increasingly more worldwide direct exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian art kind at galleries and museums situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of travelers and art collectors to choose that they wish to purchase Inuit sculptures as good mementos for their houses or as really unique presents for others. Assuming that the objective is to get an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a cheap tourist imitation, the question develops on how does one tell apart the real thing from the fakes?
It would be pretty disappointing to bring home a piece just to learn later on that it isn't genuine or even made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their fantastic art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, especially in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian keepsakes such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The most safe places to buy Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are constantly the trustworthy galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.
Reliable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres entirely to Inuit art. These galleries will generally be found in the downtown tourist locations of significant cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and maybe Native art however none of the other typical traveler keepsakes such as postcards or t-shirts . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not handle replicas or fakes . Simply to be even more secure, ensure that the piece you have an interest in comes with a Canadian government Igloo tag licensing that it was handmade by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed. Be mindful that an unsigned piece may still be indeed authentic.
Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you could go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home throughout the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now reputable online galleries that also concentrate on authentic Inuit art. These online galleries are a excellent option for purchasing Inuit art given that the prices are usually lower than those at street retail galleries because of lower overheads. Naturally, like other shopping on the internet, one must beware so when dealing with an online gallery, ensure that their pieces also include the official Igloo tags to ensure authenticity.
Some traveler stores do bring genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all types of tourists. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore ought to have some weight or mass to it. An authentic Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of art work and Kurt Criter Denver nothing else on the store racks will look precisely like it.
Where it becomes harder to determine authenticity are with the recreations that are also made of stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some type of tag indicating that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too comparable in detail, they are more than likely not genuine. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was sculpted. Move on if the Igloo tag is not offered. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are generally kept in a different ( maybe even locked) rack within the shop.
Since Inuit art has actually been getting more and more worldwide direct exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian fine art kind at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their terrific art work, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Respectable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.