Tuesday 29 March 2011

Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation


Originally published anonymously in 1844, Vestiges proved to be as controversial as its author expected. Integrating research in the burgeoning sciences of anthropology, geology, astronomy, biology, economics, and chemistry, it was the first attempt to connect the natural sciences to a history of creation. The author, whose identity was not revealed until 1884, was Robert Chambers, a leading Scottish writer and publisher. Vestiges reached a huge popular audience and was widely read by the social and intellectual elite. It sparked debate about natural law, setting the stage for the controversy over Darwin's Origin. In response to the surrounding debate and criticism, Chambers published Explanations: A Sequel, in which he offered a reasoned defense of his ideas about natural law, castigating what he saw as the narrowness of specialist science.


Robert Chambers (1802-1871) was a Scottish writer who wrote this work anonymously; its views---while not yet espousing "evolution" as such---were clearly leading in that direction, and this 1844 work received (and thus deflected) much of the criticism that would have otherwise have gone to Darwin's "Origin of Species."

Chambers notes that "(T)here is not the least appearance of an intention in (the Bible) to give philosophically exact views of nature." Noting the progressive development evident in the fossil record, he asserts that the notion that the Creator "interfere personally and specially on every occasion when a new shell-fish or reptile was to be ushered into existence" was "too ridiculous to be for a moment entertained."

He suggests, "What is to hinder our supposing that the organic creation is also a result of natural laws, which are in like manner an expression of his will?" He argues that "I take existing natural means, and shew them to have been capable of producing all the existing organisms, with the simple and easily conceivable aid of a higher generative law, which we perhaps still see operating upon a limited scale."

He is not dogmatic, stating, "I do not indeed present these ideas as furnishing the true explanation of the progress of organic creation; they are merely thrown out as hints..."

triumph of a heart - music video - bjork



The Icelandic music eccentric joins forces with American film eccentric, Spike Jonze, to create a humourous, light hearted love story between pink clad, gold lamé booted fashion plate and humanoid man-cat. Witness a dissatisfied Björk boozing up on the town, slagging about drunk on cold pavement, and inciting an impromptu a cappella breakdown at a local Reykjavik pub.



human behaviour & hunter music videos - bjork

'Human Behaviour'

Stills from video





'Hunter'

Stills from video




costumes and masks





http://www.lionofthesun.com/


http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/news/activist-in-polar-bear-costume/


How to make a fursuit mask head base using foam


See more: How to make a fursuit mask head base using foam | Video « Wonder How To http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-make-fursuit-mask-head-base-using-foam-241424/#ixzz1HzXXnmqM



HOW TO ATTACH A SCULPTED PLASTIC NOSE ONTO FURSUIT HEAD
http://www.youtube.com/user/matricesoddity#p/u/11/7-YOGMSCmPo

HOW TO MAKE CLAWS USING FIMO CLAY
http://www.youtube.com/user/matricesoddity#p/u/10/qiQAbXYI_b4

THE FOAM CENTRE - HOWARD ST - GLASGOW
http://www.the-foam-centre.co.uk/spec.asp

E-FOAM
http://www.efoam.co.uk/foamsheets.php

Sunday 20 March 2011

POLAR BEAR CLASSIFICATION


Five of the eight species of bears are threatened. There are around 20-25,000 polar bears, of which 15,000 are in Canada. The IUCN Red List, which lists all rare species, describes the polar bear as 'vulnerable’ and efforts are needed to ensure its future.

IUCN = International Union for Conservation of Nature



POLAR BEAR classification
Living things can be organised into different groups. Species that are alike are grouped together. This is called classification.

Class: Mammals

Order: Carnivores

Family: Ursidae (bears)

Species: Ursus maritimus (polar bear)

Powerful and ruggedly beautiful, the massive and eye-catching polar bear is the biggest species of bear in the world and the symbol of the Arctic. Measuring up to 3.5m, a male polar bear can weigh an incredible 650kg, that’s as heavy as 10 people!

