Blake Nelson Lepine or Shaá’koon, was born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon. There’s a beautiful mixture of heritage in his background, he descends from Tlingit, Han, Cree and Scottish decent. However, it’s the Tlingit culture that he grew up around the most. Coming from a very strong and culturally intact background within the Tlingit nation this gave him the tools and knowledge he needed to guide his life in the way he wanted. The Tlingit artwork spoke to him from a young age, and being surrounded by the artists within his family. This inspired him to start drawing early on. Blake began with life drawing of animals and tracing out old designs from carving books his mother had laying around, this was his way of learning at age 7.
There have been many teachers over the years and each one seemed to come into his world exactly when they were needed. Blake has trained with: Ken Anderson, Mike Dangeli, Brian Walker, Calvin Morberg, Benjamin Schleifman, Wayne Price, Duran Henry, and of course his greatest teacher of all Karen Lepine, his mother. Many hours have been spent practicing and perfecting his own stylized form and interpretation of this art to give a modern voice to an ancient art but also branching it into modern mediums other than the traditional forms of carving and painting of his ancestors. Blake has also taken on studies in silk screening and design, beadwork, textile work and sewing, painted leather, collage, block printing and watercolor. In this moment, Blake lives in his hometown of Whitehorse, Yukon with his partner Erin Pauls and together they spend their time singing and dancing with the dance group and participating in the cultural realms together to share what they know and improve the lives of first nations in their communities and give back what has so lovingly enriched their lives. Blake is continually spending his free time prolifically creating artwork for both commercial and traditional uses, harvesting and researching traditional medicines and putting on community workshops, and working to train a new generation of artists, herbalists and dancers.
