Pauta Saila

Pauta Saila (1916–2009) was born at Kilaparutua camp in southwestern Baffin Island, near the community of Kinngait. Renowned for his large-scale, semi-abstract carvings of ‘dancing bears’ featuring upright polar bears in lively positions, Saila has also produced drawings, graphic works, and prints alongside his second wife, fellow artist and printmaker Pitaloosie Saila. A life-size, bronze sculpture of a dancing bear created by Saila in 1999 is on permanent outdoor display at Ottawa’s Byward Market, and his work has been collected and exhibited by institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. He was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2003.