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The polar bear is ideally adapted for life in the cold and hostile Arctic. Thick white fur is a great camouflage and with a layer of blubber under the skin, keeps the bear warm. Powerful legs and large paws help it to break through ice and sharp claws enable it to grab its prey – seals, walrus and even small whales. Polar bears can swim for hours aided by a water-repellent coat and webbed feet.

DISTRIBUTION
Polar bears are found in the area around the North Pole known as the Arctic Circle. This includes some of the coldest places on earth such as parts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia.

HABITAT
The Arctic is an icy cold world. In winter much of the land and water is covered in thick layers of snow and ice. By summer, much of the ice melts and land is uncovered. Polar bears follow the ice floes north or are stranded on the mainland until the sea re-freezes in autumn.

DIET
Polar bears are the only carnivorous bear species and almost exclusively eat meat. Their main food source is seals, which they catch by waiting near a crack in the ice for seals to come up for air. Polar bears can survive for several days without food, but if food is scarce will eat birds, berries, rodents and even grass.


ADAPTATIONS

Polar bears are excellent swimmers and their webbed feet, hollow hairs and thick layer of blubber are all excellent adaptations for life in cold water. Polar bears stay underwater for a couple of minutes in search of food.

BEHAVIOUR
Polar bears tend to live, eat and sleep in the open. Only pregnant females build dens. But if they are caught in a severe storm, polar bears may build a temporary shelter in the snow.

SOCIETY
Polar bears are usually solitary except during the breeding season. Every year they travel hundreds of kilometres and may range over an area of up to 250,000km2 in their lifetime

REPRODUCTION
Females mature by four years and after mating build up fat stores over summer. In eight months a 600g single cub or twins will be born, but will weigh 15kg when ready to leave the den at four months old thanks to the mother’s rich milk. A cub stays with its mother until 2½ years old.

Köllnischen Park bears - Berlin



This is copied directly from the website promoting the visiting of the two brown bears in Berlin city.
http://berlin.unlike.net/locations/301801-The-Bears-of-Koellnischer-Park

The Märkisches Museum is the headquarters of Berlin’s City Museum Foundation, which holds more than 4 million artworks and documents; on display in this neo-Gothic architectural collage is a rich sampling of this collection.

Behind the museum you’ll find the small but charming Köllnischen Park, where you can visit two living examples of Berlin’s symbol, brown bears Schnute, the official Berlin City Bear, and Maxi, her daughter. Children and youths under 18 are admitted for free; the entry fee is also waived the first Wednesday of each month

Rule #1 – bring your camera because your friends won’t believe you when you tell them that there are bears living in the center of Berlin.

Though one can’t go far in the city before coming across an image of Berlin’s heraldic animal, it is still unsettling to see two live, shaggy-coated European brown bears lumbering about their open air enclosure in the city’s historical center. First opened in 1937 as part of celebrations marking the 700th anniversary of the founding of the Berlin, the Bärenzwinger is home to Berlin’s official city bears. The cage’s four original residents were presented as gifts from a local newspaper and zoos in Berlin and Bern. During WWII the area was heavily damaged by Allied bombing and only one of the bears survived, but by the following decade the reconstructed enclosure’s furry inhabitants were again delighting the city’s children.

The bears have been munching on their lunches—feeding time is at 12:30 every day—and padding around the park ever since, despite occasional outcries by animal activists who argue that keeping bears in a pit in the center of the city is cruel and inhumane. Today the enclosure is home to the 27 year-old Schnute and her 22 year-old daughter, Maxi, who seem quite oblivious to the endless stream of children and adults gaping, pointing and snapping photos of Berlin’s favorite city officials.

There is an ongoing Facebook campaign for the release of the bears back into the wild, it can be joined at:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=257992628603

NB - the maximum life expectancy of a bear is 30 years (the same as polar bears). These bears in Berlin are in their elderly years, and I would be hopeful that once they do pass on, that the bear pit will close for good.

born free foundation - polar bear research


Research funded by Born Free in Churchill, Canada has shown that tourist activity can adversely affect polar bear behaviour. Specialised vehicles take people to watch polar bears during October and November in Manitoba, Canada, when the animals should be resting and waiting for Hudson Bay to freeze over to start hunting seals. The study, published in Biological Conservation, showed that male bear vigilance increased when vehicles were around. It is hoped the study will be used to help create suitable tourist guidelines.

http://www.bornfree.org.uk/campaigns/bears/animals/tourists-polar-bears/

Friday 18 March 2011

video art and book - research



Susanne Burner: Leaves••
11. Dec - 18. Dec 09 / ended
South London Gallery


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The South London Gallery presents the first London solo project by German artist Susanne Bürner.

