“Growing up, I didn't really think I was an artist. I actually hated making art. I thought it was too stressful,” Cassidy-Ann Netser confides. Now a full-time artist, she grew up in Iqaluit, raised by her mom from Coral Harbour and her dad from Pond Inlet. She had the chance to spend some years in each of their communities. Tuuraluk is Cassidy-Ann Netser’s artist name. She captures her culture, family and community as an Inuk artist through linocut prints. She also does embroidery, sews with sealskin and she’s learning to bead. She sews with sealskin.

Her early frustrations with art were rooted in her belief that everything had to be perfect immediately, so artmaking was stressful in the beginning. Then, when Netser was studying at Dalhousie, one of her roommates was going to art school and she would have paint nights with her other roommates. She started to enjoy making art. She took a year off from school and took art classes, a linocut course, a slipper making program, a caribou tufting program, and she ended up becoming a full time artist in two years.

The pressure she used to put on herself, her perfectionism to make everything neat and have everything match was such a frustration before she came into her own as an artist. Netser struggled in university with her mental health, feeling isolated as the only Inuk in her classes. Even her roommates who were also from her hometown were not Inuk and they did not understand her cultural context. Making art with them gave them a way to connect and took some of the pressure off.

She found herself drifting onto the path of full time artistry as she was making linocut prints instead of doing her homework. Netser ended up taking a break from school and plans to return when she is mentally in a place to do so. Faced with the challenge of paying her bills and at the same time having people online suddenly interested in buying her work, she found a solution and some confidence hearing the enthusiasm of her customers about her work. “I went from not like not liking art at all, or not liking making art, to people wanting to buy my art and that felt very rewarding,”she relays, reflecting on the last six months of art sales.

Thinking back to when she was preparing to apply for post secondary, how excited but scared she was thinking of leaving life surrounded by her huge family and network of friends. The promise of a new chapter, new places, new food and new friends was desirable. Netser wanted to do pre-law and law school, yet such a big step was daunting. She did her research with the guidance counsellor and found funding and housing, a process she found helpful.

Getting used to being away from her family was the hardest, as the second oldest of twenty-some cousins in her neighbourhood, all nearby for spending time. Missing aunts, uncles and grandparents was hard, too. “I kept reminding myself that I'm going to school for myself, and to also show my little cousins that there's a whole other world outside of it. Our home is so beautiful, but I think it's also very important to learn what else is out there, to widen your world. I kept reminding myself that's what I was doing so it made it a little bit easier,” Netser recalls.

If she could give her younger self a message it would be to tell the shy version of herself that it gets easier and that she wouldn’t always be so shy. At one point, Netser wished she was able to talk to people as easily as her outspoken younger cousin who could easily approach strangers without fear, while she would hide behind her mom’s legs. She would love to reassure her younger self it wouldn’t always be like that.

To balance her mental health these days, she likes to walk her dog and spend time outside, moving her body. Netser is learning to take breaks when she needs to so she can avoid burnout. Sleep is something else she’s finding she needs to prioritize more rather than reading, watching tv or socializing so much.

As far as inspiration, Netser is inspired by her family and culture. Her linocut prints draw from moments with her family, including one that is like a photo she took of her cousin on a skidoo, and another of her uncle fishing. “It's also a huge way for me to process what's happening and what's happened and to appreciate life more like this,” she explains. Viewers can find her work on Instagram and Facebook under her artist name, Tuuraluk and her work has been displayed in a Montreal-based gallery called La Guilde.

She didn’t think she was an artist growing up, and now Cassidy-Ann Netser makes art full time. Initially hating artmaking and finding it stressful, she’s found ways to create pieces that celebrate and help her process and appreciate her culture, life and community. Far from her big, beautiful family, she brought them to life in her work and awakened her passion and creativity.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.