David Ikutaaq was born in 1929 near the Kazan River. He became a permanent resident of Baker Lake to the north in the early 1960s, during which time he took up sculpting as a profession. Like all northern artists of his generation he had no formal training, having been raised in a mainly traditional milieu. Together with other Harvaqtormiut artists such as Barnabas Arnasungaaq, Mathew Aqigaaq and Peter Sevoga, he was one of the originators of the "Baker Lake" style of sculpture, whose hallmarks include massive-feeling forms and sensuously rounded surfaces. Although Ikutaaq worked in a sculptural idiom very similar to that of his peers, he was especially conscious of the expressive power of elegant contours. He died in 1984.

Exhibitions

• Baker Lake - Drawings, Sculpture, Tapestries, Theo Waddington
• Baker Lake Sculpture, The Upstairs Gallery
• Baker Lake Sculpture, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
• Baker Lake Sculpture, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Canadian Eskimo Arts Festival, Alaska Methodist University Galleries
• David Ikutaaq - Recent Sculpture, Robertson Galleries
• Drawings and Sculpture from Baker Lake, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Early Eskimo Sculpture, Arctic Artistry
• Eskimo Carvers of Keewatin, N.W.T., Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Eskimo Games: Graphics and Sculpture/ Giuochi Eschimesi: grafiche e sculture, National Gallery of Modern Art
• Eskimo Sculpture, Winnipeg Art Gallery presented at the Manitoba Legislative Building
• Eskimo Sculpture '69, Robertson Galleries
• Eskimo Sculpture (and Drawings), Waddington Galleries
• Granville Island Canadian Inuit Sculpture Exhibition (first exhibition), Vancouver Inuit Art Society
• Images of the Far North, Studio Art Gallery, State University of New York
• In Celebration, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
• 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.
• Kanuitpit? Kunst und Kulturen der Eskimo: Eine Auswahl aus den Museumssammlungen, Staatliches Museum fur Volkerkunde Munchen
• Major/Minor, Marion Scott Gallery
• People of the Caribou, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Primitive Art from the Arctic, Arctic Artistry
• Sculpture, Canadian Eskimo Arts Council a competition/exhibition organized as a contribution to the Centennial of the N.W.T.
• Sculpture in Miniature, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
• 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
• Sheokju of Cape Dorset & Eleven Sculptors of Baker Lake, Victor Waddington Gallery
• Spirits and Dreams - Arts of the Inuit of Baker Lake, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
• Stone Sculpture of Baker Lake Eskimos, Pucker/Safrai Gallery
• Ten Masterworks Exhibition Artists, Gallery of the Arctic
• The Mulders' Collection of Eskimo Sculpture, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Uumajut: Animal Imagery in Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery

Collections

• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor
• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City
• Glenbow Museum, Calgary
• Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet
• McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
• Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
• Toronto-Dominion Bank Collection, Toronto
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg

Publications

• ARTISTS' SUPPLEMENT, Author: Inuit Art Quarterly, Publication: Nepean, Ont.: Inuit Art Quarterly (1990)
• BAFFIN ISLAND., Author: Winnipeg Art Gallery, Publication: Winnipeg: The Winnipeg Art Gallery. (1983)
• CAPE DORSET — A Decade of Eskimo Prints and Recent Sculpture = Dix ans d'estampes esquimaudes et sculptures recentes, Author: National Gallery of Canada, Publication: Ottawa: The National Gallery of Canada (1967)
• CAPE DORSET GRAPHICS 1985., Author: West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative, Publication: Cape Dorset: Dorset Fine Arts (1985)
• INUK, INUIT — Art et tradition chez les Esquimaux d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, Author: Musee des Beaux-Arts (Arras, France), Publication: Arras, France: Musee des Beaux-Arts (1987)
• RUGGED AND PROFOUND — Sculpture from Eskimo Point, Author: Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art, Publication: Toronto: The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art (1987)
• THE FAMILY IN INUIT ART — An Exhibition of Inuit Carvings, Prints, and Wallhangings in Celebration of the Tenth Anniversary of the Inuit Art Enthusiasts, Author: Cochran, Bente Roed, Publication: Edmonton: McMullen Gallery (1989)
• TRANSCRIPT OF THE INTERVIEW WITH LIPA PITSIULAK — Interviewed by Sharon van Raalte with translation by Annie Pitsiulak in May, 1985 in Pangnirtung, N.W.T., Author: CEAC [Canadian Eskimo Arts Council], Publication: Ottawa: Canadian Eskimo Arts Council in collaboration with the Inuit Art Section, INAC, and the Natiional Film Board of Canada. (1985)