Full disclosure: I’m not a visual arts consultant and I spent most of my life believing I just wasn’t the “artistic type.” It wasn’t until I joined LEARN that I discovered that visual arts aren’t an exclusive club. It’s just a muscle waiting to be practiced. This experience also reminded me how empowering it is to be a beginner again.
This summer, I had the opportunity to participate in a printmaking workshop centred on Inuit linocut printmaking (or linoprint). While linocut is a printmaking technique used around the world, it has played an important role in the development of contemporary Inuit printmaking, particularly in communities such as Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset), where printmaking has flourished since the late 1950s. Through these prints, artists share stories of personal and family experiences and connections to the land. The imagery often reflects the animals, places, traditions, and experiences that hold cultural and personal significance, offering viewers a glimpse into Inuit perspectives and ways of knowing.
Learning to See Before Learning to Create
Before anyone touched a carving tool, we spent rich, unhurried time observing Inuit prints by several artists – looking closely, interpreting the works, and connecting with the art within its cultural context.
A display of Inuit linocut prints.
Together, we discussed what we noticed:
- What lines and textures stood out?
- How did artists use positive and negative space?
- What emotions did the artwork evoke?
- What stories might the artist be telling?
- What clues helped us understand the cultural significance of the images?
Experiencing this from the learner’s perspective was a wonderful reminder of Competency 3: To appreciate works of art in action. This competency is an integral part of Québec’s Arts Education Program, at both the elementary and secondary levels. The program emphasizes not only observing and interpreting works of art, but also reflecting on the experience, considering cultural context, and, when possible, meeting artists and becoming familiar with their creative processes.
This gave me a new appreciation for the value of slowing down to look and reflect. We spent time carefully observing Inuit prints, discussing what we noticed and wondered, and considering the works within their cultural context. We also had the opportunity to watch artists create, seeing the decisions, techniques, and processes behind the finished works. Appreciation wasn’t simply a warm-up activity before the “real” lesson. It was the learning.
By centering observation, interpretation, and dialogue first, our eventual creative process was infinitely richer. We weren’t simply imitating a visual style; we were entering into a conversation with art that carries history, place, and meaning.
Art, Tea, and Community
“Sharing tea invited us to slow down, practice reciprocity, and ground ourselves in community.”
After exploring the artwork together, we gathered around cups of Inuit tea before beginning our own prints. There was something wonderfully unhurried about the experience.
In many ways, this echoed Indigenous pedagogical practices, where learning begins with relationship, storytelling, and listening before doing. Sharing tea invited us to slow down, practice reciprocity, and ground ourselves in community.
It made me think about how sometimes the richest learning happens in those moments beforehand, when learners have time to connect with each other, the culture being explored, and the inspiration behind the work. Conversation flowed naturally while we sketched ideas inspired by plants, animals, and the landscapes around us. The tea became more than a warm drink. It created space for reflection and community before the creative work began.
Falling in Love with the Process
My first print.
Once we started carving, I quickly discovered why printmaking is so captivating.
Every line matters:
Too deep? The print changes.
Not deep enough? The ink lets you know immediately.
After carving, I rolled ink onto the block, carefully stamped the block onto the paper and revealed my first print. To my delight, it turned out surprisingly well.
But instead of feeling finished, I found myself wondering what would happen if I carved just a little deeper here or added a bit more texture there. So I made a few adjustments, printed again, and then again.
Each print taught me something new. Small changes in the carving created subtle differences in the final image, and I found myself looking forward to the next reveal. Before long, I wasn’t trying to make the “perfect” print. I was simply enjoying the process of experimenting, refining, and discovering what each new impression would bring.
Reconciliation in the Visual Arts Classroom: Moving from Appreciation to Respectful Engagement
Visual arts can provide meaningful opportunities for students to engage respectfully with Indigenous art, artists, and perspectives. When teaching Inuit art and printmaking, it is important to go beyond activities that simply ask students to copy Indigenous artworks, symbols, or cultural objects. Instead, students should learn about the artists, cultural context, ideas, and techniques behind the work, and use this understanding to inform their own creative choices.
Teacher professional Competency 15, proposed by the First Nations Education Council.
This is where teacher professional Competency 15, proposed by the First Nations Education Council, offers an important lens for educators. Competency 15 calls on teachers to recognize and value Indigenous knowledge, worldviews, cultures, and history as an essential part of professional practice. In the visual arts classroom, this can mean creating opportunities for students to engage with Indigenous artists, perspectives, and ways of knowing, while taking the time to understand the cultural context of the work and centre Indigenous voices.
Also, grounding lessons in deep observation and contextual dialogue (Student Competency 3) can create opportunities for students to learn about and honour Inuit artistic sovereignty. Students can learn about Inuit printmaking and engage with the work of Inuit artists while learning the printmaking process itself as a medium for expressing their own experiences. From there, students can use their own lived experiences, local flora, and regional landscapes as subject matter.
Where possible, building authentic relationships with local Indigenous or Inuit artists and community members remains the richest path forward for collaborative learning. Lyne Bastien’s work with Inuit artists and communities in Nunavik, for example, offers one glimpse into these artistic and cultural contexts. For educators looking to get started, these Printmaking Instructions and Nunavik Printmaking: Information and Artist Biographies resources provide useful introductions to the printmaking process and to artists from Nunavik.
Leaving with More Than a Print
As I packed up at the end of the workshop, I left with more than a finished piece of art.
I left with a richer understanding of Inuit artistic traditions and the vital stories they continue to share. For educators striving to answer the Calls to Action for Truth and Reconciliation, this experience offered a clear, actionable reminder:
By centering observation, dialogue, and context before touching a tool, we move away from superficial imitation and toward genuine cultural respect. For me, stepping back into the shoes of a beginner was a powerful reminder of how transformative learning can be when we slow down. As educators, when we embrace creative risk-taking and approach Indigenous worldviews with humility, we don’t just teach art—we build connection, understanding, and lifelong curiosity in our classrooms.
