The trouble with being a sculptor is that my dear old brain box takes to technology like a slug! I have just been sent some pictures of the Canadian Ice Bear by Equiterre… it is looking wonderful,it is melting spectacularly! The head is now a skull… hips and legs are out drawing in the heat to the body of the bear… all my messages are booming out… BUT can Coreth work out how to transfer those pictures into the blog… onto facebook … hey ho … NO. BUT I will ask those with true talent to fix!

We still have our fingers firmly crossed for taking a bear to the Earth Day celebrations in Washington DC.. time is ticking by!

We are working on a new website… up soon!

All the best

Mark

There are several irons in the fire for Ice Bear and such encouraging comments keep flowing in.

When I first experienced the arctic and saw what was happening up there through climate change I was determined to create a work that would talk of that issue… to sculpt the beauty of the arctic is easy but not to include in a body of work that massive issue would leave the story so utterly incomplete. I wanted to create the Ice Bear and place it on Trafalgar Square in the very heart of London… that was my hope and dream. The Ice Bear team achieved that goal fair and square… Copenhagen, Quebec, Ottawa and now Montreal are all whacking great bonuses to my original plan… and hopefully they will be followed by Toronto towards the end of June… the G8 and G20 Summit talks… far from certain but still sort is to have a bear at Earth Day in Washington DC in April… oh and lets see where we can place them through Europe!

With a fair wind and some partnerships overseas I HOPE that Ice Bear will travel on spreading its message.

Do contact us and help in what ever way is appropriate to you to take this project on.

We are currently reworking the website… wait out and keep an eye on it!

With all the best

Mark

The team is hard at it again… today we started preparing the two skeletons ready for the freezer… and into the freezer they will go tomorrow! Our aim is to be ready to send the bears to Washington DC and New York for Earth Day this coming April. We are working with partners over the wee pond to try to raise the funds to get the bears over there… any help would be gratefully accepted!

Ice Bear has so much to say to so many people… and as it travels I might just say that a germ of an idea is taking hold to link the Greenland Ice Cap to the Tiger… hey ho and wait and see!

Jet lag, a brief sniffle and a dollop of exhaustion after a busy weeks worth of sculpting… are nearly behind me now!

The 3rd Ice Bear now resides outside the City Hall in Quebec City. It seems like a week was actually a month… so much was put into the time. I went out to Canada to create the bear for Equiterre and the Hotel de Glace (Ice Hotel) and their sponsors. My team this time consisted of Toby Sherborne who was not only Mr Admin but also camera man, lighting specialist and you name it …. he did it… and Duncan Hamilton. Duncan and I have now carved 3 bears so we know the score! We were also joined by Peter Boy and his brother Jack…and their interpreter Talicia… both very highly accomplished Inuit sculptors… their prime subject is the Polar Bear! To work with Peter and Jack was a complete delight. They immediately settled into the team and fully understood where we needed to go. The Ice Bear was conceived in the Arctic in their country… but by me a wee British sculptor… so to have such direct participation and a unity in the goal was perfect… indeed we made firm and lasting friendships.

The week started with fun and games hosted by Hotel de Glace. We were given a studio in the Ice Hotel and asked to create!!! That was a brilliant ice breaker, forgive the pun, as it meant that the we could all show off our strengths or otherwise and form a team.

Equiterre and Hotel de Glace proved to be perfect partners in the effort to take the Ice Bear message further and through Canada.

The skeleton was frozen amongst millions of Cranberries outside Quebec… and managed by Hotel de Glace’s Marc Lacasse… spot on job in all respects.

The Ice was delivered to the most beautiful square outside of the City Hall… and to work we went.

With a day extra in hand we had time to relax (ish) into the sculpting of the bear… the ice was perfect and a smidge clearer than on bears 1 & 2… the skeleton was not visible to the general public but to us there was that faint shadow of bronze… the hint of a lighthouse to guide us in… a VERY satisfactory result indeed.

Thursday was unveiling day and press calls… Quebec is delighted as are Equiterre and Hotel de Glass. My thanks go out to all concerned for helping us to pull off this third success.

The Canadian Bear is going to remain in Quebec for about 10 days before it then travels to Ottawa… It will thereby be attending 2 very prominent winter festivals in 2 magnificent Canadian Cities. It will then be travelling to Montreal where it will be allowed to melt in its own time. There was hopes that it could go to Vancouver to the Winter Olympics but sadly due to a lack of funding, availability of space and time it will not go… BUT it is hoped that with a refreeze it will travel to Toronto in June for the Summit meeting, a very prominent and appropriate leg on its worldwide mission.

Well done all who played a part in Ice Bear No.3 … and THANK YOU!

Looking towards the future… we are working on trying to get a bear to Washington DC for Earth Day in April and to NY to the Christies Green Auction… all depends on dosh and sponsorship… Then to the Far East … more on that later!

As ever

Mark

The Ice Bear travels… I have come over top Quebec City with Toby Sherborne and Duncan Hamilton to create Ice Bear no.3…

We are being Sponsored by Equiterre and Hotel de Glace, a truely dynamic partnership. What is great fun is that we have on the sculpting team 2 Inuit sculptors Peter and Jaques Boy… they are both carvers of soap stone and specialise in the Polar Bear! They are wonderful people… they have joined the team as true partners, they see and understand the vision and the direction that Ice Bear is taking. I could not have asked for an easier crew.

The ice block arrived in Quebec City last night having been frozen (and beautifully) under the eagle eye of Marc Lacasse from Hotel de Glace… If all Ice Bears could run as smoothly as this then they would become a doddle!

Today we made great progress with the pre carve… tomorrow I plan to try to finish the sculpting ready to launch into the press day and opening on Thursday.

I might add that we did a days sculpting at Hotel de Glace, 1/2 hour North of the City on Sunday… what a creation the hotel is!!!

Almost ready for a much needed glass of bear…

Will post a flip shortly and another tomorrow…

Knackered!

Mark

Happy New Year all of you… it is a beautiful day in the SW, lovely crisp sunrise and a bear whose ice is literally hanging on with the frost. We brought the bear here from Trafalgar Square on Christmas Eve still with a fair bit of ice… now it is almost free of ice… the last chunk retreating like a glacier, it will soon leave the bare bones.