The artistic works of CroftonB次元官网网址檚 IceBear have always been considered eye-openers.

Not only are they eye-opening creations in the literal sense as sights to behold, but also because his world-renowned paintings, sculptures and other mixed media open peoplesB次元官网网址� eyes to todayB次元官网网址檚 important issues that spark productive conversations.

The art is about meaning, purpose and beauty. B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 my three principals IB次元官网网址檝e evolved into,B次元官网网址� said IceBear, who uses his totem name rather than his given name, Chris Johnston, to signify the source of his talents.

He explains his work is the embodiment of visions assigned to him for most of his life and not his own personal creations. IceBear transforms those visions through his work which leaves the viewer to interpret it in their own way.

B次元官网网址淎rt is about life; itB次元官网网址檚 about growing,B次元官网网址� he said.

A rare glimpse into his extensive collection, IceBearB次元官网网址檚 The Modern Age Dreams of a Dreamer, drew an enormous response last summer at the Portals Gallery at the Cowichan Community Centre in Duncan.

Now, IceBear and wife Charronne have hit the road for a particularly poignant exhibit titled Along Came A Muskrat (and other Modern Age Dreams of a Dreamer) that opens Sept. 9 and runs until Oct. 10, an initiative of the Wiarton and District Chamber of Commerce at the Deep Water Gallery in Wiarton, Ont.

The exhibit is another telling of one of the Ojibway creation stories. It is essentially a lesson people should not be judged on size and bombast, that even the smallest among us often has something to contribute, and can work miracles that cause the bigger and stronger individuals to humbly crumble.

While at the gallery, IceBear will be finishing a cedar round called the Raven and the Hawk plus a new painting, Loon.

IceBear was born into the Ojibway community known as Chippewas of Nawash just north of Wiarton before being scooped off the Cape Croker Reserve at a very young age and raised by the state, but fortunately his art was already ingrained in him and proved to be his salvation.

B次元官网网址淚 was drawing way back when I was three years old,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚 was taken off the reserve when I was four.

B次元官网网址淚 ended up going through the system. Living on reserve one of the things I remember was being hungry.B次元官网网址�

Through his formative years and particularly at 14, B次元官网网址渆verything was constantly a learning thing,B次元官网网址� IceBear said. B次元官网网址淚 started to find out that life was about learning.

B次元官网网址淚n terms of survival, there was only one option to do that. I donB次元官网网址檛 think I necessarily totally gave in to it.B次元官网网址�

IceBear discovered in later years that he also had a considerable family of four brothers and three sisters in the region when he originally was told he had none.

During a previous visit in 2004, he actually met some of them and B次元官网网址渁ll these elders came to see me and they remembered me when I was dreaming,B次元官网网址� he added.

It promises to be another significant reunion over the next eight weeks plus a celebration within the community of such an accomplished artist who hails from the region.

IceBear and Charronne left in their RV Monday morning and planned to stay overnight in Tsawwassen to get an early start for the border at Blaine, Wash. Tuesday. B次元官网网址淗ow far we get that first day will depend on how well the loaded RV goes up Snoqualmie Pass and then onward,B次元官网网址� noted Charronne.

The plan was to take the route through Coeur dB次元官网网址橝lene, Idaho that they have done many times, perhaps spend a day there and then head east for some serious travel.

TheyB次元官网网址檒l cross back into Canada at Sault Ste. Marie and head along the north shore of Lake Huron, take the bridge to Manitoulin Island, stop at the huge Ojibway Cultural Foundation and gallery where IceBear showed some years ago and then catch the ferry to the tip of the Bruce Peninsula and drive south to the Cape Croker Reserve before making the short drive to Wiarton and the Deep Water Gallery. Wiarton Willie, the famous groundhog, officially lives in the park just a few doors away.

The gallery is considered CanadaB次元官网网址檚 smallest public art gallery and will surely be overwhelmed with IceBearB次元官网网址檚 art.

Patrons there will soon find in IceBearB次元官网网址檚 world, itB次元官网网址檚 a place where imagination rules, with wonder and curiosity the order of the day.

From IceBearB次元官网网址檚 website: B次元官网网址淭ranslation and meaning is often left entirely to you the viewer; interpret and take away from any individual piece of art what you will. Some will find magical beings, spirits or imaginary creatures floating through, others will find nothing but the most obvious. There is no right or wrong. But we have been told by many collectors that even years after living with a painting, one day when they look at it, they find things they have never seen before. Perhaps it is a trick of the light, a shadow, a fleck of dust, but that original sense of wonder is recreated, and we receive happy posts of thanks and appreciation.B次元官网网址�

Major road trips are nothing new for IceBear and Charronne and he talks fondly about the experiences B次元官网网址� some of them even harrowing, like winding up in the middle of Times Square in New York in the RV B次元官网网址� but all of them memorable. His work has also been exhibited in other major U.S. cities like Dallas and Sacramento as well European countries like France and Italy and major Asian destinations like Beijing and Taiwan.

For more on IceBear, visit his website and additional information can also be found on his .