Wildlife Stone Sculptor/Carver & Artist
Dawna Robertson's Feature
Sculpture Stories
This page was last updated: February 2, 2010
1. Native Flute & Soapstone Raven Fetish presented to
David Bouchard Award Winning Metis Author - Named the Order of Canada
2..Global Warming Polar Bear Sculpture - "Ancient in Wisdom, Timeless in Spirit
3.. Grizzly Bear Sculpture - "Walking the Path of the Grizzly"
4..Sea Turtle Sculpture- "Circle of Life"
"Circle of Life"
Large Sea Turtle - SOLD
The "Circle of Life" Sea Turtle is carved out of a beautiful brazilian soapstone with a custom handcrafted lazy susan which is the same shape as the outer part of the sculpture.
Front Left View
Top Right View with fish on top by turtles shell and a starfish.
Left: two fish and side of front flipper.
Top Back View. Notice the shape
of the lazy susan perfectly fitting
the shape of the sculpture.
Side view with coral detailing at front.
Photo taken under turtles neck. Notice the fish swimming under the flipper on the left and the turtle hatchling to the right (bottom)..
Photo of front right side.
Left is the hatchling.
Middel is another fish swimming into the "coral" which I sculpted.
The "Circle of Life" Sea Turtle, has come to represent a transformation in the style and meaning of my career as a professional Wildlife Sculptor. Sometimes my artistry point things out to me, without me even realizing it at the time. This sculpture has spiritual depth, purpose, detail and a "life force" energy which when you touched the turtles shell and gazed into it's wise eyes, almost everyone felt a sensation go through them. A very special experience for all involved. The "Circle of Life", I am happy to say, has gone on as a healing sculpture to touch the lives of many. If you would like a copy of "the story", please email me at dawna@dawnarobertson.net, and I would be pleased to send you the story.
August 15, 2008 Update - I got word this week that the "Circle of Life" Sea Turtle" is touching a number of lives in Northern Ontario. It is still continuing to touch the lives of those who place their hands on it!
"Walking the Path of the Grizzly" - Grizzly Bear
Full Size Sculpture
Native Storyteller Sculpture (GIFTED)
The Story and Part of the Process in Creating "Walking the Path of the Grizzly"
Kind of a
"Chicken Soup for the Special Needs Soul" Story
Kind of a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" Stor
Gorgeous Golden Brown Soapstone
from
British Columbia, Canada
Eyes of Soul, Beauty, Truth
and Wisdom
Beautiful Custom Made Turntable
Stained to reflect the anicent grizzly
The process of wet sanding from 80 Grit Drywall Screen to 2000 Grit Wet Sandpaper. Simply put, when a stone is carved it ends up very rough with tonnes of scratches. Each level of sanding which is ALL done by hand and takes countless hours "erases" the scratches, gives smoothness and reveals the true beautiful colour of the stone.
"Ancient in Wisdom, Timeless in Spirit"
Global Warming - Polar Bear Environmental/Sustainable Awareness Sculpture
Real Life Story - White Italian Alabaster
You are invited to read the story on the evolution of my latest story teller sculpture of our polar bears below.
There is a symbolic meaning to all of the animals found below in the melting iceberg.
This sculpture is of the "Great Spirit" Polar Bear looking down on a melting iceburg. The sacredness is represented by the sculpted feathers hanging down each side of the bear from a medicine wheel. The crisis of our polar bears is well known. I had this piece of Alabaster in my garage for over three years knowing it would one day become a significant sculpture but had no idea how the "story" would unfold or even what animal it would become.
This sculpture just "flowed". The story of the endangered polar bear hovering down from the melting just glided into being. All of a sudden I could see the different animals around the base of the iceberg and slowly but surely the significance of each baby animal coming to it's aid became apparent. If ever there was a storyteller sculpture of mine, I would say this is it.
