Mighty Machines

Tim Pitsiulak, Canadrill

Tim Pitsiulak, Canadrill. Black porous-point pen, coloured pencil, graphite on paper.

Tim Pitsiulak, Canadrill, 2015. Black porous-point pen, coloured pencil, graphite on paper. Overall: 124.5 x 274.3 cm. Purchased with the assistance of the Joan Chalmers Art Purchase Fund, 2016. © Estate of Tim Pitsiulak. Reproduced with the Permission Dorset Fine Arts. 2016/4.

Tim Pitsiulak (1967−2016) was born in Kimmirut, Nunavut. He learned how to draw, sculpt and create jewellery at the Kinngait Studios in Cape Dorset. Like his aunt, prominent Inuk artist Kenojuak Ashevak, Pitsiulak cared for his family and community and provided for them through hunting. Hunting imagery appears frequently in his large-scale, coloured-pencil drawings. Pitsiulak photographed his world extensively, sometimes experimenting with a GoPro camera during his trips, later translating his photographs into drawings in the studio.

Along with hunting, Pitsiulak was also enthusiastic about presenting images of modern life in Nunavut, such as the boats, planes and heavy equipment he saw in his community. In Canadrill, Pitsiulak captures the details of machinery used to drive holes into the ground to secure the structural pilings of large buildings.

ACTIVITY

From laptops and robots to large-scale cranes and rocket ships, machines have changed our world.

Here’s your chance to design your own machine! What does your machine do? What does it look like? How does it contribute to society in a positive way?

Here are some suggestions to get you started:

  • Design your own eco-friendly machine
  • Design your own helper machine
  • Design your own happiness machine
  • Design your own intelligent machine
  • Design your own care machine

Design your own machine

  1. If you have access to a printer, print the activity card and colour in the line drawing.
  2. If you do not have access to a printer, design your own machine, using pen, pencil and a blank piece of paper.
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