A First Gathering of Grizzlies

"All present and accounted for, Sir!"

Aligned in columns and dressed right, twenty-five grizzlies await inspection.

Photo Shoot, Bear Bones by Lana Perrotti and Erika Tenjack with bear bones photo by Elijah Cobb

It's a learning process. First, you set the background. Then, you work the lights to bring out the shadows in the musculature and to highlight the dramatic points in the painting. Next, you position the camera and climb the ladder or duck low to see what the camera sees.

Finally, you get to press the button or push the lever. Really finally, you load the digital record onto your computer and go to work.

Here we see an interim point. Note the shadow remains and the bear's base hovers irregularly above the ground.

Until a few weeks ago, I would not have noted.

Until a few days ago, I would not have cared.

Now, I begin to see the difference.

Wyoming National Guard - guards grizzlies

Sergeants Mike Poole and George Weickum of the Wyoming National Guard seen here fraternizing with three of the many grizzlies that are "hibernating" at the Cody Armory before moving on to their summer habitat. Many thanks to these men and their colleagues who provided studio space for several artists and who've helped load and unload grizzlies as they've come and gone. The Cody Armory, because of their hospitality, has become the real center of "A Gathering of Grizzlies."

TROLLEY TOUR

Thanks to Mike and Margie Johnson of Cody's Trolley Tours for their generosity in donating a Cody Trolley and driver for three tours of the Grizzly Artists' studios in and around Cody. Convivial and enthusiastic groups gathered for each of the tours, making appreciative audiences for the grizzlies and their artistic creators. Each tour ended at the Rudolph studio, where Jeff used the original sculpture, the fiberglass molds, and a fiberglass model to show how the grizzly came to be and how it morphed into twenty-five clones.

Posed for the Camera

Ty Barhaug's grizzly, "This is Grizzly Country," ready for one pose, facing the camera. Photographer, Elijah Cobb, is off-stage.

Photoshoot

Elijah Cobb and Northwest College student, Nicole McCallister, prepare Ty Barhaug's bear, "This is Grizzly Country" for his formal pictures.


To do the photo shoot, Elijah set up a studio at the Wyoming National Guard's Cody Armory--the temporary home for the grizzlies. This involved moving lights, backdrops, ladders, set-ups and cameras to the Armory.

Teens and Bears

A member of the Park County teen library council and her mother admiring Pat Schermerhorn's bear, Onslow, during the Trolley Tour of artist's studios.

The flora and fauna that adorn Onslow's hide draw their inspiration from the high plains, mountains, and valleys of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, the home to the majority of the world's grizzly bears. Cunningly woven together, these many creatures—forty-four of them—speak to our love of nature and the value of their habitat. For Onslow's younger visitors, it's a challenge finding and naming the many species.