Photo: John Houston

Kenojuak Ashevak, an Inuk, is known as the "Visual Poet of the Arctic." In her early 20s, she began to draw while recovering from tuberculosis.
Her creations - mythical images of birds, animals and people - were an astonishing blend of realism and imagination that captivated Canada and the world during the 1960s and 1970s. One of her most famous images, "The Enchanted Owl," appeared on the 1970 six-cent stamp and is on display at the National Gallery of Canada. Made a Companion of the Order of Canada (1967), Kenojuak serves as an inspiration to generations of northern print makers, sculptors and painters. The intensity and power of her art has brought the beauty of the Canadian North and its people to the entire world.