I do hope you all like the Toronto Ice Bear… I was, dare I say it SO pleased with the outcome. Sculpturally it really worked… the melt was quick… the message punchy and although the footfall was not as high as I would have liked it (G20 Summit ensured that Toronto was akin to a police state… understandably!)
We will post up the end of day pictures as soon as we can…
Other exciting news from the team is that we have been asked to create a sculpture to talk to the world about the plight of the Tiger… This time I intend to bring the bones of the tiger to life… hey ho … keep watching!
5th July
July 5th, 201029th June
June 29th, 2010Oh how chuffed I am with the Toronto Ice Bear, he really worked in every possible way. Equiterre and WWF CA were perfect partners in the sculpt… and my team works like clockwork.
We will shortly be posting happy snaps on the web site… so keep looking!
Toronto and the G20
June 25th, 2010Ice Bear has arrived at the G20 Summit in Toronto and given us some wonderful sculptural challenges not least of all being that the temperature is about 28c and boy does ice not melt quickly!
We have created the Toronto bear in partnership with Equiterre and WWF Canada, a partnership that has worked really well… as before and as will happen hopefully in the future. We used Equiterre’s skeleton , the one that was originally created for Quebec City and subsequently travelled to Ottawa and Montreal… it is a skeleton that has now become very Canadian and is enjoying the fact that it has migrated permanently across the Atlantic!
The sculpting home team of myself, Duncan and Jamie Hamilton with Toby Sherborne as the amazing Mr Fixer was joined again by Peter Boy and his brother Jack both highly talented Inuit sculptors. Jack and Peter did a very successful pre-carve in Montreal taking off several tonnes of ice and thereby lightening the load both for the transporter and for the somewhat hot days worth sculpting of sculpting ahead.
Toronto in at the moment teaming with security surrounding the G20 as one might expect. My first concern was not so much that the ice would melt faster than we could carve it but that to get to the block of ice we had to wiggle our way through a police force that out numbered the Canadian population a thousand fold with what could be seen as a trunk full of lethal weapons! It was funny when somewhat later in the day we were visited by a dozen or so scary cops who swooned over Ice Bear and just loved having their pictures taken, spikes, chisels, daggers, sculptors and all…
The Carve went so smoothly and the bear looked wonderful, Equiterre and WWF were chuffed with all that they had, the not so many (securitied out) passers by loved it and with fingers crossed the press will appear later this morning to watch the melt and see the bear as a skeleton and a pool of water.
I will report further at the end of the day and will now attempt to upload a flip for you… standby!
Mark
22 June 2010
June 22nd, 2010Toronto and the G20 Summit tomorrow… this should be a very exciting and punchy Ice Bear… 28c is quite warm, I long to see how the bear behaves and speaks…!!! Keep an eye on us and wish us luck!
15th June
June 15th, 2010My eldest sons has finished his finals … were does life go… all so fast but exciting, anxious… but through the baldness and grey temples I feel happy that aims are being achieved! I am certain that the Ice Bear aims are winning … Next Wednesday 23rd the Ice Bear team return to Canada, this time to Toronto to create another strong message delivered in that wonderful language of sculpture… I have been deep into my Arctic sculpture, the studio has been a buzz of wild activity… but that is eclipsed by the excitement of another Ice Bear… follow us!
26th May 2010
May 26th, 2010What a busy month in the studio it has been… this time working towards my November exhibition and with luck putting bread on the table!
The focus may seem to have waned a bit from the Ice Bear… but believe me much has been moving below the surface. The next bear is well underway in its freezer in Canada, I will be carving it for Equiterre at the G8 / G20 Summit with my team… We also have a couple of bears ready in the freezer here in UK. I am very much planning to carve one outside the Sladmore Gallery in early November… London needs reminding!
Toby and I have been putting a lot of effort into another project… this time with the plight of the Tiger as the focus… slightly watch this space… !!!
Must get back into the studio… SO much creation to do!
23rd Apr
April 23rd, 2010Yesterday Toby Sherborne, Duncan Hamilton and I whipped over on WWF invitation to their Climate Savers Workshop 2010. It was a very early start and late to bed but a very successful day. It gave me the chance to preach the Ice Bear message to a dozen or so big businesses … I do believe I had them captivated and I hope one or other may see the opportunities that are on the table with our project. Sadly due to the chaos in travel across Europe only a fraction of the Climate Savers could make the workshop but with the magic of a live link I hope my preaching reached those beyond the room! A big thank you to WWF for the invitation… we keep fingers crossed for a positive outcome!
17th Apr
April 17th, 2010How time flies… I was invited by my daughters school to join them on their geography trip… Iceland… and volcanoes!!! How fascinating it was. This was followed by a little skiing in La Plagne where my eldest daughter is a Chalet Host… and was therefore our hostess… great weather and lovely skiing… she cooks very well!
Back to work in the studio with tight time lines to complete work to be cast for my November exhibition…(Sladmore Gallery Bruton Place in London Town!)… that is what I should have been doing this last week BUT… two chums of mine and I decided to do something utterly stupid and illogical… We decided to walk from Trafalgar Square back home to Wiltshire. This was not a trip with aims of raising money, there was no purpose to it other than why not!!! It was a fantastic mission walking through some of the most beautiful parts of London and the all points towards the South West. The weather was fantastic, the company wonderful and meeting people on the way who generally felt we were barking mad! 3 days … up at 04.30… walking by 0500, breakfast at 0900ish somewhere, liquid lunch at a pub, picnick in any convenient field… finish one and a quarter marathons later… supper and bed!!! This was the routine for three days. Result… success, blisters and nappy rash!!!
So back to Ice Bear… and there is news… Toby Sherborne, Duncan Hamilton and I are off to Brussels next Thursday… I am giving a talk as a guest of WWF to Corporations… I hope we will find support for more bears in Europe… that would be good… very good. I will report more on return.
1 Apr
April 1st, 2010April Fools Day… the year is pressing on … how do you like our new site?
Sadly we did not manage to secure the bears for either New York or Washington for the Earth Day celebrations… win some and loose some. BUT Canada has been a huge success and we are doing another there in June, this time in Toronto… It will cover the G8 & G20 Summits. We still have big hopes and aspirations for Australia in both Melbourne and Sydney also in Beijing… all rests on funding in the continuing dodgy financial climate… do please help if you can. We are working very closely with WWF and will be attending a conference in Brussels later this month with the aim of generating bears through Europe.
Watch this space and ride the wave when the big one comes which I feel sure it will!
18th March
March 18th, 2010Win some and loose some… Equiterre and the Canadian Bear is a big win… with a future ahead. It is planned that the bear will be re frozen and taken to Toronto in June… watch this space! Sadly it would appear that we have fallen over our bid to raise enough funding to take a bear to either New York or Washington to coincide with Earth Day… very sad as Ice Bear had much to say. We are now working closely with the British Council and WWF to find other venues through Europe as well as the rest of the world… Ice Bear is on a mission!
Very soon our new look website will be up and running… keep scanning!