The Bear Clan
I dedicate this painting to an Ojibway medicine man referred to as old man Burnside, who during my childhood years gave me my Indian name Mishakeebaneesh, meaning a big bird coming down from the sky. This old man was from the Bear Clan who lived on the Nett Lake Indian reservation in northern Minnesota. The old woman inside the sweat lodge represents the honoring of the four elements of life: infant, teenager, adult and old age.