There will be bears in the streets!

photo credit easthamptonbearfest.com

I went to Easthampton today to touch up my bear before the big event on Saturday. I'm getting excited for a day where I can show off my work and also enjoy all the festivities- brass band! ice cream! beer probably! art! fun!

 Tree Warden George Malega getting the logs

 I say this because when I sell my jewelry at craft shows, I am always a part of the event, but I never get to actually enjoy the event like everyone else. I'm working. This time- I'm free as a bear to follow the brass band parade all the way to the Easthampton Savings Bank Green (they sponsored my bear!) where there will be music, food, beer, all around fun stuff. 

They were one of the tip top sponsors of Bearfest 2012 - a POLAR BEAR sponsor, meaning they donated $10,000 to the Bearfest (holy toledo!!), and in turn, get to have a few bears on their lawn and fame and glory and thanks and praise that comes along with being such a great patron of this event. Lucky for me- they chose MY BEAR to sit front and center on their perfectly mowed lawn. It's quite the honor for me. It's actually bananas for me. It's GREAT! I cant wait to see the other bear they chose as well. I'm actually lying- I saw it and it's awesome, I just can't tell you...yet :)

Waiting for a mystery bear on Main St.

Sooooo, my excitement grew today when I saw the big log/stumps in place all over town. They are ready for their bears! The committee puts all the bears out on Friday night. I love that.  They drive around in the dark so that when the town wakes on Saturday for the unveiling, its TRULY an unveiling!

 This is where my bear was in 2009. I cant wait to see who's up next! It was a great location.

I hope this guy doesn't mind when a bear takes his stoop!

I had a little taste of all the bears today in the bear lodge (they are being stored in Eastworks) and promised not to reveal any pics of them until Saturday, but I cant wait to post them because there are so many awesome ones. People really went to town on their bears, a lot of extra sculpting and adding and props on these bears. They all look fantastic.

Easthampton Bearfest ....BEARS REVEALED!

 Here's a sneak preview of my bear before the BIG REVEAL on June 9th. I've been posting progress pics on my facebook page but not the whole bear just yet. The streets will be filled with bears and bear trackers this Saturday and I cant wait!

Sneak Peek! New Butterfly Wing Things! and a lobster pot christmas tree...

Holy toldeo, this is going to be a good one! I'm releasing them next week but couldn't wait to show off the firsties of the batch.

Real Butterfly wing pocket mirrors. YES!
I have to price them out, take photos for the shop, and make enough for the show next week.
(Have I mentioned that yet?)

Right now I have to put work away and get PACKING! Where am I going?
Truro, of course. o the tip of the state for the weekend!
I'm going to the Cape to build the Lobster Pot Christmas Tree in Provincetown, MA.

(base layer of the 2008 tree, note the trailer full inthe background)

Its my dads project, and the family builds it together. He makes the topper, which is a whopper of a topper if you ask anyone. This is the 5th or 6th year we've done it. After this weekend I will remember how many. In any case, its BIG- both in size and impact and BIG on love! We love doing it, the town loves it, win win.
Updates about the big build after the weekend. Ciao!

(cant resist putting a bow on the 3 year old. 2008 tree pre-topper)

oh yeah, and theres a live webcam too! I'll plug in the link in the morning so you can watch me climb and stack about 80+ lobster traps into a pyramid formation. What are YOU doing this weekend?

Going once..going twice...three times..SOLD to the HIGHEST BIDDER!!

The Easthampton Bearfest charity auction was a total SUCCESS!
Thursday was an amazing day for my bear (and me of course), with my bear being auctioned off for the HIGHEST BID of the evening.

$5,050.00!
Holy Toledo! Exclamation point!!

Its true, though I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Its such an honor to know that someone valued both the Easthampton City Arts and my artwork together to make such a great contribution to the program. Thank you!

