Limited Edition Giclee Print of Original Painting "Bear Father." 13x16 inches

This listing is for one of 50 signed limited edition giclee print (on white archival studio watercolor paper) of my original watercolor and ink illustration: “Bear Father.” The print measures 13x16, but comes custom matted in dark olive, ready for a 13x19 inch frame. Unlike some of my other prints this one will ship directly from my studio so I can sign and number it. It will come with a copy of my artist's statement below about Bear. It may come with some creative recycled packaging to make sure it is fully protected during shipping. Future prints after the first 50 will not come signed or numbered.

"Bear Father," is a painted prayer.

About the Bear Mythology Tryptic:

After art, my second greatest passion in life is mythology and anthropology. It is not enough for me to enjoy the "witchy aesthetic" I've cluttered my house with, I like to dig! I like to know roots. I have devoured countless unifying ancient myths about Bear as a spiritual ancestor to humans. If you look, you will find similar myths (and hunting songs/practices) regarding Bear denning with humans and producing ancestors, all over Eurasia and the Americas. The Bear Cult Theory would suggest that is not by coincidence, but by a true shared ancestral relationship with Bear as a teacher and a generous food source when early humans migrated out of Africa and into Asia (and eventually all the way to the Americas). Ordinarily our ancestors are the ones who teach us how to live in relationship with a particular land. They tell us what food is safe and what critters to avoid, but early humans entering bear territory did not yet know how to weather the seasons or harness the resources. Myriad animals became our first teachers, and Bear was chief among them. There is considerable evidence that those early migrating humans were in awe of Bear.

 Bear was fearless, with no comparable enemies, and no comparable MOTHERS. Bear mastered death, descending to the underworld every year, only to return in the spring. Bear ate food and even knew some plant medicine. It is theorized that we were clever enough to follow Bear around learning how to thrive, and as such, Bear became a cherished spiritual ancestor, even if we never had actual children together. It took the Church 1000 years to break pagan villagers throughout Europe of their devotion to Bear. Then they sailed to America, as is more well known.... where they found more animism and more filthy bear business to brutally eradicate and colonize.

In many of the Bear Mother/Father myths, such as the Haida of the Pacific NW, it is told that a bear abducted a princess, and she then married and denned with him over a winter (or sometimes multiple winters) as his wife. She often temporarily becomes a bear herself during her time with him. At some point in most of the stories, a male relative eventually shows up to kill the bear and bring the woman home. Rather than fight and destroy him, Bear chooses to sacrifice himself (the only way early humans believed a bear could be hunted to his death, was with his consent). He instructs his wife on how he wants his hunt and dismemberment to transpire respectfully for future generations, and then allows his murder. The princess then goes home and delivers a Bear/human hybrid baby, who often becomes part of the ancestral lineage, or they return to life as a bear after helping their people establish strong roots and thrive. You can still find Native American tribes and Dutch kings who believe themselves to be descendants of Bear lineages. Lots of surnames throughout Europe reflect it! Ancient Finnish songs record the same respectful ritual corpse treatment as you find detailed by the Haida story/song. In other myths, Gods and heroes are abandoned and raised by a she-bear. Sometimes, particularly early on, Gods were bears.
My latest trypic focuses on Bear Mother, Father, and Son mythology from the Americas, Greece, and all over Eurasia. 

One of my interpretations of the Bear Mother/Father story,  is appreciation for the sides of fatherhood and motherhood my current culture no longer celebrates. Bear Father could easily have killed his wife's family in self-defense. He was certainly mighty enough.... yet he chose not to, and instead sacrificed himself to protect and nourish his family and all the generations of his wife's family to come.  Instead of saving himself, he teaches them how to hunt and live in right relationship with Bears. Bear reveals himself to be a self-sacrificing provider in life and in death. In similar stories about she-bears marrying men, the opposite is true. While modern Western stories talk about mothers as being self-sacrificing in the absence of solid fathers, in the old stories she simply isn't. Bear Wife stories usually end with her brutally killing her human husband for foolishly violating rules she has given him, revealing how Mother Nature births, loves, and nurtures, but she is no doormat. She consumes and brings you right back into her earth womb just as fiercely as she births us. She holds the wisdom to know when it is time to live and die.

There is no greater mother than Bear Mother. May she ever guide my motherhood. My ancestors knew there was no creature on earth more fearless or deadly than she, and for that she was venerated for thousands of years, and still is today by those who know her in their hearts. 

As for bear son, one of my favorite myths is the Greek myth of Callisto and her son Arcas. There are several different versions of this story, which is a natural result of a long oral tradition. It's a living breathing story.  I love that! This is my little retelling:

Callisto was one of Artemis's virgin Nymphs, and a close companion. One day she was cornered and seduced by the trickster womanizing God Zeus, disguised as Artemis herself. Upon discovering Callisto's pregnancy, Artemis, Goddess of the forest, chastity, and the hunt, casts her out of her community.

 I think it's worth noting, that Artemis felt protective of women's chastity as a means of personal empowerment, because her own mother bore her while being shamefully hunted down by the Goddess Hera, Zeus's wife. Artemis was one of Zeus's illegitimate daughters.

 Callisto soon gave birth to a son named Arcas (who would be raised by humans) and Zeus transformed her into a bear. I believe he did so because he was a capricious playful trickster, and Artemis, loved bears. By making Callisto a bear, he transformed her into a form that would once again be under Artemis's protection and approval, which shed her of the shame and rejection she suffered as a spoiled nymph. This feels like a gift and a tease to Artemis at the same time, classic Zeus. When Arcas is older, he goes hunting and chases down his own mother, who is unable to communicate to him her true identity. As he raises his bow to kill her, Zeus decides enough is enough. Zeus does not want his son to slay his mom. He casts both of them into the sky, where they become Ursa Major and Minor. 

This is yet another mixed move by Zeus, whose wife Hera was an incredibly jealous and petty Goddess who never accepted his womanizing ways. By making them stars he made it impossible for her to go after them, and playfully dangled them in her face for eternity. Those stars have always guided humans, and across every land where bears walked with humans, there are myths about those particular constellations being bears.

All three prints are now available in my shop. May they bring Bear's wisdom into the homes of all who call one in!