I am a Labrador Inuk creator amma a beneficiary of Nunatsiavut kavamanga. I am a self-taught visual artist and university trained in teaching, journalism, Certificate in Native Studies, and hold an MFA in nonfiction writing.
My acrylic paintings and digital prints have sold and shown artwork internationally -Bulgaria, Istanbul, Toronto- along with in solo and group art exhibitions across Massachusetts: Amherst, Easthampton, Holyoke, Mashpee, Northampton, Pittsfield, Plymouth, South Deerfield, South Hadley, and Springfield.
A forthcoming solo art show is scheduled for Nov., 2024. One of my acrylic paintings will be in a Middle Reader Anthology published by PRH.
I have five articles published in Inuktitut Magazine of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. My poem about a 1960s sculpture carved by a Canadian Inuk is showing at the Smith College Museum of Art.
I teach workshops on Healing through poetry and on North American Indigenous topics. I have taught at Amherst College, Beaver Country Day School, Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) Lifelong Learners, Lesley University, Mt. Holyoke College, UMass Amherst, and UMass Boston.
I earned a 2023 Mass Cultural Council Cultural Sector Recovery Grant; a 2022 ValleyCreates Project Evolution grant; a 2021 Voices of Color partial fellowship at MVICW; a 2021 “Write Over Here: Open online Residency” at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity; and served as a 2022 Art Workspace Easthampton Studio Resident.
I reside with my family on the Nonotuck lands. Contact me at ella@ellaalkinuk.org or find me on Instagram @ella_alk.