Here's a video of the actual auctioning of MY bear. It was thrilling, the auctioneer was the real deal, and really knew how to read people and make it a fun event.

video footage by Patrick Brough

You can see me at the very end in red (maybe the 2:20 mark) jumping up and cheering. I feel like I was actually doing high kicks and cartwheels at the time, but when I look at the footage, I don't see the marching band that I thought had paraded through at the time. Funny, eh? All of the artists get a portion of the final bidding price, which is definately cause to jump up and down.

Heres a fantastic article that was published by Patrick for masslive news on Friday. You can even see a huge ol' photo of me posing with my bear for the last time. Bittersweet. It was a great challenge for me with an incredible outcome.

This weekend I celebrated with a gorgeous autumn hike on Skinner Mountain in Amherst, MA.


Im a big fan of the self-timer.

Easthampton Bearfest Auction is heating up!

I'm definitely excited about tomorrow night, when the bears all head to the auction house!

If you are just hearing about this, I wrote a little bit in June, when the unveiling of the bears made the news. I am one if the artists commissioned by Easthampton City Arts to design a bear for the city of Easthampton Bearfest 2009. About 30 artists were chosen to decorate a bear any way they imagined. I chose to mosaic my bear cub with hand fused and shaped glass, and sheet glass.

photo above of him hiding in my yard before hitting the streets for the summer

My idea/bear was named "hiding bear" and I made the glass into leafy shapes like he was in a natural environment. I say it was my idea, but John helped me alot with designing the bear, he even helped me execute it. He frantically scribbled my proposal with me, and drove me to drop off the proposal, because I was still writing it on my way to the Arts building just minutes before the deadline. He helped me scrape grout too. I have to give him credit.
Plus I hes my best support crew, and possibly my biggest fan.

The idea of the auction is to raise money for Easthampton City Arts, who did a fantastic and professional job promoting the Bearfest and getting the community excited about the Arts, and excited to walk around. It may sound silly, but sometimes it takes a lot of work to get people out of the house and into the community. I think there were so many interesting and diverse bears out on the streets that everyone could relate to one of them. It really made the city come alive.

my cubs debut in June

Heres a few photos from the original unveiling.

The bears were being auctioned live online before tomorrows Live event in Easthampton. It was a thrill to watch because people bid on my bear! I was excited when I saw the first person bid when the opening bids started at $250. I was honored!
Then as time went on, people kept bidding... $300, $400, $550..It blew my mind!
I made something beautiful to other people!
Yesterday, the elementary school that John works at decided they needed to own it. In the course of one school day, they got enough people to pledge money towards the bear,
they raised over $700!
That really warmed our hearts.
Unfortunately, (and fortunately for the City Arts) they were outbid. Tonight was very exciting as the online bidding came to an end, and will open up tomorrow at the Live Gala Auction event. Do you want to know what the final bid was left at tonight? $1,225.00!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness! Oh MY bear!
I cant wait to see WHO wins my bear, its starting to hit me that I might never see him again.

Next up...hiding bears new home...

Bubbles the Whale gets a fresh coat!

This humpback whale hangs out on the pier of Provincetown, Ma. My dad , Julian Popko, coordinated the re-vamp of this cement whale last year. It was originally created by an artist for the public, then spent the last several years hiding out in someones yard in Wellfleet, elements chipping away at the paint and structure. He managed to get it back out into the public eye and onto the pier for all of the world to sit atop and take photos.

Above: john paints the lettering on one side

Heres a few photos of the retouch! Were considering doing a full body re-paint in August, when all the sisters get back into town. For now, he gets some soap and water, and some touch-up paint on his body, tail fin, and white paint on the sides and new lettering . I did the lettering, what do you think?

Its been a happy little (big) addition to the pier, where people head to their whalewatch tour, hop to the ferry and stroll to admire the fishing fleet. Bubbles is always there! When we (my dad, my sisters and I) put it out, the words CAPE COD were on the bottom, but wore off over the winter. We added PROVINCETOWN to the other side, for all the photo opps. We touched up his side fin that got quite dirty form all the climbing and also added "dont climb/hang on the tail" because all you want to do is hang off that tail. Its just a natural instinct, ever for 60 year old men. Theyve been caught hanging too! But bubbles is old, and we dont need anyone getting hurt (including the humpback)!

