Mosaic

Talk about "cool." This bear is "way cool," being made of bits and pieces of colored glass and stone woven together to give him patterns, shadings, and textures.

Jane Kellogg is the artist. She's a woman who has inspired others to develop both technique and an artistic eye in the ancient arts.

I first fell in love with this form at the Bardo Museum in Tunis where a wealth of mosaics, dating from pre-Roman times delight the eye. But these ancient forms are restricted to flat surfaces.

This bear is three dimensional, allowing a play of light unknown to the ancient masters.

Jane's bear will be on display at the Park County Complex in Cody during the summer of 2008. For iinformation on how you could own him, email coordinator@grizgathering.com.

Going Fishing

Bob Jacob's bear is disguised as a trout (you fishermen and women will recognize the sub-species). To my eye he looks like he's ready to go on safari, heading for Africa and the veld, dressed to run with the leopards. But that's because I'm not a fisherperson.

In fact, I'm assured, once submerged, this bear will be given away as a non-fishy specimen only by his head and his size. Hard to do anything about that.

Honey Bear

All of the whimsy inherent in the sculpture comes out in Den Barhaug's rendition of the honey bear, complete with beehive (still stuck on the stick that brought it down) and bees. The rolicking mood reflected by the cubs that carouse on mama's back.

This bear's sponsor, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, wishes to donate it to the Buffalo Bill Art Sale.

Look for him there.

Shoshone First's Big Bear

Denny and Leigh Karchner (the artist and his wife) pose with "Big Bear" in the lobby of Shoshone First Bank where Denny painted ... to the great enjoyment of the bank's customers.

Big Bear deserves his name. Not only did he prove too big to get into the bank without taking off the front doors (see blog below), but Denny painted a twilight scene on his back that shows Ursus Major--the biggest bear of all.

Big Bear was the first stop on the Trolley Tour, giving everyone a taste of what was to come. He'll be hanging out in the bank for the next week or so before leaving for his gigs with the clear coater and the photographer.

Drop by and visit with him or surf to his web page . He's a forerunner of things to come when the bears all arrive at their summer habitats.

Trolley Tours of Artists Studios

A cookie from the Robin's Nest B&B on top of "getting to find the animals" in Pat Schermerhorn's bear. What more could a young guy want?

Kids and adults, as you can see in the picture, shared the adventure.

Opinions about the bears varied from, "My favorite was the flowers and bones" (Erika Tenjack and Lana Perrotti's bear) to "There's no question. Den Barhaug's bear is the best," (his is a honey bear) to "What Jeff Rudolph's doing beats everything!"

About Jeff's bear, one trolley visitor suggested about his faux marble finish, "Why not call it the 'AlaBEARster?'"

Preferences ranged so widely among the many people who viewed the bears--some finished, some still works in progress--that soon every bear had his/her fan club.
What everyone had in common was a pleasure in the process, a feeling of the grizzly bears as something that would give pleasure for all.
Thanks to Margie and Mike Johnson for donating the trolley for the day and letting us all have the fun of riding from studio to studio and seeing the creative energies of Cody artists.