2015 Celtic Festival Fine Art Print: Ursa Major, The Great Bear
I have been making artwork for the festival since 1993 and this is 22nd in the series.
Prints will include the title "Ursa Major, The Great Bear" with my signature and year, 2015 and will come in in a clear bag with foam core backing.
Artist’s Notes
A dragon fire heart
A belly full of fish
A winged crane gives flight
A tree to connect to the earth
And reach to the sky
With fruit that becomes
the stars
of Ursa Major: The Great Bear
According to Miranda Green in the Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, there was a bear cult at Muri near Berne, Switzerland connected to the goddess Artio, who is the protector of bears and whose name means bear
In the novel, The Manticore by Robertson Davies, there is a reference to this bear cult. Set in Switzerland, Dunstan Ramsey tells the legend of an Irish monk Gallus who came to convert the bear worshippers.
He lived in a cave and needed a servant. He made a deal with a large bear that also lived in the cave. If the bear would bring him wood for his fire he would give the bear bread to eat.
Out of this comes the moral, that if you make a deal with the bear within yourself you will not starve and not get eaten. “Cherish your bear and your bear will feed your fire.”
Cherish the wild parts of your self as a source of creative energy.