In the pantheon of his many creations, Bear, Owl, and Birds stands as a fine example of Norval Morrisseau’s works from the late 1990s. Dominating the boldly coloured work is an owl, a figure that Morrisseau often summoned into his paintings. With its characteristic large eyes and modest beak, it is one of the few animals that the artist depicted frontally. Below the owl form, we encounter a transformation scene from which the heads of a bear and two birds (one perhaps another owl) emerge. Within this assembly appears a motif the artist used frequently throughout his career: an "x-rayed" form revealing a cyan-blue coloured spiral nestled in the vibrant yellow circle in what is here a shared body.

If you’ll forgive the pun: in an interesting twist, this colourful image seems to be composed as if to be viewed as a diamond-shape. This compositional choice may have been done to compel the viewer to literally pivot one’s viewpoint and, perhaps, to consider a broader shift in perception. One might even be tempted to hang it that way!

References: For the spiral form in other works, see Norval Morrisseau, Man Changing into Thunderbird, 1977, panels, 1, 3, and 6, Art Gallery of Ontario and Norval Morrisseau, Observations of the Astral World, c. 1994, National Gallery of Canada. See also the prints Loon Family, c. 1976-79 and Thunderbird Spirit, mid-late 1970s. For the frontal owl, see Family of Nature, 1976, illustrated in Lister Sinclair and Jack Pollock, The Art of Norval Morrisseau, (Toronto: Methuen Publications, 1979), p. 133; Shaman in Flight Into the Other Worlds to Bring People Back Information to the People, acrylic on canvas, illustrated in Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Norval Morrisseau, exh. cat., 1991, p. 32; The Shaman’s Dream, 1995, illustrated in Norval Morrisseau: Travels to the House of Invention, (Toronto: Key Porter Books Limited, 1997), no cat. no, frontispiece, unpag. See also the print Group of Owls, 1976.