during ashevak's stay at parc savard hospital in quebec city, 1952 to 1955, she learned to make dolls from harold pfeiffer and to do beadwork. these crafts later attracted the attention of civil administrator and pioneer inuit art promoter james archibald houston and his wife alma. houston introduced print-making to cape dorset artists in the 1950s, and he and his wife began marketing inuit arts and crafts, including an exhibit of inuit art in 1959. james houston wrote about this time in 1999:she was hesitant at first, claiming that she could not draw and that drawing was a man’s business. yet the next time that she visited the houstons, the sheets of paper that alma had given her were filled with pencil sketches.in 1958 her first print, "rabbit eating seaweed," was produced from one of her designs on a sealskin bag, and by 1959 kenojuak and other cape dorset inuit had formed the west baffin eskimo cooperative as a "senlavik" (workshop) for aspiring inuit artists, later known as kinngait studios. fellow members included pitaloosie saila, mayoreak ashoona, and napatchie pootagook.