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Bear Dreams: Harmonious Fires
In response to an invitation to exhibit a piece for Smokey
Bear’s 50th anniversary, I responded from the point of view of a
bear, which is only one of the many creatures that rely on forests
to exist. The central upright ‘sawed’ log is threatened at the base
by a swirling mass of flames, which, in turn, is surrounded and
tempered by water. On the top platform are two giant whirling discs,
appearing as the sun from the outside, and like saw blades from the
inside, mirroring both the source and the destruction of trees. Bear
paw prints move up the side of the tree to the top platform,
diminishing in size as they meld to fit that of the bear standing on
a stump, no longer in its primal forest habitat. |
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On the surface of
one of the saw blades is the lifecycle of several species of pine:
the cone evolving to maturity, then opening to spread seeds once
fire has spread through the forest. This is an ironic juxtaposition
to the politics of ‘preventing’ naturally occurring forest fires,
which contributes to more destructive fires as in the Yellowstone
case. The bear peers down into the log’s cavernous belly. There, she
witnesses her former self (or her peers); one bear is sleeping, one
is catching a fish and a third is scratching its back on a tree
trunk. It’s everyday-living from the bear’s perspective, until her
home is gone.
Size: 47” ht. x 23” diameter
Price: $750
Media: Hardware cloth, clay, silk cloth, wood, porcelain,
paint, oxides, foam, glue, electrical fixture & red bulb
(inside). | |
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