Lincoln Bear
Burning Man 2023 Honoraria Installation
Our 2023 art installation is a tribute to the Lincoln Memorial and coin with the image of Abraham and his memorial stamped on the backside of it. The Lincoln in this chair is a 10 foot tall grizzly bear that has fur made with tens of thousands of pennies.
The original sculpture depicts President Lincoln's gaze as he contemplates decisions that will save a nation, his gaze seems to charge the viewer to uphold those decisions. Lincoln Bear's gaze also contemplates, but his decisions are ones that hope to save the natural world.
The grizzly bear in our installation mimics the pose of Lincoln as best a bear can. Bears are clumsy looking when they sit but they do have a similar stance to humans. The Lincoln Bear is carved from high density foam, then covered in concrete and embedded with nearly 127,000 pennies for the bear's fur.
The chair has embellishments of nature with trees, branches and leaves. It is made with rusted steel plate and rust-treated steel rod and leaves.
The installation is lit by three steel pillars, that are similar to those at the base of the Lincoln Memorial. Attached to the pillars are weather proof outdoor spot lights that run DC battery or AC power.
We create art using whimsical and common objects mounted and arranged in unexpected presentations. Pennies for fur, broom bristle for hair, concrete as skin or marbles for flowers.
When participants encounter Lincoln Bear they are either emotionally drawn to the strength of a grizzly bear or the childhood memory of a teddy bear, their first furry friend. On examination they see that this bear's fur is made of the common and whimsical penny. The coin with the image of Abraham Lincoln. The encounter reinforces our Lincoln Memorial tie in. The participant skims their hands along the texture of the pennies embedded in the concrete for a sensation. The questions follow as to how many pennies are on this bear and how long did it take to build it?
The chair and base were fabricated by Mr. Ferguson and his welding team, while the bear was carved by Mrs. Ferguson. Mrs Ferguson then placed with pennies into the concrete skin with a team who have worked most of our projects.
Nearly all the coins on Lincoln Bear were donated by friends and family who wanted to have their incidental fingerprint in the project. With the rentals or sale of Lincoln Bear we will be parlaying the penny donations into donations to the Vital Ground Foundation which works to preserve and purchase territory for northwestern grizzly bears.
