Jason Carter
‘Always Look Up And Marvel At The Beauty Of It All’ Whispered Mother Bear Lovingly To Her Cubs
In the winter, we find warmth in bear hugs, and when we witness something beautiful that stops us in our tracks.
Known for his bold and brilliant use of colour, Indigenous artist Jason Carter celebrates the journey Canadians make to the Rocky Mountains with the whimsical painting of a mother bear and her cubs at Lake Minnewanka. He finds endless inspiration in this place of natural monuments that he has the good fortune to call home.
Carter's style of painting evolved from his initial discovery of sculpture, whereby he applied similar principles to his canvas using minimal lines in his landscapes to create simple images that are rich in depth and feeling. When we visit the mountains, we might not remember specific lines or exact details in the landscapes; rather, we remember the awesome and impressive shapes of the mountains or the dynamic, almost impossible colours of the nighttime sky. We remember how it made us feel, which is what Carter hopes to capture in his paintings: how one feels when they stand where he has stood at the base of a mountain and felt the same sense of awe and hope.
Carter sees colour as a subject in his paintings, as central as the bears, the moon or the northern lights. When he first experienced the sky phenom ‘alpenglow’ one winter’s eve in the mountains—a glow illuminating the horizon—it was a truly seminal moment. Seemingly unreal, the sky filled with purples and pink hues, Carter looked down and saw the mountains, the lakes, the white of the snow and even his own hands reflect this extraordinary purple. It was, and continues to be, a muse.
“As an Indigenous man from the Little Red River Cree Nation, I gather much inspiration from the stories passed on by elders within my community, stories that have evolved and changed, some documented, some not, but the essence of these stories are passed on through the years,” Carter explains. “I seek inspiration from the past as I create a bold and colourful future.”
In this piece, Mother Bear whispers to “always look up and marvel at the beauty of it all”.
Often playful and full of whimsy, Carter has a strong and unique relationship with animals in his work. Growing up, his mother would often tell him to “go to sleep and dream of the bear”. This idea of going to sleep with the hopes of having the bear visit you in your dream, so that your wishes would come to fruition and good things would happen, has always been a great source of comfort and inspiration in Carter’s work. In this piece, Mother Bear whispers to “always look up and marvel at the beauty of it all”. This is Carter’s hope: that we find our way to a place, perhaps this place here in the Rocky Mountains, under a nighttime sky, with dancing morthern lights above, as we marvel at it all.
About Jason
Jason Carter is an Indigenous sculptor, painter, illustrator and public artist from Little Red River Cree Nation. He grew up in Edmonton and is a graduate of both NAIT and MacEwan University (where he was recently awarded a Distinguished Alumni in 2017). He has major permanent installations in both the Calgary and Edmonton International Airports; both sculpture and canvas in many public places (NAC, AFA, YWCA Calgary, Travel Alberta, Wood Buffalo Region, Stantec, Banff Caribou Properties, Canada Goose) and private collections globally. Jason has illustrated 5 children’s books and created and installed The World Of Boo for the Art Gallery of Alberta in 2015.
Jason is co-owner of the Carter-Ryan Galleries (Canmore/Banff) reaching audiences regionally and around the world, and has several galleries that carry his work across the country. In February 2019, he was featured on Property Brothers on HGTV. Many schools in and around Alberta and Canada are currently studying Jason Carter and he could not be more humbled by this. Most recently, he was commissioned by the Museum of Aboriginal Peoples’ Art and Artifacts of Canada to create a 2 x 79” x 29” and 58” x 29” painting titled “Crusaders Of The Land”, which is permanently placed in the museum's entrance.
This work is part of The Art of Winter, a larger series in which artists are creating custom pieces representing their experience of winter warmth in Alberta.
This content was produced by The Globe and Mail’s Globe Content Studio on behalf of Travel Alberta. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.
CREDITS: Concept and editing by JESSICA ROBINSON; Art direction and design by JEANINE BRITO; Development by KYLE YOUNG and JEANINE BRITO; Project management by CHRISTINA LIPPA