<----Read the original newspaper article from 2008 in the left column <-------

above: dad and john workin' hard! the planks of the pier were scorching! but it was a gorgeous day.



ps- you can see the artist sheds behind him, where they sell paintings, pottery, jewelry and other handmade goodies. Its really great! The pier if full of life!

Easthampton Bearfest, artist proposal: Getting Comissioned for Public Art

This was such a great project to get involved in. After completing the bear, going to the opening, seeing all the positive responses, I know it was all worth the crazy time and effort.

I titled this "getting comissioned for public art", but it was honestly an open call to artists, a juried contest of sorts. We were rewarded with money to make the bear, so I can call it getting comissioned. This is just one way to look at it if you are planning to build a resume. Luckily they DID pay us, because I used every penny on glass and nippers and glue. I will write a whole post on that too, don't worry.

How did I get comissioned? I submitted a proposal.

A long time ago, maybe 5 or 6 months ago, my dad had cut out a "call to artists" from the newspaper and sent it to me. Sometimes I read his crazy clippings "pierogi pincher needed" is one that I have gotten from him more than twice. I saw the call for bear proposals, and put it aside. A month passed and saw it in another paper. I thought I should really try it. It's local, it's cute, I love bears. So I tend to think about ideas before I fall asleep. I thought this one out, but still like to mill it around for a while, as I can be a little pokey. I decided the week it was due that I should try for it. All that can happen is that they say no. I usually live my life with this in mind, and you wouldnt believe the things that can happen if you just go ahead and try!

I followed their guidelines, and drew out my idea. Two bears, the mama and baby sitting side by side. The mama had her head sticking out of the glass "bushes" and the baby sat next to her. This was to be done in glass and grout. The drawing was terrible. I submitted it at 2:59pm the last day you could submit. They were due at 3pm.

I also didn't know that they would be mounting them on matboard and displaying them publicly! AHH! I thought for sure that mine wouldnt make it. I knew I had a good idea, and that it would look great translated into glass, but it would take a little imagination. Luckily the judges had imaginations. HUGE imaginations. I was notified that I had been one of the 30 artists chosen out of 129 submissions. It was such a great day! I didnt get both bears, just one baby bear (which, thank god I only got one, more on that later). Read my acceptance post here.

Next post about the bears : "Getting started"

Easthampton Bearfest makes the news! Unveiling of the Bears

(for those just joining, I was an artist chosen/commissioned to decorate a bear for the town of Easthampton, details to follow all week!)

Easthampton Bearfest on the News! Yesterday was a huge success, with the unveiling of the 30+ decorated fiberglass bears. I will be posting my process of this project through this week. Ive mentioned it before on the blog, but now that they are finally unveiled I can show you all the details, and behind the scenes of how I made MY bear. Mines the first one in the video, the little green one. Then Im at the very end in the "Nature" shirt, hamming it up next to my bear while people took photos (and apparently the news station was too!).

Here's the link, unfortunately I couldn't get it to embed properly.

Easthampton Bear Fest

I caught a baby bear!

Dear {PoPkO},

Congratulations! You have been selected to be an artist in the Easthampton Bear Fest 2009! Your design "Hiding Bear" was chosen from among 129 artists' submissions from around the region and Easthampton City Arts couldn't be more thrilled to work with you on this amazing city-wide public art project!

Ahhhh! I'm SO excited! The website showed the most amazing entries at their 'welcome the bears' party, I was SURE I couldn't compete. I am so HAPPY! I proposed to do both a mama & baby bear, and got a baby all for myself. I am so happy happy happy I can't wait to start. All I have to do is fill out some forms, catch my baby bear and start fusing some glass. Oh, and accept. YES!

This will also be a fun thing to share on the blog here. You can follow me through it all. Cp

Bare Naked... BEARS!