The following is the significance of why each animal flowed into this sculptures creation:
Polar Bear - Sacredness of Mother Earth
Polar Bear Cub - Innocence and Nurturing
Bunny - Gentleness and Understanding in our ways in dealing with our planets environmental issues at large. Natives wise - the bunny represents "fear" - in this case, fear of losing our polar bear forever
Baby Fox (next to the bunny) - Requires us to find clever solutions to save our polar bear
Squirrel - Teaching us to save and harvest our ideas
Hummingbird - Sign of Friendship and Kindred ways in interacting with each other for the
Greater Good of All
Penguin - Sign of Devotion to the Polar Bears and Each other - Stand United as One
Hawk - To signify our need to keep a "hawks eyes" view on the state of our environment
Dolphin - Symbolizing the healing which could happen if we combine our gifts and the ones our animals give us by learning from them in a healing rather than judgemental or opinionated way.
Sacred Feathers & Carved Medicine Wheel
Crate Story
Long before "Ancient in Wisdom, Timeless in Spirit" was finished I was contemplating the best way to protect and present this special sculpture to the public and eventually the owner. One day while browsing through an antique market I discovered the most beautifully restored collection of "Canadian Butter" Antique Crates. I was drawn to them like I am drawn to various pieces of stone. When I asked the vendor she told me that she restored the antique crates and then used reclaimed wood to make the lids and varnished them. I went straight over to the crate shown and knew, without hesitation, that I had to purchase this crate for my polar bear sculpture.
I put it aside for weeks and when certain things came up which I needed a crate for, my gut told me that this particular crate was ONLY to be used for this sculpture and non other. I didn't understand but I followed my intuition. When the final sanding finished last week I set out to burn the name of the sculpture into the crate. I didn't like the way it ended up looking at all and soon found myself sitting wondering how to fix it. Finally, I decided that I could chisel out the wood and then burn the name inside. When I took it in the garage to tool I realized the shape I was chiseling could in fact be a polar bear paw print. After the first paw print I wondered if there shouldn't be the front paw as well but felt the need to stop there. The wood was hard as could be and the process of getting the name burnt in took over two hours. As soon as I finished with woodburning I immediately placed my hand inside of the paw print. Instantly I "got" what the message of what happened was all about. The pawprint is exactly the same size as a real life polar bears. When I placed my hand inside of it, it occurred to me that this was entirely symbolic and in true keeping of the sculpture itself - there was a continuing flow to "the story". As we are all aware, global warming affects our polar bears and we stand an increasing risk of losing them forever. When I placed my hand inside of the full size paw print, I had a strong overwhelming sense that that paw print signified the last footprint there might be at some point in time if things do not turn around. It was made clear to me that the back paw print was symbolic of the last pawprint a polar bear could be taking off of its melting iceberg and not having the ability to take care of it's young anymore. When I had this thought my instant reaction was to place my hand on it's hand (paw) and stop it from happening. To me, this sculpture represents the unity of us all coming together to save the bears, and in effect, save each other. My placing my hand inside of the paw - hand on hand so to speak became a symbol of unity of like mindedness - a symbol of togetherness for the same cause and most importantly a symbol of hope for future generations and the desolving fears which surround it. Never in a million years would I have thought that a "crate" would have had an additional element to a sculpture story but then again, the wonder of the Creative Force is just that - nature's wonder..........For the bears and for each other...lets leave a footprint of kindness and support. I am honoured to have been the vehicle, the eyes and the hands which carved this very special sculpture and crate. It was not me, but it did come through me and for that, I will be forever grateful.
Notice the beautiful way this crate was made years ago.
Bunny Baby Fox
Polar Bear Cub & Mom
(Symbol of Nurturing - the cause and each other)
Cub - Hope for continued new life
Mother Polar Bear - Mother Earth
Hummingbird Seal Balancing Ball
Squirrel
Note the brown mark going through the stone on the top. I tried repeatedly to remove it and then realized it was supposed to be there. To me, and everyone will have a different interpretation but I felt it was symbolic of the roots of Mother Nature
Penguin Chick
(Top Half of Chick with arms ready with the enthusiasm of youth - symbol of devotion)
Juvenile Hawk's Head
Baby Dolphin
Paw print chiseled out and sanded. Sculpture name burned into crate.
NEW
"OUR SACRED ANIMAL KINGDOM"
LIMITED EDITION PRINTS
Some pertaining to Global Warming
I vaguely remembered the meaning of "walking the path of the grizzly", as spoken about in the "Animals Speak" Native Animal Spirits book. AFTER I finished carving this sculpture, I returned to see what the true meaning of what "walking the path of the grizzly"meant. It says it is symbolic of times in our lives when we have come out of our "bear den" of dreaming our life's dreams and enter a time of manifestation of those goals and dreams. WOW!! I find the connections and messages that emerge throughout the sculpting process so meaningful and enlightening!
