Judas Ullulaq

Judas was born on July 1, 1937, in the small settlement of Thom Bay, northeast of Spence Bay. When he was a small child, his family left Thom Bay and moved near Fort Ross, where he grew up. In his twenties, he moved to Spence Bay. While in Spence Bay he lived on the land. It wasn't until his children started going to school that they moved into the community. He has five of his own children and four children that he has adopted. Here, he began making sculptures in whalebone, a material that had recently come into use at that area.

Since Judas grew up around girls, he knew a lot about making dolls. This knowledge influenced his first carvings, which were in the shape of human figures. Judas began carving at a time when everyone else around him was also taking up carving as a source of income. Many of Judas' brothers, including Charlie Ugyuk (1931-1998) and Nelson Takkiruq (1930-1999) began carving at around the same time as him, as did their soon-to-be famous nephew, Karoo Ashevak (1940-1974).

Along with Nick Sikkurark, Charlie Ugyuk, Karoo Ashevak, and others, Ullulaq was one of the founding members of the so-called Netsilik school of frantastic art, a small but illustrious group of sculptors who rose to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s following Ashevak's brilliant breakthroughs of the early 1970s. Working in combinations of media including whalebone, stone, caribou antler and sinew, these artists produced images that are dramatic, sometimes humorous, often extravagant and not infrequently grotesque. Judas has developed a reputation for meticulous craftsmanship and a dynamic yet, whimsically expressive style.

One of the best known and most beloved of northern artists, Ullulaq died in 1999 of lung cancer at his home in Gjoa Haven.