Vol. 1 / Issue 1
A literary and cultural review journal
Vol. 2 / Issue 3
“I think of my work as being about queer community and chosen family. I’m not trying to represent any broader “queer community” – just my specific queer community of friends.”
"Simplified shapes, yet emotional spirit."
"My polar bear paintings are all inspired by the photographs I have personally taken."
Christine Montague is a professional artist who creates beautifully haunting and engaging oil paintings about the iconic Canadian polar bear and its vulnerability to climate change.
Ophelia of the North - 40” x 30” x 1.5” oil painting
"This original oil painting is inspired by the famous painting Ophelia (Shakespeare's Hamlet) by Pre-Raphaelites painter, Sir Henry Millais.
In the play, Ophelia, represents goodness, innocence and beauty, and the sorrowful loss of it. This, of course, is an oversimplified description, but it will help you to understand my design.
The Pre-Raphaelite paintings had a great influence in my early years. As a young arts student visiting London, England, I ran to view this, the most popular painting in the Tate Gallery, the way others are drawn to the Mona Lisa in the Louvre in Paris.
In the Millais painting, Ophelia is depicted in the moment before her death. She floats down a stream, singing as she prepares to drown. Her death moved Hamlet to great sorrow and grief in his understanding of what has been lost.
In my painting, an Ophelia-like character (Mother Nature?) is forever immortalized in the ice, witnessed only by a lone, wandering polar bear.The intense, saturated colours and the detailed landscape of the Millais painting are replaced by a moody and limited palette.The flowers Millais painted in the garland of the Ophelia painting, symbolize sorrow, death, beauty and more. The poppy, a symbol for death and sleep, is also evident.Some predict the the polar bear, an almost magical creature, will be extinct by the end of the century. I hope we won't be like Hamlet, at the end of the story, grieving beauty and innocence lost."
The Fall - Oil; 30” x 30” x 1.5”
​"The maple leaf does not exist in this polar bear’s arctic world, but it is the actions of those of us in our maple-treed south, that are the major influence on the future of his survival."
Blue Girl
6” x 6” portrait, oil and cold wax painting on panel.
"A flower crown sits on the head of a fearsome polar bear. He shows us his teeth to remind us he is a powerful bear, king of the arctic.
This flower crown is placed on him in tribute and honour. It represents, as it always has, love, eternity and victory. The flowers and leaves of a flower crown, hold symbolic meaning, and the flora in this painting is no different.
60 - 80 % of the world's polar bears reside in Canada, so this flower crown composed of the flowers of the Canadian provinces and territories, as well as the nation’s symbol, the maple leaf. In honour, and with love, it is placed on this mighty bear’s head.
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Triplets - 30” x 20” x 1.5” oil painting on canvas
"This stylized oil painting has a climate change story to tell, and can be hung vertically or horizontally to do so.
Hung horizontally: In my latest oil painting, Triplets, three polar bear cubs affectionately play with their mother, secureand warm in their den. It is rare that 3 cubs are born and so this is one lucky polar bear mother.
One of the cubs is in the shadows. It could be a sign of foreboding, but is more a comment of how the healthier a bear is the more likely multiple births succeed.
Hung vertically: The bear family’s survival is dependant on sea ice. Too early a breakup of the ice in the spring, and a delay in its formation in the fall, leaves the polar bear and cubs vulnerable to starvation, drowning and threat from male bears."
The Canadian Polar Bear Flower Crown - Oil; 30” x 30” x 1.5”
The flowers are in the order of the provinces, with the exception of those of the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, which are placed more centrally on the polar bear.They are: Pacific Dogwood (British Columbia), Wild Rose (Alberta), Western Red Lily(Saskatchewan), Prairie Crocus (Manitoba), Fireweed (Yukon), Purple Saxifrage (Nunavut), Mountain Avens (Northwest Territories), White Trillium (Ontario), Blue Flag Iris (Quebec), Mayflower (Nova Scotia), Purple Violet (New Brunswick), Lady’s Slipper (Prince Edward Island), Purple Pitcher Plant (Newfoundland and Labrador).This painting was awarded "Jurors' Award" (1st prize) at the Headwaters Arts Juried Show, a prestigious juried art show in Ontario, Canada."
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Sweetheart Bear - 12” x 12” x 1.5” ; oil painting on wood panel.
"The sweetness of babies is universal. This portrait oil painting on wood panel is of a dear little polar bear cub with a baby's breath (gypsophila) flower crown on its head. I have not exaggerated the fur - it quite naturally forms the shape of a heart!"
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​For the past decade, Christine has used her skills - BFA Studio Art, BScBiology - to create realistic portraits of this highly intelligent, powerful apex predator against backgrounds symbolic to the threat it is under. Colour, canvas shape, and various aesthetics symbolize wonder, hope and warning. Her polar bear paintings are in collections worldwide. She creates in her Burlington, Ontario studio and her artwork can be viewed at ChristineMontague.com.