Join us…
On September 28th we will be introducing a new artist to our collectors. Please join us from 12 – 3 pm at the gallery for a meet-and-greet with the British Columbia native artist Ice bear!
About the artist
Ice Bear (Chris Johnston to his friends) is a status member of the Chippewas of Nawash at Cape Croker at Georgian Bay in Ontario. Born in 1953, most of his childhood was spent in the care of Indian and Northern Affairs.
As a small child, drawings were Ice Bear’s only means of communication. He undertook his first art commission at age 10. Thanks to the foresight and efforts of a nun at his school, who was also the art teacher, funding by Indian and Northern Affairs was arranged so that he could attend the Toronto Artist’s Workshop, created for students with exceptional ability. The meager government stipend was supported by creating paintings that his friends sold on city streets. After completing high school, he attended Sheridan College but left after one year to join the art department of the Hudson’s Bay Company. He soon moved on to further his practical education in a series of different positions in commercial art and design, including a period working for a leading font design company, Typesettra, eventually opening his own design boutique. He moved to Vancouver in the early ‘80’s, to continue as an independent designer specializing in unique assignments.
“Phantasmagoria”, 48×48 inches, acrylic on canvas
With his arrival on the West Coast, and his acclimatization to the West Coast lifestyle, his early love for fine art started to re-assert itself. He moved to Vancouver Island in the early 90s and adopted his totem name, Ice Bear.
Ice Bear’s fine art has evolved over the past 20 years, from a graphic style that combined the forms and shapes of traditional Ojibway art, to a free-flowing technique that provides richly toned paintings which change colour and depth as sunlight moves, and day turns to night. His many years as art director, and over 5 years as a muralist have given him a great interest in technique; how paint ‘works’, colour, brush strokes, and layering, some Ice Bear paintings have close to 20 layers of paint and medium. As a British Columbia native artist, his work has great depth of field and dimension, which comes from his other artistic passion.
Ice Bear is also a sculptor, working in diverse materials, cedar, monkey puzzle tree, Winterstone, resins, and natural stone, and has introduced his first 3 limited edition bronze sculptures. He has also pioneered a modern revival of an ancient technique, combining sculpture and fine art painting in several murals and large paintings, providing a bas-relief effect that has viewers reaching out to touch.
View 1: An impressive public artwork by Ice Bear in Sidney, BC
View 2: An impressive public artwork by Ice Bear in Sidney, BC
IceBear’s paintings and sculptures explore the relationship of mankind to his world and his spiritual connection to it. In the tradition of most Woodlands peoples, and many other indigenous people of the world, the Creator and Spirit are not entities separate from us, but exist within us and every living thing, animate and inanimate. Their traditional teachings tell us that only by Acknowledging the Creator, and the Spirit that dwells in all things, can we truly understand and respect not only ourselves but our world, our Mother Earth.
Modern people in this technological world are becoming more and more disconnected from that which is most basic to our continued existence, and as we lose that connection we also lose understanding and respect. Without that respect, humans are destined to bear the brunt of Mother Earth’s reprisals; warning signs are now appearing all over the planet, but most are still not listening.
Artist’s Statement
I have not chosen art, painting, and sculpture. It is a task, a responsibility if you will, given me by the Creator from birth. As a small child removed from home and family, speaking no English, and placed in foster care in Toronto, drawing was often my primary means of communication. The elders of my people, whom I met for the first time a few years ago, tell me that even as a toddler, I drew. I am, they say, what the Anishinabe call a Dreamer.
Sculpting is not a choice of one art form over another, although it sometimes becomes easier for me. The images in my spiritual works, which include sculpture, come to me as visions, each a separate individual with its own life, often complete, and as perfectly formed and visible to me as stone picked off the beach. They can be turned, moved, and looked at from various perspectives; from that ‘seeing’ comes the understanding of whether the spirit of this particular vision is to be expressed in two or three dimensions.
I learned much about sculptural products while creating the bas-relief murals in Sidney and Victoria, starting with resin and expanding foam, moving to structural foam and fiberglass, then acrylic stucco, and eventually to a major sculpture that utilized all of these as well as a few other new materials.
My study of various materials and methods has resulted in some exciting new possibilities. The bas-relief murals in Sidney were the first of their kind, and at the time had artists from all over the continent contacting my studio to find out how they were done.
I believe that as an artist, to be an artist is to continue to learn, explore, and expand one’s knowledge and skills. This means constantly testing, and pushing the boundaries of both one’s skills and the products available.
For me, to ever be confined to one genre, palette, or family of products would be impossibly stifling. The creation of Art is a lifelong adventure, to be explored and savoured, Each vision has a life and presence of its own and demands its unique way of being presented to the world.
It is my task, my obligation, to be the instrument of that presentation..
“Magic Pond”, 54×54 inches, mixed media on canvas
Register to attend below:
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