Kenojuak Ashevak, CC ONu RCA (Inuktitut: ᕿᓐᓄᐊᔪᐊᖅ ᐋᓯᕙᒃ, Qinnuajuaq Aasivak) was a Canadian Inuk artist.

She was born on October 3, 1927 at Camp Kerrasak on southern Baffin Island, and died on January 8, 2013 in Cape Dorset, Nunavut.

She made graphic art, drawings and prints in stone cut, lithography and etching, beloved by the public, museums and collectors alike.

Kenojuak Ashevak was born in an igloo in an Inuit camp, Ikirasaqa[1] or Ikirasaq,[2] at the southern coast of Baffin Island.

[8][9] After her father's murder, Kenojuak moved with her widowed mother Silaqqi and family to the home of Silaqqi's mother, Koweesa, who taught her traditional crafts, including the repair of seal skins for trade with the Hudson's Bay Company and how to make waterproof clothes sewn with caribou sinew.

[11] In time, however, she came to love him for his kindness and gentleness, a man who developed artistic talents in his own right and who sometimes collaborated with her on projects; the National Gallery of Canada holds two of Johnniebo's works, Taleelayo with Sea Bird (1965) and Hare Spirits (1960).

[17] She designed several drawings for Canadian stamps and coins, and in 2004 she created the first Inuk-designed stained-glass window for the John Bell Chapel in Oakville, Ontario.

In 2017, the $10 bill released in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday features Kenojuak's stone-cut and stencil printed work called "Owl’s Bouquet" in silver holographic foil.

[18] During Ashevak's stay at Parc Savard hospital in Quebec City, 1952 to 1955 she learned to make dolls from Harold Pfeiffer and to do beadwork.

At the end of her hospital stay, her crafts attracted the attention of a civil administrator and pioneer Inuit art promoter James Archibald Houston and his wife alma who encouraged her to persevere with her artistic activities.

[21] The first woman to take part in the printmaking workshop in Cape Dorset, Kenojuak soon found success : her work was soon recognized internationally.

Her reception in southern Canada was in fact rapidly favourable : Rabbit Eating Seaweed was Ashevak's first print, part of a debut exhibition of Inuit graphics.

The young woman from the remote Canadian North was an immediate success, said Christine Lalonde, an expert in Inuit art with the National Gallery of Canada.

[22] With the money she earned from the film, Johnniebo was able to purchase his own canoe and become an independent hunter to help provide for the family, which now included a new daughter, Aggeo, and an adopted son, Ashevak.

[8] National Gallery of Canada art expert Christine Lalonde marvelled at her confident artistry: "When you see her, you realize she doesn't use an eraser.

[26] Kenojuak became the first Inuk artist inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2001, and travelled to Toronto with her daughter, Silaqi, to attend the ceremony.

The window was dedicated by Andrew Atagotaaluk, Bishop of the Arctic, on November 9, 2004, celebrating the 75th anniversary of John Bell Chapel.

[36] The search engine Google showed a special doodle on its Canadian home page on October 3, 2014, for Kenojuak Ashevak's 87th Birthday.

[5] At the Heffel Auction, Post-War & Contemporary Art, November 20, 2024, LOT 008, The Enchanted Owl, stonecut on paper 24 x 26 in, 61 x 66 cm, Estimate: $125,000 - $175,000 CAD, Sold for: $289,250 (including Buyer's Premium).