Shawn Edenshaw was born in 1982 to Jim Edenshaw and Janet Tait. He comes from the Haida nation and Gitxsan nations respectively. Shawn was raised on Commercial Drive and had a enchanted upbringing. His earlier influences included his father Jim. As well as his fathers friends like Wayne Carlick, Gary Wilson, Garner Moody, Nelson Cross, Bill Reid, and most recently Jim McGuire. Shawn started his carving and practicing the songs and dances when he turned 12 years of age. His carving first began in copper: cutting, shaping, and initial engraving was his introduction in jewellery.
At about the same time he was introduced to Robert Davidson and The Rainbow Creek Dance Group. It was with Robert Shawn first learned about the traditional songs, dances, and protocol involved in using the songs. With the Rainbow Creek Dance group Shawn was given the oppertunity to travel and experiance different cultures while sharing his with others. It was this that inspired him to carry on with carving and singing the traditional songs and doing the traditonal dancing.
Shawn eventually moved back to Haida Gwaii (queen charlotte islands) with his family. There he carried on with learning the craft in which he works in today, which is jewellery. After Copper he moved on to silver learning how to engrave and apply the traditional crests and stories to metal. His father Jim taught Shawn how to cut and prepare the silver to be engraved. As well as finsh, shape, and polish the pieces. Once Shawn felt comfortable enough with silver he moved onto carving in gold.
Eventually Shawn made his move back to Vancouver where he set up for carving full time. He started working at a tourist site working alongside with Tlingit carver Wayne Carlick. At this site Shawn was able to carve full time while making an hourly wage. This allowed him the time to practice and experiment in different mediums. Such as glass, wood, brass, steel, as well as copper, silver, and gold.