This week I'm submitting my proposal and application to dress up these naked little bears. Well, mama bear is about 4.5 feet tall- baby is 2.5 feet. These are part of a public art project in the town of Easthampton, Ma. You know how some towns have moose, or cows or even whales all decorated/ painted/embellished, sitting on the sidewalks? This is one of those sorts of things.

This is fiberglass, and I have to propose how I am to decorate them. I actually still don't know what i am going to submit. Im leaning towards fused glass/ glass tile mosaic all over them. Im also considering something ridiculous like resin and glitter. I can imagine them sitting on the sidewalk sparkling. I can choose if I want both bears or just one. If accepted, they give you $500 to work with. Application have to be in by Feb 18th, so I better get working!

I once did three bus stop benches for the City of Springfield, MA, and they gave me $500 also. And when I was done, I made about $30....which I thought was a bonus! That was my first public comission, about 5 years ago. I had made three benches, they gave me the form- three sided basic bench, and I mosaiced them and molded with cement them like no other. One had two trees on each end cap, one had waterfalls, and one had mill buildings- all representative of the surroundings.

That was pretty ambitious of me, as I had never done something like that, never worked with cement on that scale- nor had I done anything that was suppose to last in the elements! Well, they are still there on Main St. in Indian Orchard (part of Spfld). They have lasted, with a little rust (from the armatures I inserted into the cement) and only one was smashed by a snowplow. But more importantly, people are still sitting on them!

How would YOU decorate these little bears?

(yes, im listening because i need ideas!!!)

Lobster Pot Christmas Tree Lighting TODAY!

Were getting ready for the first OFFICIAL lighting today.

Lopes Square in Provincetown 5 p.m. EST

Be there or be square.

Dad's got the crane ready, hes putting bows on it as I type. This is a photo of the top of the tree, where we will raise it over the tree pyramid and then do a countdown a la new years style. The when the two connect SHAZAM! LIGHT!!!

(I know I didnt post about the building of it yet the whole event isnt over yet!)

Today were expecting 30 mph average winds coming off the ocean (were next to the pier) and a storm bringing rain. Oh boy.

But THATS OKAY! I made cookies!

Hot apple cider will be served by Moi, along with hot cocoa. Well, the newspaper reported that hot cocoa will be served, but I think we have more cider. Its an awesome 60 degrees outside, so cider seems appropriate. (dads good idea)

I also made some special stickers for the event, hoping everyone will wear a little badge of Love.

And my secret little suprise that I still haven't given my family yet....I know its cheesy, but heck I love the Cosby's. (I even said heck to prove it.) I made matching scarves in red and green for the 7 memebrs of my family that will be there. The top little one is for the teeny little 3-year-old that I adore. These were made in about 20 minutes and only came to about $1. each! I got some non-pill fleece which doenst fray at all, and seems softer than regular fleece. I just cut it into strips and scalloped the edges of the girly ones. Nice! So I will give these out and I know my dad will think its great. This is HIS project and I want to make it the best event for him.

So, I'm off to work on a few more things for the day and will certainly report back on everything. Oh yeah, you can watch us live here from a webcam! Click HERE to watch, then click on "Chamber of Commerce" camera icon. Be patient with it too.

Some computers have to install a viewer, but if you want to see us.....

Lobster Pot Christmas Tree

It's November and time to build the "tree"!
I will be away this weekend with my family to build our annual Holiday Tree made out of Lobster traps! Its an art project/ holiday decoration that my dad started a few years ago. It sits in the center of Provincetown, MA about 17' tall.

We start by lugging traps from lobstermens yards or winter storage area (we need about 80?), build it, cut and paint planks for sturdiness, tie it together with 'plastics' (zip ties), string lights, add bows, decorations, buoys on top, the whole nine yards- I mean two miles.... of ribbon! I want to get into the details of it all, since i think its a pretty BIG deal. I'll save it all for the new photos after this weekend.

I have to go pack, but heres some photos from last years build. Hopefully I will have some stories after the weekend about holiday cheer and not-too-sore muscles.


Have a great weekend!