The South London Gallery presents the first London solo project by German artist Susanne Bürner. This new video work is shown at a special evening event accentuating its performative aspects following which it will be on show until 18 December.

In her video pieces, Susanne Bürner investigates the representation of the invisible. Exploring the possibilities of the existence of a psychological, emotive dimension in film, the work examines the boundaries between physical and psychological space in the context of film-making.

'LEAVES' reveals an empty stage alluding to an anticipated action. Using elements of cinematographic language such as long shot sequences and depth of field, the film portrays the sensation of prolonged suspense. 'LEAVES' presents a stage surrounded by trees as a pre-defined location of action in which nothing is performed. In this way the set becomes the negative image of the missing action.



Leaves” was shot in a public park in London. The video shows a meadow surrounded by trees as its theatrical protagonist. Susanne Bürner has conceived a publication of lose leaves in the nature of this spectacle. The publication provides reference material shifting between different formats, between, painting, film and landscape.
Thirty copies are accompanied by a silver gelatine photograph representing the film location at a time of the year when there’re almost no more leaves. Three exclusive editions are accompanied each by 5 silver gelatine photographs each with the characters of the video, the leaves, now dry. All hand-printed photographs (20,5 x 27 cm) are signed and numbered by the artist (prices on request).

Sunday 13 March 2011

objects assuming


Endless Theatre project / stadium (grey), 2004
Cardboard theatre, blue synthetic foam





Endless House project / (pink), 2004Pink flooring material on stretcher, polystyrene cube, 9 x carboard boxes, inverted white plastic bowl, inverted pink plastic bowl, 2 x small cardboard squares
Installation dimensions variable





Endless House project / birds, 2004
Rubber football bladder, strengthened foil cubes, pencil, watercolour and acrylic on canvas emulsion on hardboard frame
Installation dimensions variable



Offset / black tulip (pink), 2009
acrylic on taffeta
65 x 55 cms


Ian Kiaer (b. London, UK, 1971) studied at the Slade School of Art and The Royal College of Art. Recent solo exhibitions include Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin (2009), Kunstverein Munich (2010), with forthcoming solo shows at Fondazione Maramotti, Milan (2011), and Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO (2012). Recent group shows include Material Intelligence, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge (2009) and the forthcoming British Art Show 7: In the Age of the Comet, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham; traveling to the Hayward Gallery, London; Tramway London; Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth (2010-11). His work has also been included in the 50th Venice Biennale (2003); the 4th Berlin Biennial (2006); and the Xth Biennale de Lyon (2009). He lives and works in London.

depth of field in paper cutting scenes


Louis Guy - gsa degree show 2009 - painting & printmaking

point fixed


I Have Loved the Stars too Fondly, to be Afraid of the Night 2009

Originally from Montreal, Alhena Katsof is currently based in Glasgow, Scotland where she graduated from the MFA course at the Glasgow School of Art in 2007. Her practice is informed by the conceptual and aesthetic sensibilities of collage. Alhena’s process involves gleaning from a vast pool of found images and then removing them from their specific narrative and historical reference points. Her works often allude to a crosshatch of possible symbols and suspended allegory. Although the pieces themselves do not reveal specific histories, dates or locations their references remain tangible: neither abandoned nor exonerated. As such, her works are often suggestive rather then explicit. There is often a lingering sense of discomfort or violence in her finished compositions, in which formal decisions about line and color are equally important as image content. The contrast between explicit selection and happenstance is fundamental to her approach in which found or self-made images are often obscured or juxtaposed in simple but deliberate ways. The evidence of labor or the remnants of performative actions have become more pronounced in her works, which include assemblages, sculptural installations, slide shows and video.

