Legends

The cycle of life is celebrated in this painting by the Cowgirl with full moons on her chaps and stars on her scarf, as she follows the path of the bear's cyclical rebirth.  Different cultures and myths form the tapestry of this painting, all referring to the Big Dipper, sometimes seen as the bear, and its reappearance in the night sky.  The panels in the background are drawn from Micmac tradition, where the bear or the Big Dipper was thought to be chased through the sky by seven hungry birds.  It is the robin who finally vanquishes the bear, its breast and the leaf of the nearby maple stained by the bear's blood.  The reappearance of the bear from hibernation was, in many cultures, proof of the cycle of life.