A generously sized 18 oz mug featuring Spirit Bear by Mi’kmaw artist Stephanie White.
Made from fine bone china, the mug is surprisingly light for its size while still feeling substantial in the hand. White's signature is printed inside.
Artist receives royalties from sales of this product.
Stephanie White is a Mi’kmaw artist and member of Qalipu First Nation in Newfoundland.
White works across many forms of art, but her paintings have a particularly recognizable visual language. Animals remain clearly identifiable, while bold colour, flowing lines and geometric forms create another visual layer within their bodies.
Many of those forms come directly from Mi’kmaq visual traditions and carry specific meanings. White uses symbols such as the double curl, which represents stages of the life cycle, and the eight-point star, connected to the districts of the Mi’kmaq Nation. Circles, medicine wheel colours and images of the sun, moon and natural elements also appear throughout her work.
These symbols are not separate from the animals she depicts. White brings them together within the same image, using contemporary painting to carry Mi’kmaq cultural language into her representations of the natural world.
The medicine wheel on its shoulder carries several teachings. Its four colours can represent the four directions, the four elements, or the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of a person. The circle itself, without beginning or end, represents continuity, connection and wholeness.
Across the bear's chest, White uses a series of joined double curls. The double curl represents the stages of life, from youth through middle age to old age. When several are joined together, as they are here, they represent community.
Placed together within the bear, the symbols point to the interconnectedness of the individual, the community and the world at large across all stages of life.
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