June 10, 2014- Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the Day “Beetle the Bear”

 “Beetle the Bear”

 Today’s sculpture comes to us from Canmore, Alberta and is appropriately named “Beetle the Bear”.  Bears are one of my favourite animals and it is safe to say that after viewing “Beetle the Bear” spirit bears created from scraps of an old VW hold a special place in my heart too. The week I moved to the Kootenays I had an unfortunate run-in with a bear and my new Ford Focus, so this may actually be my spirit bear. I wish we could have turned Baby Blue (yes that was my car’s name) into a sculpture like “Beetle the Bear”.

As you drive down Columbia Avenue it is pretty hard to miss “Beetle the Bear”, I have been checking her out every day on my drive to the radio station and today I had to walk down the street and take a closer look. I would say this sculpture is the furthest from the station that I have featured so far, there are more sculptures further down Columbia Avenue and I need to start spacing them out. Oddly enough, I have not shared Mountain FM/Juice FM’s sculpture yet; it is coming!

“Beetle the Bear” is an eclectic mix of scrap Volkswagen parts with dashes of color. Even though artist Cedar Mueller nailed Beetle’s bear stance, I like to think if I ran into Beetle in the woods she would be a gentle soul. I think it has to do with the spiral pieces used to help craft the inner workings of her legs.

One of my favourite animals and another one of my favourite sculptures on this year’s Castlegar Sculpture Walk, “Beetle the Bear” is not to be missed on your trip down Columbia Avenue.

Thank you Kootenay Hearing Aid & Audiology for sponsoring  “Beetle the Bear”! 

Just in case you are wondering, you can book tours of Castlegar’s Sculpture walk by emailing castlegarsculpturewalk@gmail.com. You can also inquire about purchasing, leasing and sponsoring sculptures by email as well.

For my previous sculpture feature “Song of the Flying Dutchman” click here.