The Polar Bear Question

Concept

My paintings (in both acrylic and oil) celebrate the beauty and intelligence of the polar bear through realistic portraiture. Backdrops of northern lights, icy reflections, dark water and night skies offer escape into the wonder of nature, and mindful solitude.

The polar bear, a marine mammal, is dependant upon the frozen sea for hunting, mating, feeding, travel, and shelter. Climate change from carbon emissions is lowering the albedo of the earth, increasing the period of open water in the arctic from spring to fall, and increasing the distance between ice tops in winter. This leaves the polar bear and its cubs vulnerable to starvation, attack and drowning and puts its future at risk.

Thus, the portraits of the "Dark Water Series" show the polar bear swimming in dark water. The polar bear, with its partially webbed front paws and buoyant body, is a powerful swimmer, but it needs the frozen sea to survive. I’d like the viewer to decide just how far outside the picture frame the next ice flow lies, or if the bear’s journey until this moment was, in fact, a solitary one.

Some of the adult polar bears in my "Flowers for Polar Bears Series", are adorned with flower crowns composed of the Canadian provincial and territorial flowers. This is done in tribute to their place as the world’s largest carnivore and apex arctic predator, but is also about our shared responsibility for action re: climate change.

In my "Into the Sunset Series", the darkness of the winter is retreating, as is the sea ice, so important for the polar bear's survival. The sun sets, offering hope for the new day ahead. The sun’s glory reflects off the remaining sea ice and the polar bear's translucent fur.