This sculpture just "flowed" into creation. Again, my hands carved as my eyes watched in the fascination and excitement as it unfolded. Even the name of the sculpture was engraved into the base not long after I started sculpting! One would have a hard time arguing this was not a "meant to be" sculpture.
I feel so incredibly blessed by this grizzly. A true spirit just came alive in creating the movement of the hair and motion of its message and emotion. I had wondered about the base being like it was (almost in two different parts) and yet after reading the meaning of "Walking the Path of the Grizzly", it felt so significant. On the front side there is almost two seperate bases as I mentioned whereas the other side is one solid base. To me, this was symbolic of how our internal dreams come from within whereas the front section were the stepping stone to manifesting our dreams in our reality, in true and honest form. The footprints were sculpted into the right side of my grizzly before it's head was even sculpted. The footprints symbolic of the "footprints" or "handprints" we make in our own lives as well as others.
This sculpture was gifted to Native Shaman (Medicine Woman) and friend, Victoria Wilde of Ancient Pathways in Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada. Victoria has generously donated spiritual and physical helaing to my daughter and I. Holley had a very extensive and serious spinal rod and fusion surgery on August 15th, 2007 at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A few months following surgery Holley's legs and feet went a purple/black colour. I was so afraid that she might lose her legs as the result of poor circulation. The surgeons and doctors ruled out any side effects due to surgery and all they could suggest was to massage her legs every 45 minutes to ensure blood flow. Holley's school assistant and myself had to ensure that this was done, without fail. The thoughts of how life was going to be for her were overwhelming and the "what ifs" should we skip a 45 minute session were too much to bare. I met Victoria Wilde at the Rock Shop of Kleinburg one evening before Christmas when she purchased my grizzly bear sculpture entitled "Instinct" in Brazilian Soapstone. Victoria offered me some spiritual healing and after one session with her I developed a strong instinct (note: the sculpture she bought was also called "Instinct") to ask Victoria if she ever worked on special needs pediatrics. It turned out that Victoria has worked with special needs children and I proceeded to book an appointment for my daughter. After ONE session....Holley's legs and feet were a gorgeous pink colour!! I thought that if these results lasted even a few hours, it would be a few less hours for her organs to work overtime in pumpling the blood throughout her body. The affects from Victoria's healing lasted over 15 days to everyones pleasant surprise! Holley got to be a normal child for a couple of weeks without someone constantly making her aware that her body was not performing as it should and needed massaging every 45 minutes. The gift in that alone was indeed priceless. Since that time we go to Victoria every two weeks and after every session her feet, legs and even facial colour is a glowing healthy pink. The best gift in this is that Holley LOVES Victoria and feels she is being pampered at a spa during her sessions versus being poked and proded by the medical system. Victoria is the "Real McCoy" Medicine Woman. This grizzly is what one would term an "Old Indian Offering" from Holley and I to Victoria as she has never once taken a payment from us for our healings. Victoria has become a cherished friend and we are so incredibly blessed to have her in our "Circle of Life". Meegwetch Victoria! Love Dawna and Holley
Metis Author David Bouchard plays flute which my good friend Stephen Rensink created and I hand carved the soapstone raven fetish for! Sounded beautiful!!!
I had the extreme good fortune of meeting David Bouchard in person at the Arts in Education Conference held this January!
David is the most incredible Author, Presenter and Native Flutist I have ever heard! I am honored to call Steve and David my friends!
Please check out David's site at: www.davidbouchard.com
Left to Right: Dennis Bouchard, David Bouchard, Mary Lawliss (Ontario Arts in Education Programme), Stephen Rensink (Native Flute Maker & Character Matters Teacher Facilitator)
York Region District School Board January 27, 2010
Virginia Barter (Metis Artists Collective) listens to David Bouchard playing the Native Raven Flute
Native Flute created by
Native Flute Maker Stephen Rensink.
Soapstone Raven Fetish Carving by Dawna Robertson
