A monumental Polar Bear will roared to life in front of the Ferry Building on Harry Bridges Plaza this week. The artwork is a key public art event affiliated with the Global Climate Action Summit here in San Francisco September 12th-14th.
The sculpture is the creation of artist, Don Kennell and his company, DKLA Design from Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was built with support from Burning Man Project and debuted at Black Rock City. “We want to crack people’s hearts open with this artwork,” says Lisa Adler, co-owner of DKLA Design.
The sculpture is made with a structural steel armature and about 100 car hoods salvaged from wreckage yards near the artists’ studio. The sculpture depicts a standing polar bear. The title, “Long View” refers to polar bear behavior in the wild as polar bears will stand up to look out far into the distance, into the future. For the artist, this pose serves as a metaphor for what humans need to do on climate change. The sculpture is built as a tower in eight sections.
There will be a public dedication by the artist at 2:30 pm TODAY, Friday, September 14th at the sculpture on Harry Bridges Plaza. Wei-Tai Kwok, Co-chair of the Climate Reality Project SF Bay Area Chapter will also speak about what people can do to make a difference on climate change.
As leaders gather from around the globe in San Francisco to address reducing emissions, the polar bear will be watching.
