[1] In 1968, at the age of 16, Big Bear moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to start his career as an artist and to work as a cab driver in order to support his family.
[5][6][2][8] Frank Big Bear continued to work as a cab driver for over thirty years and by 1973 he became an "Artist in residence" at Heart of the Earth School in Minneapolis.
As a reflection of this, his art began to display various messages of his native past, political issues, and symbolic images, as well as his personal journey to the discovery of his inner identity.
[7] His painting entitled "From the Rez, to the Hood, to the Lake" was created through an assemblage of "highly personalized signs, symbols, and images that reflect the complexity of contemporary humanity".
[2][14] With his inspiration from the White Earth Reservation and his passed down tribal stories, Frank is often reminded of his spirituality and connection to his tribe and his people through these types of drawn art.