paintings

The Great Bear Sleeps and the Edge of the World - Native American-inspired painting

Dawn Senior-Trask, of Moonhorse Art Studio, has worked in a wide variety of media including charcoal, oil paintings, woodcuts, gouaches, claybords and scratchboards. Her artwork, especially her oil paintings, are a unique way of looking at the memories and culture of the West -- memories and reflections of the lifestyles this western artist has experienced during the many years she has lived in a log cabin near Saratoga, Wyoming.

As evidenced in her oil paintings, Dawn is greatly influenced by Native American art. She lived among the Navaho and Hopi on the Arizona deserts for five years as a teenager, and has also spent time on the Rosebud and Wind River Reservations with the Lakota, and Arapaho tribes. Native American legends and Native American myth are a great inspiration on her artwork, especially her oil paintings.

The Great Bear Sleeps and the Edge of the World - Dawn's Native American-inspired oil painting illustrates the impact of Native American legend and Native American myth on her artwork.

Size: 36" x 50"
Price: $2,250 framed
Shipping:
Prints: On 13 x 19 watercolor paper (maximum image size 12 x 18). Price is $25 and shipping $5

More information about this Native American-inspired oil painting below.

Based on Lakota, Navajo and Kiowa bear legends, this oil painting by Dawn Senior-Trask, depicts The Great Bear of the Lakota, who sleeps at the edge of the world. Symbolizing wisdom, the ice-bear sleeps with one eye open and knows everything that is happening in the world. He sleeps in a sweat lodge, for it was the bear who brought knowledge of the sweat lodge ceremony to the Lakota. He also brought them music.

Among the minerals under the earth are images of Tingling Maiden (of Navajo lore), who mistakenly believed that her twelve brothers had murdered her husband, Coyote. Using the powers Coyote had given her, she turned into a Great Bear and buried her heart and her breath, so she could not be killed. She killed all but her youngest brother, but he found her heart and her breath and killed her. The parts of the Great Bear’s body became the sacred bears of the four sacred mountains, and became the yucca fruits and pinyon nuts upon which the Navajo people depended for food. If an infant becomes lost in the sacred forest, a bear will take it under her protection and nurse it.

The horizon and sky represent the Kiowa legend of Bear Lodge (“Devil’s Tower”) in Wyoming. Seven maidens were walking with their brother, when he turned into a Great Bear and began to chase them. They ran onto a huge tree stump which grew into the sky. The Great Bear’s scraping claws made tremendous gashes and seams in the tower. From the top, the maidens floated into the sky and became the constellation of Ursa Major (the Big Bear), also known as the Big Dipper.

If you would like more information on our artwork or would like to place an order, email Moonhorse Art Studio or call us 307.327.5381. We look forward to hearing from you!