Born in Salluit, Northern Quebec in 1915, Lucy moved to Baffin Island as a child after her father's death. Her mother later married Takata Meesa, and the couple brought Lucy to the camps of the Cape Dorset area. 

As a teenager Lucy married Tikitu Qinnuayuak in a group ceremony aboard the Hudson's Bay Company supply ship, Nascopie. Lucy and her husband hunted and fished at various locations on the Foxe Peninsula, including Kangia, where in response to encouragement by James Houston she began in the 1950s to create drawings for sale by the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative. The extra income was crucial for Lucy in 1961 when her husband became ill and required medical treatment in the South. After his recovery, the couple took up permanent residence in Cape Dorset. They raised a family of six children, two of whom were adopted.

Working mainly with graphite and coloured pencils, Lucy became known for her pictures of birds and Inuit women. Between 1961 and 1982, the year of her death, Lucy had works in each of the Cape Dorset print collections. One print was used in a 1972 UNICEF greeting card; another was used for the 1976 Summer Olympics banner. Her works have been exhibited in over eighty group and solo shows, and are now in many museums and private collections. 

With Kenojuak Ashevak and Pitseolak Ashoona, Lucy played an important part in the recognition that art from Cape Dorset has received.

Exhibitions

• 21 X 12 (Eskimo Drawing Exhibition), Inuk 1 Gallery
• A Collector's Feast, Snow Goose Associates
• A New Day Dawning: Early Cape Dorset Prints, University of Michigan
• Acrylic Works on Paper by Lucy, Mazelow Gallery
• Arctic Life and Spirit, Gallery Phillip
• Arctic Spirit 35 Years of Canadian Inuit Art, Frye Art Museum
• Arctic Vision: Art of the Canadian Inuit, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Canadian Arctic Producers
• ART ESKIMO, Galerie de France
• Birds and Flowers: Eskimo Graphics by Lucy Quinnuayuak, Arctic Artistry
• Birds: Sculpture from Cape Dorset & Rock Ptarmigan Limited Edition Print by Kananginak, The Guild Shop
• Building on Strengths: New Inuit Art from the Collection, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Canadian Eskimo Art: a representative exhibition from the collection of Professor and Mrs. Philip Gray, Fine Arts Gallery, Montana State University
• Canadian Eskimo Arts Festival, Alaska Methodist University Galleries
• Canadian Eskimo Lithographs: Third Collection, Presented under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Division of the Department of External Affairs Canada
• Canadian Prints from the McMaster Art Gallery Collection, McMaster Art Gallery
• Cape Dorset - A Decade of Eskimo Prints & Recent Sculpture, National Gallery of Canada, in cooperation with the Canadian Eskimo Art Committee
• 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 Graphics *68, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *69, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *70, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *71, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *72, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *74, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *75, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *76, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *77, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *78, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *79, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *80, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *81, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *82, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Graphics *83, (annual collection)
• Cape Dorset Impressions: Inuit Stonecut and Stencil Print Techniques, National Gallery of Canada
• Cape Dorset Printmaking 1959-1989, McMichael Canadian Collection
• Cape Dorset Prints, London Art Gallery, Organized for the Central Huron Library
• Cape Dorset Prints and Sculpture, McMaster Art Gallery
• Cape Dorset Prints: Twenty-Five Years, National Gallery of Canada
• 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 Sculpture, McMaster Art Gallery
• Cape Dorset Through the Years: 25 Years of Graphics and Sculpture, Arctic Artistry
• Cape Dorset Women Artists Kenojuak, Pitaloosie and Lucy, Gallery Indigena
• Chisel and Brush/Le ciseau et la brosse, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
• Contemporary Canadian Eskimo Art, Gimpel Fils
• Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art of Canada, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, presented at the General Assembly Building, United Nations
• Contemporary Inuit Art, National Gallery of Canada
• Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Muscarelle Museum of Art College of William and Mary
• Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
• December Choice: Arctic Wildlife, Galerie Elca London
• Demons and Spirits and those who wrestled with them, The Arctic Circle
• Die Kunst aus der Arktis, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, presented by Commerzbank
• Dorset: dessins originaux/original drawings, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
• Drawings: Three Cape Dorset Women, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Early Cape Dorset Prints: Kenojuak, Pitseolak, Lucy, Kananginak, Kopapik, Houston North Gallery
• Eskimo Art, Embankment Gallery
• Eskimo Games: Graphics and Sculpture/ Giuochi Eschimesi: grafiche e sculture, National Gallery of Modern Art
• Eskimo Narrative, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Eskimo Sculpture (and Drawings), Waddington Galleries
• Exhibition and Balloted Sale of Canadian Art, Art For All
• Festival of Birds, The Arctic Circle
• Flights of Fancy - Kenojuak Ashevak, Lucy Qinnuayuak, Pitaloosie Saila, Art Gallery of Ontario
• 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
• Hunter of the Sacred Game: Traditional Life on the Land, Organized by the Arts and Learning Services Foundation
