About

WV lucky bears have been placed around Huntington and Barboursville in natural settings to get people to connect with their environment, and to build a community that is connected to their heritage of West Virginia. Good luck charms date back centuries in many cultures. A few examples include the Hamsa, Evil Eye, four leaf clover, three-legged pig, etc., all of which are deeply intertwined with the culture they originated from. Good luck charms are commonly reached for in times of uncertainty and can lend a sense of comfort. When a person has a charm they consider lucky, they have been shown to perform above average simply from the confidence it gives them. 

 I recognized that West Virginia does not have any good luck symbol in popular culture, and I have been fascinated by good luck trinkets and symbols. Inspired by the village in Chile that created the three-legged pigs made of terracotta clay, as a symbol of good luck and good fortune, that they would then give to loved ones, I have made stoneware black bears that are glazed and lustered.  

I have placed the good luck black bear charms in natural settings to encourage people to connect with the land around them. West Virginia's culture and heritage is strongly connected to the land. I wanted to foster a sense of curiosity a reconnection with the plants and animals that live here. Good luck charms have an air of magic, I wanted to connect them with the magic found in nature where the powerful black bears are found.

Black Bears are the state animal of West Virginia with extraordinarily strong symbolism. They symbolize patience, confidence, and strength of “knowing who you are and what you want”. It is also thought that on a spiritual level black bears represent the “courage to evolve and the ability to be open minded.” I felt these sentiments speak deeply to the state of West Virginia, as we need confidence and strength with a strong sense of direction as we pivot away from coal and heal from the trauma inflicted by the opioid epidemic as a community. I feel that as a state we need to have the courage to evolve and to be open-minded, as well as in each individual person in the community as that is where change originates from. I hope these lucky black bears can bring a sense of pride in being a West Virginian, good luck, and a reminder of the need for evolution and open mindedness in each of us.