Born in 1970 in Cape Dorset

Etulu Salomonie (Salamonie) began carving in his twenties, in 1995. Salomonie was largely influenced by the work of Kellipalik Etidloie and as a youngster he often enjoyed watching his grandfather Abraham carve sculptures from the local stone. Salamonie’s carvings depict grace of movement as he catches the crux of realism and fluidity

This artist takes pride in carving in the traditional way; by recovering his own stones that he finds in open pit mines on Baffin Island. He mainly carves marble or serpentine, a local stone found in open pit mines in Nunavut. Serpentine is a rock similar in composition to jade. Just like jade, it is a very hard stone, so it takes a lot of artistic vitality to carve it.