Baffin Island is the epicenter of Inuit art production in the Canadian Arctic. Art collectors can visit artists' cooperatives, in the remote communities of Cape Dorset and Pangnirtung, on an August 2006 Quark Expeditions cruise, with Inuit art expert and sculptor, Ingo Hessel.
Hessel, who studied Inuit art for more than 20 years among these Arctic communities, has traveled to the region close to 20 times. He authored the book Inuit Art: An Introduction, taught courses in Inuit art at the University of Ottawa, and worked with Inuit artists, co-operatives, wholesalers, museums, galleries and book publishers to advance the study and appreciation of Inuit art.
During the Baffin Island expedition, Hessel will explain how materials and styles differ across the High Arctic, from Russia to Greenland. At artists' cooperatives, he will inform passengers about the communities' histories and cultural traditions. Hessel will also help passengers understand the values that allow the island's inhabitants to survive in a seemingly impossible environment. Price ranges for the voyage on the Kapitan Khlebnikov are $10,995 to $16,995 per person.
Quark Expeditions was the first company to transit the Northeast Passage with commercial passengers; the first to take travelers to the far side of Antarctica; and the first to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent with guests. Quark Expeditions has the largest fleet of passenger vessels in the polar regions, including the only polar icebreaker operating as an adventure ship in Antarctica. The fleet enables Quark to offer the widest variety of polar itineraries of any other adventure company in the world and the greatest number of departures to Antarctica. In the November 2005 issue, National Geographic Adventure identified Antarctica as one of the top 10 classic adventure destinations and Quark Expeditions as the number one Antarctic outfitter.
