(1934 - 2012)

"Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok was born just south of the N.W.T. border in Nunalla, Manitoba in 1934. After her father's death Tasseor lived with her grandparents in and around Nunalla and Churchill. She later married Richard Tutsweetok in Rankin Inlet in 1960, and moved to Arviat, N.W.T. soon after. She began carving in the early 1960s.

Tasseor drew inspiration from the memories of sand drawings that she and her grandfather (whom she considers to be the greatest influence on her life) had made when she was a child. Her sculptures, representing mothers and children or family groups, are carved in a semi-abstract style in which the human figure is rarely defined. She worked the stone very sparingly, leaving large undulating surfaces uncarved, decorated with incised drawings. For Tasseor, a flat stone plane had as much expressive power as a face. Human subjects are suggested by faces, arms and legs that emerge from the stone, often only along the edges of the carving. Subtle variations in the positioning or expression of heads and faces provide clues to understanding the meaning of specific sculptures. Tasseor herself assigned very specific meanings or moods to each of her works."

Ingo Hessel, from
Visions of Power 1991