Spirit Bears, Original Painting

Kermode, Spirit Bears
By Mia Underwood

Size: 40cm wide x 30cm high, 3cm deep

Medium: Mixed media on a folding sacred linden wood diptych, handmade in Italy.

Mia Underwood the artist shares her inspiration for this piece:

'I wanted to make a shrine as a reminder, in this modern, crazy world, to be thankful for the natural world from which we all came, to live in the present moment, and to have gratitude for what we have.

I took inspiration from the Native Americans who have lived in the North American region for thousands of years. They call the spirit bear moskgm’ol, which simply means "white bear," and view the animal as sacred.

The Creator Raven wanted to remind the Kitasoo Xai'xais people of a time when this land was covered in ice, so he decided to turn one in ten black bears white. The white bear reminds us to be thankful for the lush and bountiful land we enjoy today. The spirit bear is one of the rarest animals in the world.'