Mary K. Okheena
Mary Kapbak Okheena (also goes by Memorana, Krappak, Kappak) is an Inuvialuit graphic artist known for her stencil prints including "Musk-ox Waiting for the Tide to Cross Water" (1986) and "Shaman Dances to Northern Lights" (1991), drawings and embroidery. She is part of the third generation of organized graphic artists in the Canadian Arctic. Okheena has five children with her husband Eddie and she currently lives in Inuvik where she practices embroidery and makes wall hangings. Biography Early life Okheena was born in 1957 in Holman (Uluqsaqtuuq), King’s Bay, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories. Her father Jimmy Memorana was a sculptor and printmaker and helped found the Holman Island Eskimo Co-operative. Her mother, Nora Memorana, was an expert sewer. Both Jimmy and Nora were respected drum dancers in their communities. Okheena grew up watching her father and her aunt Agnes Nanogak Goose make prints for the Holman Print Shop (part of the Holman Island Eskimo Co-operative) inspiring her career in printing. Career Mary K. Okheena started drawing in her teens and at the age of nineteen. In 1977 she sold her first drawing. She was invited by the Roman Catholic missionary, Father Henri Tardy, OMI (born on 28 November 1917, in