Rainforest Bear, painted by artist Gloria Masse,is on its way to Vancouver.After the success of last year's orca project in which brightly painted fibreglass orcas were auctioned by charitable organizations to raise funds, the B.C. Lion's Society, Easter Seal Operations and the Canucks for Kids Fund have decided to do it again. This time, the organizations will promote Spirit Bears in the City. Corporate sponsors will pay to have selected artists paint the seven-foot high fibreglass bears. They will be exhibited mostly in the downtown core from May through October, then auctioned to raise funds for kids with disabilities.The spirit bear, or Kermode bear, is a large, white sub-species of the black bear that haunts the intact temperate rainforest of this province. Native people regard the rare spirit bears as a vestige of a time when the world was wrapped in snow. For city dwellers in Vancouver and other urban centres such as Whistler and Surrey, the sight of the huge spirit bears will become a familiar one and a reminder of thefragility of the ecosystem in which the bears live.
Gambier Island artist Gloria Masse has had a chance to think a great deal about the environment of the bear. In her design notes, written when she applied to the Lion's Club to paint one of the bears, she describes her proposed work as part bear, part salmon, part cedar. The figure has become an artist's representation of the cycle of life. She points out that elements of phosphorus and nitrogen of marine origin have been found in the cell structures of wood, even of ancient totem poles. They have travelled through the food chain to the salmon and eventually to the fish-eating bear who deposits the remains of them in scat on the forest floor to be absorbed by the tree roots. The fertile forest supports the salmon streams and the circle continues. On Masse's painted bear, the cedar branches wind around the legs, the salmon swim up the arms and the vivid eyes peer expressively.
Painting the weighty and massive bear posed obstacles for the artist. "It was a challenge in different ways than painting a flat canvas," she says.
Although the Lion's Club transported the unpainted bear to Langdale, Masse arranged local helpers, four strong men, to move the burly bruin on to the Stormaway foot passenger ferry to Gambier. It took several people to wrestle it into her rural studio and as many to move it out again after six weeks of intensive painting. The petite Masse had to climb a ladder to paint the eyes, but she says that the hardest part was lying on the floor painting the big feet.
Masse often paints animals. She is noted for her acrylics depicting orangutans, wolves and bears. Currently, she is painting some of the bearsaround Whistler, a town she visits frequently and where her art has a gallery presence.Masse's Rainforest Bear is being sponsored by Alcan and will be installed at 999 West Hastings Street, in an unveiling ceremony tentatively scheduled for March 2.
In Gibsons, artist Nadina Tandy who participated in last year's orca painting program. is still seeking a sponsor for her spirit bear after a potential Vancouver backer fell through. The Lion's Club is currently approaching various sponsors and she is also hoping for interest from the Town of Gibsons that bid on her orca during last year's auction.
