Snowmass to install bear sculptures showing town’s values
Lois Upper/Courtesy photo
Snowmass Village will install two bear cub statues and one mama bear statue Thursday afternoon off Brush Creek Road by the rodeo grounds and bus turn in.
Titled, “Mama Bear and Bear Cub,” the bears represent the town as a welcoming mountain community. The Snowmass Art Advisory Board said the bears show the town’s family values and symbolize strength and courage in many cultures.
“It’s a fun, warm greeting to our town,” Board Member Lois Upper said. “The board wanted something that would say to people, ‘We’re happy you’re here.'”
Upon installation, the town will add a nicely landscaped area where residents and visitors can walk up and take photos this spring, Upper added.
“(The bears) are indigenous to our area, and we thought they looked fantastic,” Upper said of why they chose the animal in particular. “It fits in with our environment.”
The bears were created by artist Dale Rogers of Massachustts, who said he was inspired by rough and jagged looking animals of the videogame Minecraft.
“That kind of gave birth to this style of low polygon art,” Rogers said.
He started experimenting with the sculpture style during the pandemic. Rather than create a cast to make the sculptures, Rogers cuts flat pieces of metal into shapes and welds them together.
“So the style of welding that I do is a fabricated style,” Rogers said, adding, “It’s really like a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle.”
A professional artist for 22 years, Rogers said he first welded sculptures just to practice welding, but realized he could make a living creating and selling sculptures.
“I’d always been creative and good at art,” he said. “It’s where I felt the most at home and natural.”
The Vickers Collection Owner Matt Vickers suggested the town hire Rogers to create the sculptures.
“Dale does great pieces,” Vickers said. “Just that kind of style, that would work great in Snowmass, non-objectionable, fun pieces that are ideal for public display like this.”
He added that harsh winter weather will add to the sculpture’s beauty.
“Corten steel and the natural rust patina is a common choice for architectural detail here in the valley,” Vickers said. “So once we start getting some moisture around here again, the piece will take on that great rust red coloration.”
Rogers said he still has one more bear he could sell to Snowmass.
“They have purchased the mama and cub, but we just finished up a brand new papa bear,” he said. “So we would love to get them a papa bear.”
Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.
