This painting is based on a photograph I took half way up a mountain in Glacier National Park. The painting is of three trees, small than those surrounding them, that seem to lean together for protection, while offering their own protection from sun and snow. The title comes from an Inuvialuit story I heard when I was living in the arctic.
As you drive down the ice road, (since replaced by an overland road) you will see three small trees standing together, just where the MacKenzie River meets the Arctic Ocean. The story goes that there were three women heading north, down the river. When they reached the mouth of the river, they were warned by a supernatural being (as it was told to me, it was a witch) not to turn and look back. Of course they did, and they were instantly turned into trees. They are the most northern trees in the region--the last trees you see as you head north toward Tuktoyaktuk. I'm sure I left something out of this telling, but I heard the story 20 years ago.
The painting is part to the Art in the Park exhibit, and is on display at various Canadian national parks as part of a traveling show, from March 2023 to December 2024.