Amy Ward
Critique #3
Street Bears
Main Street
Hendersonville, NC
2-9-2003
(4.25 pages)
Driving through Hendersonville a few days ago we noticed bears the size of
large
dogs placed all along the side walks
on either side of Main Street. I had never seen bears
there before and wondered what was
going on. While in Germany last year we visited a
town that had a whole bunch of big
bears all painted different ways for all the shops and
stores who would sponsor a bear.
That’s what this reminded me of. So, I wanted to
come check out these bears as one of
my critiques.
We parked along the street as the sun was just starting to make everything
golden and
walked across to the Visitor’s Center.
It was closed, so there was no one to ask for
information about the bears.
Just outside the center was a black bear with a brown nose.
It was almost a taunting invitation,
“Follow the trail and see what’s there for you to find.”
So off we went. There were so
many bears it was hard to keep track of them all. Each
one was the same basic shape, given
to an artist, or several, to turn into something magical.
A company or organization from the
town sponsored each bear, and often that was reflected
in the representation the bear took
on.
It’s truly difficult to pick out one that was my favorite. There was
the bear from the Boys
& Girls club called “First in Flight”.
It was brightly painted with splotches and strips, all organic
lines of bright colors, and had pterodactyl
wings and a long beak. It was so cool! I’m sure the
kids must have helped design that –
who could have thought of NC being represented by a
pterodactyl, one of the very first
in flight? I just thought that was such a great idea and concept.
It truly made you stop and think –
how many times do you see a black bear with wings?
Another favorite was one we somehow skipped while walking, but I saw when
we drove
back down the road. It was a
bear painted blue with the constellations represented on its side.
That was very intriguing. The
big bear is a constellation…and here there were constellations in
the bear. It was almost as if
it was protecting them - the guardian of the night sky. I’m not sure
how they managed to pull off the effect
of drawing you into the larger picture through a smaller
object. To talk about space would
have to include 3 areas – positive, negative and outer. I have
always been intrigued by outer space,
so this was one that will continue to affect me and make
me wonder why.
The Rock Star was very cute. It was a black bear encrusted in rocks,
of course. Small
black stones had been placed all over
the bear, with a few spots of faux diamonds here and there.
This was a bear that simply made you
smile, although part of me wanted to get the broom, just
waiting for dirt and coal to get all
over the floor. This idea of attaching small, roundish objects
was not unique. A couple of the
coffee houses had gotten together and sponsored a bear.
Naturally it was covered in coffee
beans and, I believe, his name was “Java”. The beans almost
gave the effect of fur, but really
matted fur. The texture unquestionably induced the desire to
reach out and stroke the bear.
It must have taken forever to put all of those on there.
The Times News had it’s own bear; I believe his name was the most descriptive
of them all.
I can’t remember his first name, maybe it was “Stanley”
but his last name was Bearfax. He had a
brown hat with a press reporters’ badge stuck in
it and a satchel of rolled up newspapers around his
shoulder. I liked his hat the
best. It was soft and floppy and very personable. The artist(s)
had
left the basic black for his coat,
only painting on the satchel, and screwing on the hat. Everything
fit together wonderfully.
One bear was sporting a mountainside cabin. It grew from his back and
emerged along his
shoulder as well. The decking
ran down his side and around his haunches almost as if there were
a steep, rocky cliff. I could
envision waterfalls and dark green pine trees. This one was from a
couple of realty companies. I’m
not so sure having a deck go around it’s rear-end was such a
good idea, but the whole house certainly seemed
to come from the bear with organic giving
creation to geometric.
It was very effective.
One of the most culturally artistic bears was painted so that it resembled
stone quarried
from the area and had been sculpted
so that there were hands, arms, faces, etc, coming out of the
bear. Down one of the bear’s
legs was a human arm with the hand working with the bear’s foot
to support. The title suggested
peace and unity in the world. I really liked this one a lot.
It was
a little eerie at first, all those
faces coming out of the bear as if it were possessed by a multitude
of spirits, but the expressions on
the faces were such that it became more symbolic and inspirational,
something that says, “Just stay…and
think.”
Another one of my very favorites was a bear completely plastered in road
maps. I am sure
that somewhere underneath all those
maps he was black with a brown nose, but now he’s yellow,
crossed and criss-crossed in red, blue and black
lines. Over that were molded several license
plates from different states.
It was so cool. Right away I was craving a road trip! I thought
it
kind of represented how people from all over the
country make their way to this tiny little town,
and here we are, just living like everyone else.
Not soon forgotten was the Fishing Bear. All bears like to fish and
this one did it in style
with the hat, he was holding real rods,
I’m sure he had a basket, and painted on his feet were
wading boots. “Whimsical” is
the word that best describes that bear, which is a little more than
what I could say for the bear we found
rappelling down the roof of one of the shops nearby!
There wasn’t a nametag for him, but
he had little red squiggly circles all over his tanned body
and he was hanging from bungee cords.
We decided they must not be very heavy, but it’s
important to note that he was lacking
the concrete base the others had to weight them down.
There were several bears depicting the four seasons this area is so well
known for. One had
each laid out in a repeating quilt
square pattern. I must admit I wasn’t very intrigued by that design.
Another had more of a Van Gogh effect
going on where the bear was divided into quarters and
each leg, basically was painted a different
season with all the scenes flowing into each other. The
one by a Nature organization also had
a scene painted on it with the bear’s feet ankle deep in a
stream.
Dressed in a baseball uniform was a bear honoring the Police Department.
I couldn’t figure
out, at first, what he was doing.
Then I saw the word “Police” on the back of the jersey and
realized this was showing some of our
best citizens with a very real attachment to our community.
And how great that it wasn’t sponsored
by the police department.
And finally was the “Paint by Num-bear”. I don’t think he really had
a scene, although it
did remind me of lights on a lake.
At the back of the bear was left a portion of the “canvas” that
had been unpainted yet and had the
numbers still visible. How playful and creative! I truly think
the strongest point of this exhibit
was the power it had to bring people together and give them
something to start their conversations
and find out more about each other, and about the community
they are in. It is impossible to go through
that area of town without the bears entering into your
perception. My guess is that
they will be auctioning off the bears to raise money to improve
downtown Hendersonville, but I don’t
know for sure. If they do, I have no doubt that there will be
many willing participants who, in good
nature, will make a lively bid for their contribution.