A Bear’s Blessing

Oil on panel, 30” x 30”, Private Collection

The Kodiak brown bears live among the people of Karluk, birthplace of my mother, and the homeland of my grandmother and great-grandmother. Pushki, a native medicinal plant of the island, surrounds the subject of this icon portrait. An ancient Russian Orthodox Church still sits on a hill overlooking this Alutiiq village. The spiritual power of the bear lives on as well.