Artist: Dean Drever
Title: “Love Bears”
"A female and a male bear gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes. They are more human than bear. They are bears becoming human or they are humans in love who resemble bears. They are supremely powerful creatures - fearsome animals who have surrendered to the simplicity of staring into the other’s eyes in order to connect to the love that’s already there.
Love Bears explores a different kind of power - the power of love and all that love encompasses -humility, acceptance, compassion and vulnerability. These sculptures are a personal story of how I found my way to understanding that true power is not domination and oppression, but compassion and vulnerability. The bears are a metaphor of dark and light. They represent a balancing of masculine and feminine energies; a union of opposites that exists not only between two people but also within each one of us. Love Bears is a story of love.
In First Nations mythology, bears become human to help us accept aspects of our shared humanity. They show us protection, nurturance, healing, and other sacrifices made in the name of love. Spirit animal transformation embodies characteristics of sadness and struggle in order to reveal hidden, unknown potentials. Often times the guidance disobeys normal rules of social convention and behaviour in order to catalyze sensory intelligence and intuitive problem-solving.
Love Bears is a sculptural representation of the healing power of love. It could only come about after I had fully accepted myself, my anger, my addictions, and the truth of my colonial past. I feel it is a piece that could remind visitors and patients alike of the simple action of taking time to connect at the level of the heart. We are all one. We are all equally deserving and worthy of a loving connection with self and other.
I am grateful to my Haida ancestors, Northwest Coast art and design, and to all First Nations teachings for modelling a way forward that reflects an acceptance of our connection to all living beings. Our togetherness is the only thing that matters."
- Dean Drever
