Big Bad Bear

A 23 foot tall metal sculpture by Bryan Tedrick. He is a Sonoma artist with a studio in Glen Ellen on Nun's Canyon Road. The Nun's Fire, an offshoot of the Tubbs Fire in 2017,  began on Nun's Canyon Road and burned down his studio. He was able to save the sculpture he was working on of a rearing stallion. 

The big bad bear was commissioned by Ken Wilson , who owns several wineries in Sonoma County. made with recycled steel from his Soda Rock Winery in the Alexander Valley which burned down in the Kincade Fire in 2018. It was installed in front of the St Anne's Crossing Winery in the Sonoma Valley.  According to Tedrick, ,'I (also ) incorporated some used steel recycled from local sources such as water pipes from Sobre Vista (the fur) ,light standards from the city of Sonoma (hands and feet), conveyor belt chain from the sawmill in Cloverdale (neck area ) And beams from the charred remains of the Soda Rock Winery (lower leg). The Bear, to me , is a reminder of the wildlife that surrounds us and the will to survive.

I took a break from obsessing about which items to put on our mantel after throwing away the candles which have been there since Christmas five years ago, to drive down to St. Anne's crossing and photograph the Big Bad Bear. I left the people looking up at it in the picture for scale.