Jonathan Elias

Biography

Elias is an Inuvialuit carver and jeweller based in Tuktoyaktuk, NT.  Elias learned from his father Wayne Thrasher where he watched of his father’s skills. Elias makes earrings out of soapstone and organic materials of mostly animals Elias hunts. He enjoys the process of each carving using only hand tools and claims that it is a way of preserving the old way from the teachings from his father Wayne Thrasher. 

Elias' small details do not go unnoticed in the small etchings of each piece of jewelry such as earrings. Each earring ranges from ulus, ice chisels and snow knives. His Arctic animals are delicately shaped. He enjoys using the organic materials in most of his wok such as caribou and whale bone. Elias continues to make jewelry and carvings with the raw materials around him that he hunts and harvests. 


Artist Work

About Jonathan Elias

Medium:

Jewellery, Sculpture, Textile

Artistic Community:

Tuktuuyaqtuuq (Tuktoyaktuk), NT

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

Artists may have multiple birth years listed as a result of when and where they were born. For example, an artist born in the early twentieth century in a camp outside of a community centre may not know/have known their exact date of birth and identified different years.

Inuvik, NT
1984