• Imaak Takujavut: The way we see it Paintings from Cape Dorset, McMichael Canadian Art Collection
• 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 in the 1970s, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre
• Inuit Art: Drawings and Recent Sculpture, National Gallery of Canada
• Inuit Drawings, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Inuit Games and Contests: The Clifford E. Lee Collection of Prints, University of Alberta
• Inuit Graphic Art from Indian & Northern Affairs Canada, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Inuit Graphics and Drawings from 1959-1990, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Graphics Through the Year: Rare Prints from the Arctic, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Master Artists of the 1970s, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Inuit Prints, University of New Brunswick Long Gallery, St. John Campus
• Inuit Sculpture and Prints from the Collection, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
• Inuit Traditions in Graphics: 1961-1987, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Woman: Life and Legend in Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Isumavut:The Artistic Expression of Nine Cape Dorset Women, Canadian Museum of Civilization
• Kingmeata & Lucy: Cape Dorset Drawings, Feheley Fine Arts
• Kunst aus der Arktis, Volkerkundmuseum der Universitat Zurich
• Looking South, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Lucy Qinnuayuak: A Retrospective Show, Raven Gallery
• Lucy: Drawings, Waddington Galleries
• Lucy: Retrospective Prints, Beckett Gallery
• Memories of Summers Past, Houston North Gallery
• Mother and Child: Selections from the Inuit Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Gallery of Ontario
• Moving Around the Form: Inuit Sculpture and Prints, Agnes Etherington Art Centre Queen's University
• On the Land, The Arctic Circle
• Original Drawings from Cape Dorset by Lucy, Pitseolak, Kingmeata, Albers Gallery
• Polar Vision: Canadian Eskimo Graphics, Jerusalem Artists' House Museum
• Premiere Exhibit of 1986, Page's Exclusive Eskimo Art
• Return of the Birds, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Return to Origins, The Arctic Circle
• Return to Origins II, The Arctic Circle
• Return to Origins III, The Arctic Circle
• Selections from the Toronto-Dominion Collection of Eskimo Art, National Arts Centre
• Small Sculptures from across the Canadian Arctic, Feheley Fine Arts
• 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
• Stones, Bones, Cloth, and Paper: Inuit Art in Edmonton Collections, Edmonton Art Gallery
• The Arctic/L'Artique, UNESCO
• 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 Contemporary Eskimo Prints and Sculpture, Amon Carter Museum of Western Art
• The Dorset Group of Four - Drawings and Prints by Kenojuak, Lucy, Parr and Pitseolak, Canadiana Galleries
• The Eskimo, Museum of Fine Arts
• The Eskimo Art Collection of the Toronto-Dominion Bank, Toronto-Dominion Bank
• The Eskimo Woman: her life and dreams in prints and sculpture, The Arctic Circle
• The Hunter and the Hunted: The Way of the Inuit, The Arctic Circle
• The Inuit Print/L'estampe inuit, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the National Museum of Man
• The Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art from the Art Gallery of Ontario, University of Guelph
• The Lindsay and Swartz Collections: New Acquisitions, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Murray and Marguerite Vaughan Inuit Print Collection, Beaverbrook Art Gallery
• The Toronto-Dominion Bank Collection, Toronto-Dominion Bank
• The Woodget Collection of Eskimo Art and Artifacts, Nova Scotia Museum of Fine Art
• The World Around Me, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery
• The Year of the Bear, The Arctic Circle
• The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Transformation, The Arctic Circle
• 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
• Women Who Draw: 30 Years of Graphic Art from the Canadian Arctic, Feheley Fine Arts
• Works on Paper from the Permanent Collection of Inuit Art, Canadian Guild of Craft Quebec

Collections

• Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston
• Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth
• Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage
• Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria
• Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor
• Art Gallery of York University, Downsview
• Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton
• Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
• Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal
• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• Clifford E. Lee Collection, University of Alberta, Edmonton
• Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City
• Department of Foreign Affairs, Ottawa
• Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton
• Glenbow Museum, Calgary
• Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University, Bristol
• Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet
• Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury
• London Regional Art Gallery, London
• Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
• Macmillan-Bloedel Limited, Vancouver
• McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg
• Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon
• Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal
• Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
• New Brunswick Museum, Saint John
• Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
• Red Deer and District Museum and Archives, Red Deer
• Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
• Tate Gallery, London
• Teleglobe Canada, Montreal
• Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery and Museum of Fine Art, Owen Sound
• Toronto-Dominion Bank Collection, Toronto
• University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge
• University of New Brunswick, Fredericton
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg
• York University, Toronto