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Currently on exhibit in UCLA’s Fowler Museum through May 30 is “Power of Thought,” an art collection of drawings and works on cloth by the late Jessie Oonark, whose vivid depictions of Arctic inhabitants and animals drew their inspiration from the Inuit culture in northern Canada.

Oonark, who died in 1985, created images with bright colors combined with various shapes and lines all coming together to explore and celebrate the identity and culture of Inuit people.

The simplicity of her drawings, however, requires some knowledge of the Inuit culture for full understanding. Otherwise, the works might look like a third-grader’s rendition of a whale eating some fish. Their uncanny resemblance to the type of two-dimensional artwork elementary school children bring home to their parents, ironically enough, jump-started her interest in art.

“A school teacher once said that Oonark, upon visiting a school, told her that she could make much better drawings than the ones children at the school were making,” said curator Marie Bouchard in her lecture following the viewing of the exhibit. “(Oonark) was then given a bunch of paper and used every scrap of paper given to her, actually drawing on both sides of the sheet.”

The juvenile simplicity of the drawings aptly represents the purity and innocence of the Inuit culture, which has remained relatively unaltered and unadulterated for thousands of years.

Confined to Canada’s Northwest Territories where she lived in modest poverty, Oonark did not grow up as the typical art enthusiast. At 52, most people are thinking about retirement, but Oonark was just beginning her career as an artist – going from a financially dependent mother and widow to one of the most prolific Canadian artists of the day. Oonark’s drawings began to earn acclaim and she became the primary breadwinner for her extended family. She was later elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts and named Champion to the Order of Canada, one of the highest orders receivable.

“Through her imagery, Oonark is able to give visual expression to the social and cultural upheaval of a society ravished by famine and the complex, cross-cultural issues which arose within it,” said Bouchard.