Recently, Alhena’s recent exhibitions include, The Sinking Road, Inter/Media, Glasgow (with Tim Facey); Writing Objects, Galerie Art Concept, Paris; You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever, Galerie LHK, Paris; At Our Hands, The Project Room, Glasgow (with Stina Wirfelt) and Further More, ArtNews Projects, Berlin. Upcoming exhibitions include an exhibition with Hencho En Casa, Mexico City. Alhena is the founder of the ongoing curatorial project, A.Vermin.

http://www.avermin.org


Bodies Need Rest 2009

binoculars


amelia_bywater_viewing-device


amelia_bywater_artnews-ways-of-arranging-books
Glasgow based artist currently on committee of Transmission gallery

Amelia Bywater is a New Zealand artist now based in Glasgow, and has recently completed the MFA at the Glasgow School of Art. Her practice is multi-disciplinary including sculpture, collage and film and often aims to emphasise relationships between objects and moments while creating new associations and interconnections between the composite elements within her studio. Through sculptural combinations of found and made objects and images her practice concentrates on finding analogous connections between the various materials she uses in a process of translation that can be readily aligned with the conceptual and combinational nature of collage.

With consideration to acts of making and the effects of the artist’s gesture and activity on the objects, her work often deals with ideas of significance and permanence, while an underlying interest in conventions of visual perception allows for the consideration of alternative modes of seeing.
.

drawn movement







Saturday 12 March 2011

Natalie Jeremijenko

Natalie Jeremijenko is an artist whose background includes studies in biochemistry, physics, neuroscience and precision engineering. Jeremijenko’s projects explore socio-technical changes and have been exhibited by several museums and galleries, including the MASSMoCA, the Whitney, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt.

One of her projects that I find very interesting is called 'OOZ' (zoo spelt backwards). Unlike a traditional zoo, OOZ is a place where animals remain by choice, a zoo without cages. Like a traditional zoo, it is a series of sites where animals and humans interact. However, activity at an OOZ site differs from that of a Zoo. OOZ is interactive - it provides humans a set of actions, the animals provide reactions and these couplets add to a collective pool of observations.

The human/animal interface has two components: 1) an architecture of reciprocity, i.e. any action you can direct at an animal, it can direct at you, and 2) an information architecture of collective observation and interpretation. OOZ addresses learning that reveals interconnections among complex natural systems and the ongoing political effect of changing someone's ideas about their role in the local environment.

Although animal models are the basis of the biological sciences and contemporary medical knowledge, it is the use of animals as social and political models that Jeremijenko makes explicit in the OOZ project.

http://www.slowlab.net/ooz.html

Ooz project is an experiment in 'interspecies communication,' challenging human understandings about the quality of life of animal species in settings designed by humans.





The first phase of the project, sited in Zeewolde (the Netherlands) is an experiment in the distributed human interpretation of goose communication. Human participants saddle up in a 'goose chair' and contort their bodies to control a robotic goose out on the water in hopes of successfully communicating with live geese.

Meanwhile, throughout the range of planned Ooz communication habitats (horses, water striders and bats), the animals can learn to control the human 'spectators' by pressing the appropriately designed button or lever that communicates in human speech. For example, a button may trigger the recorded voice: "Yo! If you are going to stare, how ‘bout inserting 25cents and delivering a dose of that beaver biscuit!"

http://www.nyu.edu/projects/xdesign/ooz/

http://www.nyu.edu/projects/xdesign/ooz/presentation/index.html

miniscule installation



Christina Kostoff: Telescope (details)- 2009

Christina Kostoff is a Toronto-based emerging visual artist who works with kinetic sculpture and installation. "My artwork seeks to address the human attempt to understand and illuminate the world around us."
She has been exhibiting locally for the past several years including an exhibition at The Ontario Science Centre, and is currently completing her final year at the Ontario College of Art and Design

white on white - physical space interaction


faye mullen: the wall of the series All or Nothing: when I grow up - 2009

faye mullen is an emerging visual artist working carefully in 'living sculptures', subtle interventions & durational installations, which often involve the artist's body. She is "intimately involved" with all of her work and becomes very much a part of each piece. The artist strives to eliminate the distinction between the artist, the work, the gallery & the viewer, with the intention to uproot these terms & to challenge their function in contemporary art.
She has studied at the prestigious Ecole National Sup�rieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France and is currently in her final year at the Ontario College of Art & Design. Faye has exhibited both locally and internationally.

