SIDNEY – Peninsula Gallery showcases First Nations artist IceBear’s powerful new paintings and sculptures with a new show opening May 18.
The artist’s newest works are large canvases with an intense, heartfelt message about our spiritual connection to this planet and all our fellow travellers on it.
IceBear’s most recent paintings are large canvases with intense colours and sweeping brushstrokes. The inspiration for his paintings and sculptures come to him first as visions, often complete, each as perfectly formed and visible as a stone picked up off the beach.
The art work can be moved, turned and looked at from different angles and perspectives. From this ‘seeing’ comes the understanding of whether that particular vision is to be expressed as a painting or a sculpture.
IceBear’s rich cultural heritage provides the grounding that nourishes his creative spirit. A status member of the Chippewas of Nawash (Ojibway Nation), IceBear attended the Toronto Artist Workshop as a teenager, then later Sheridan College and the Ontario College of Art. After, he worked in advertising and communications for 25 years in Toronto and Vancouver.
In the 80s, IceBear moved to the West Coast permanently. His growing need to give life to the visions that filled his imagination culminated in his move 10 years later to Vancouver Island, where he renewed his commitment to a lifetime of creating art and adopted the name IceBear for his art.
IceBear’s paintings and sculpture have been shown internationally in Europe and the U.S. He created many large scale public murals between 1992 and 2001, including three in Sidney.
The most prominent can be seen on the Telus building on Resthaven near Beacon Avenue and is called Nil/tu,O (In the Beginning). It depicts 10 Coast Salish warriors in a canoe escaping a looming storm.
The artist will be refurbishing the Sidney murals on location from May 16, weather permitting.
The public is invited to meet the artist and see the show opening on Saturday, May 18 from 1 to 4 p.m. with the show continuing at the gallery until June 1.
For more information, call the gallery at 250-655-1722 or drop in to 100-2506 Beacon Ave.
– Submitted