Museum of Inuit Art

The Museum of Inuit Art, commonly known as MIA, was a museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, devoted exclusively to Inuit art and culture. Located within the Queen's Quay Terminal at the Harbourfront Centre, it opened in June 2007 and was widely regarded as the first museum dedicated solely to Inuit art. At its peak, the museum represented the largest permanent display of Inuit art in Canada, with more than 6,000 square feet of exhibition space. Its significance lay in offering a concentrated, focused experience of Inuit artistic production spanning from ancient ancestral works to contemporary creations, while also serving as an educational institution that highlighted regional stylistic diversity and the economic role of art in Arctic communities.

The museum was four years in the making before its official opening in June 2007. It came into existence through the efforts of David Harris, a former teacher in Nunavut and founder of the Harris Inuit Gallery, a commercial gallery for Inuit art. Harris served as the讨 chief executive officer of the museum. He was joined by a group of dedicated partners including Norman Zepp, former curator of Inuit art at the Art Gallery of Ontario from 1988 to 1994, who became the museum's curator, and Cynthia Waye, who served as associate curator, along with several private art collectors. In 2008, MIA acquired significant works through the generous sponsorship of Eric Sprott and the Sprott Acquisition Program. The museum closed permanently on May 29, 2016, following a decline in visitors and revenue after two summers of construction activity along Queens Quay West, which caused the temporary closure of streetcar access to the museum's area.

The museum owned more than 1,000 original pieces of art, composed of its in-house collection and works on loan from private donors. The primary focus was sculpture carved from stone, antler, ivory, and bone, though prints, drawings, and tapestries were also displayed. The majority of works dated from the Contemporary period (around 1945 to 1990) and the Post-Contemporary period (1990s to the present), representing the subjects, forms, media, and artists associated with modern Inuit art. The collection also included historical material: pieces from the ancestral epoch dating back to around AD 1000 when the Thule people migrated across the Canadian territories from northern Alaska, including carved figures and objects measuring around the size of a thimble, as well as items from the Historic Period beginning in the 16th century, when European whalers, missionaries, and explorers came into contact with the Inuit. These historic works included ivory carvings of animals and replicas of tools and other Western-style objects that were commonly bartered goods. The museum's holdings reflected regional distinctions across the Arctic, influenced by factors such as material availability and community lifestyle.

Among the museum's most dramatic works were pieces from Cape Dorset (now known as Kinngait) on Baffin Island, where artists such as Osuitok Ipeelee, Pauta Saila, and Latcholassie Akesuk incorporated stylized naturalism into representations of animals and mythological creatures. The collection also featured large, semi-abstract Keewatin stone carvings commonly made in Baker Lake, and realistic family-scene sculptures by Inukjuak-area artists in northern Quebec. The museum's jewels included more recent sculptures by acknowledged masters such as Joe Talirunili and Judas Ullulaq, some of which were individually showcased and visible through floor-to-ceiling windows to passersby. Temporary displays complemented the permanent collection, including exhibits of wall hangings made by female artists in Baker Lake.

The Museum of Inuit Art was housed within the historic Queen's Quay Terminal at the Harbourfront Centre in downtown Toronto. The interior space was designed by gh3* inc. and won two design awards: the Ontario Association of Architects Design Excellence Award and the Canada Interiors' Best of Canada Design Competition Award. The design was conceived to remove visitors from the commercial environment of the adjacent downtown shopping arcade and transport them to a more rarefied environment for viewing art. The interior presented a neutral white shell intended to evoke the iconic landscape forms of Arctic ice.

The museum was located at Queen's Quay Terminal, Harbourfront Centre, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. During its operation, MIA maintained reciprocal admissions partnerships with the Bata Shoe Museum, Design Exchange, and the Gardiner Museum. The institution was affiliated with the Canadian Museums Association (CMA), the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), and the Virtual Museum of Canada. The museum's adjacent retail gallery, the MIA Gallery, sold sculptures, tapestries, prints, and other items acquired from Inuit co-operatives, with all profits supporting the museum's operations. The gallery also carried jewelry, packing dolls, and books on Inuit art. Since its closure in 2016, the Museum of Inuit Art no longer operates as a physical institution, though its website remained accessible at http://www.miamuseum.ca/.