Boy is time marching ahead with a pace… Next week I am going to whip off to Churchill to not only study bears in detail but also to talk to, interview and learn from some of the worlds foremost scientists on the Bear and the Arctic.

We can now declare with triumph that we are not only creating the Ice Bear for Trafalgar Square, going on on 11th Dec for 10 days, but also a second bear is being prepared to go on Nytorv Square in Copenhagen on 5th Dec to become the centre piece to WWF’s Big Tent exhibition COP15 the Climate Change Conference. For me this is VERY exciting as it really will get the Ice Bear message out to a huge number of people and politicians NGO’s across the globe… sculpture bringing the Arctic’s problems to the world. Ice Bear is a message board, a point of discussion… a wake up call… It is sculpture that can and will be handled by millions and for all of us. The more people that interact with the bear the less Coreth is going to be the Sculptor for all that touch it will be sculptors. Do please strike a line through other commitments on either the 5th Dec or 11th Dec and join us in Copenhagen or London… be a forceful part of the Ice Bear message!

Boy oh boy how it feels like parachuting… you jump out and open the chute and stillness as you float… until the ground begins to rush towards you!!! D Day is fast approaching… and thank the good Lord so is some fantastic help on the funding front… more on that once it is clearly on the table… or in the bank! The Ice Bear project is all about people and awareness… it is capturing imagination and with the fantastic synergy we have with WWF I feel this is really going some where BUT that is not an invitation to relax and let it be, we must look beyond the Square to the next venue, to push the buttons in another city, to another group of people. So please come on board, enable the team to move ahead rather than just sit exhausted on the steps of Trafalgar Square!

Onwards and upwards!

As ever

Mark

I have just had an Open Studio W/E … great, lots of people and fun. I was so encouraged at how well the Ice Bear Project was received… If the wider world can see what we are doing, the message that we are putting out in the way that the visitors to the studio did then the message will travel well…

Preparations are now being made to whip over to Churchill Manitoba as I badly need to meet and interview the worlds experts on both the Polar Bear and its environment. We are trying to put the project on film… it will make the message SO much stronger… budget … how… ? That is in the lap of the Gods!

Mark

Well how time ticks by!!! The Ice Bear team has been working so hard to get the message out to every one… bears are prepared, fund raising events are being organised, young and not so young are joining the band waggon… Bears are to be on the squares… time is against success but enthusiasm from all involved is for hitting a bulls eye… we will be there… but by golly we can not count our chickens… we still fall short of funds and the wire is horribly close… SO a plea for those that might be able to help with the funding… HELP!

Bears are ready for freezing … Time is ticking by and much yet to achieve in order to get to the square with a head of hair!

Knackered, smiling and bed… early start… prepare the skeletons for the big freeze… amongst the peas!!! Good night!
Mark!

The Ice Bear adventure is one of the greatest roller coasters any one can ride. We now have two skeletons almost ready for the freezer… The freezer was booked and sorted and then like an over blown balloon popped much to Duncan Hamilton’s and Toby’s horror… the route in was too restricted! The drawing board was dragged out again… fingers crossed a new freezer warehouse has been found. I some times wonder what I have bred in the Ice Bear… a strong team certainly and a bear that is running wild… I HAD a head of hair… now I have bags under my eyes! Things are hot footed at the moment, each day bringing new challenges, lets not mention dosh tho”!!! I hope by midway through next week we will have bears in a freezer surrounded by broad beans …and a drink in our hands!

The week has ended with fire in the Ice Bears belly! So much has happened with the team paddling hard and in the right direction… BUSY in all departments… and new irons in the fire… ones that we dare not declare!

So if challenged to put a finger on only one of the positive aspects of the week it would with no doubt be gaining a new member and VERY active member of our team …Kesella Scott-Somme or Kezzie. Kezzie makes the core members Todd, Toby and myself look akin to the Ice Bear skeleton, may be it is just that we have a year or two on her, or it could be that Ice Bear has worn us out or it could be that she is just a big breath of fresh air… Welcome aboard!

Oh wow… tired but enjoying the ride!!! Each day seems to bring a jumble of success and stress! There are dark days when I just do not see how we are to succeed… We have three pillars to the Ice Bear with the London Ice Bear as the spring board, the concept grew about Trafalgar Square and as a British sculptor it is to me the focus. We may also have a bear going to Copenhagen to … now that is interesting!!! Finally we are trying to produce a movie of the whole from flash to bang. Although not even one pillar is secure I have confidence with the support that is building from the home team to the wider group of experts and on to the scientists … we have a ball rolling and energy growing that I truely think will be hard to stop.
Today brought some very interesting conversations with Canada… think wide, think how the bear can unite and educate people through that country… and think gold for the Ice Bear Project, lets see if we can win at the Winter Olympics, watch this space… and watch the message spread!!!

All salaams

Mark

By golly how sticky some days can be… you paddle , paddle and paddle then it is as if you hit a new current… this evening the current was in the form of Krista Wright from Polar Bears International (PBI) www.polarbearsinternational.org . In order for us to make a worthy and informative movie I have to go and speak to those in the know, the scientists who are dealing with the bear and its environment. Both WWF and PBI are fully behind the Ice Bear message as if we are all singing from the same song sheet. SO… I am with a bit of luck going to be able to see and meet a number of the worlds most informed scientists in Churchill Manitoba. The scientific world is supporting us… but more on that at a later date… it is now far too late and I have a considerable maount od sculpting to achieve tomorrow… no today… so bed!!!