Artist 32: Elias Wakan

Elias Wakan, born in 1945, is a constructivist sculptor in British Columbia.  His work was very similar to that of the artists in the Russian Constructivist movement.  He uses thousands of pieces of identical wood to create his sculptures.  He uses straight edged rectangles and triangles to create his over all pieces that end as curved, abstract sculptures but they were still very geometric.  He studied mathematics and philosophy at Stanford University.  He then spent years traveling in South America, India and the Yukon.  After his years abroad he moved to Ontario and used his knowledge of spatial problems and structure to design and build an underground solar house.  He was later accepted by the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, but instead of attended the art school he decided to go to Japan where he spent two years studying the photography of form and pattern.  Upon his return he created geometric paper sculptures that he later turned into wooden forms.