"Spirit Bears in the City" Project – There's a Bear in My House!

Personal Note: Since this is my first post to this blog I decided to include it in the General category as well as the Spirit Bear category.

Also, if you have been to this Look What I Drawed site before you will see that it has changed!  What was once a regular website, is now an interactive web-log or blog for short. That means that after you read a post or watch a video (coming soon), you will be able to follow the comments and opinions of others and be able to offer your own 'two cents'.

Being interactive makes things way more fun! So I hope you enjoy the new format.

There's a bear in My House!

In Spring 2006 I was involved with a very exciting and rewarding charitable project called "Kermode Spirit Bears in the City". To watch "The making of the Spirit Bear" with interviews of Sullivan Elementary Kids click There's a bear in My House!

The Lions Society of British Columbia, Easter Seals, and the Canucks for Kids, came up with this public art project after the huge success of the "Orcas in the City" project in 2003.  (My orca on this link is titled 'Young and Free' and is half way down the page.)

Click here for newspaper articles involving both our "Orcas in the City" project and our "Kermode Spirit Bears in the City" project.

These two projects were created to give exposure to artists and sponsors, beautify the city and ultimately to raise much needed funds for children with disabilities.

Basically the way the projects worked was, a limited number of gorgeous life sized fiberglass sculptures were created. An 8 foot baby orca whale, and a 71/2 foot baby Kermode Spirit Bear.

These were the 'blank canvases' on which the artists created their masterpieces. A sponsor funded the cost of the sculpture's creation and installation, in exchange for their name on the plaque and brochure,  the say in the location of the sculpture, etc., etc.

The sculptures then spend the summer 'out on the street'  enjoyed by the public and are auctioned off online and at a big gala event in the fall. Our Spirit Bear will be auctioned in October 2006.

What makes my Orca and Bear particularly special is the involvement of tons of children. As an artist who works with children's art as the basis of my designs, I can combine the work of many children's designs into one piece.

This really 'raises the bar' as far as involving the community.

With the orca project I used the drawings from 10 different children including my own. With the bear project there were over 500 children involved!

The sponsors for our bear were 4 Moms for kids. They were four moms from a private school in Vancouver, BC called West Point Grey Academy (WPGA). They approached me to paint the bear after one of the moms had purchased my orca in 2003.

Together with the help of the Fine Arts and Performing Director at WPGA Christina Mears, we collected over 700 drawings of specific images from the students of WPGA.

They held a special Spirit Bear Day to create these drawings and many of them will be published in a small book along with poems and stories the children have created. 

My husband Doug and I were there at WPGA on Spirit Bear Day, going from classroom to classroom observing the kids creating their drawings. It was so inspiring to see their excitement and raw enthusiasm for the project.

Right now our bear titled "WPGA School Spirit" is standing out on the corner of West Tenth and Sasamat in Vancouver, BC enjoying the ooohs and aaawes from the passers by … from the tiny baby to the big burly construction guy.

So go check out the video to listen to all the children's darling opinions and come back here to leave an opinion of your own. I'm sure all the kids and their parents would to here your kind words!