polar bear daily movements info

from http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/polarbears/pbbehavior.html

A. Daily activity cycle.

1. Polar bears are most active the first third of the day and least active the final third of the day.

2. In the Canadian Arctic, adult female polar bears with cubs hunt about 19% of their time during the spring and about 38% of their time during the summer. Adult male polar bears hunt about 25% of their time during the spring and about 40% of their time during the summer (Stirling, 1978).

3. When not hunting, polar bears are often sleeping or resting.


Klondike & Snow resting at Seaworld

a. On warm days polar bears sprawl out on the ground or ice, sometimes on their backs with their feet in the air. They may also make temporary snow or earthen pits to lie in.


b. On cold days polar bears curl up and often cover their muzzle area. During the winter, some polar bears excavate temporary dens or find natural shelters to stay warm. They may use these shelters for several months at a time.

B. Walking and running.

1. Like humans, polar bears walk on the soles of their feet with their heels touching the ground first. Like other bears, they can also stand on their hind feet and walk upright for short distances.

2. Polar bears generally walk with a steady, lumbering gait. The front paws swing outward with each step, landing slightly pigeon-toed. The head swings gently from side to side. The walk has a four-beat pattern, first the right front foot touches the ground, then the left hind foot, then the left front foot, and lastly, the right hind foot.

3. The bulky build and swinging gait cause polar bears to use more than twice as much energy to move at a given speed than most other mammals (Stirling, 1988).

4. The average walking speed of a polar bear is 5.5 kph (3.4 mph) (Stirling, 1988).

5. When being chased or charging prey, polar bears can run as fast as 40 kph (25 mph) for short distances (Domico, 1988).

C. Social structure.

1. Polar bears are basically solitary. Usually, only two social units exist: (1) adult females with cubs and (2) breeding pairs.



Polar bears are basically solitary. However, in some southern regions, like Hudson Bay, bears may aggregate on land during the ice-free summer and autumn months.

2. Polar bear aggregations.

a. Polar bears will aggregate to feed on large whale carcasses and at dump sites.


b. In some southern regions, like Hudson Bay, bears aggregate on land during the ice-free summer and autumn months.

3. On occasion, adult and sub adult (ages 30 months to five or six years) polar bear males will feed and travel together for short periods of time.

D. Social behavior.

1. The most constant social interaction occurs between mother and cubs. Polar bear mothers are attentive, frequently touching and grooming their cubs.



2. Polar bear breeding pairs remain together for one week or more, mating several times.

3. Aggression occurs between males during the breeding season and when males attempt to steal food caught by other polar bears.

4. Play fighting has been observed between aggregating sub adult and adult male polar bears.

5. Young polar bear cubs chase and tackle their siblings.

E. Hibernation.

1. Hibernating means to pass the winter in a dormant or lethargic state. Animals that hibernate store body fat when food is plentiful. When food is scarce, they hibernate, living off their stored body fat.

2. Polar bears don't enter deep hibernation. Deep hibernation applies to an animal whose body temperature drops to 5C (41F) for a period of days or weeks. Deep hibernators also show a marked drop in heart rate, and are slow to wake up when disturbed.

3. Only pregnant female polar bears hibernate.

a. Polar bears aren't deep hibernators, but enter a state of carnivore lethargy. Though hibernating females sleep soundly, they're easily and quickly aroused.

b. The female polar bear's heart rate slows to about 27 beats per minute from a normal resting heart rate of about 46 beats per minute (Stirling, 1988).

c. When hibernating, a female's body temperature may drop slightly, perhaps to 35C (95F), or it may remain normal at 37C (98.6F). Unlike most other hibernators, female polar bears give birth while hibernating. High body temperature is needed to meet the demands of pregnancy, birth, and nursing (Stirling, 1988).

4. Researchers have found that nonhibernating polar bears, during times of food scarcity, can efficiently utilize their energy reserves much like hibernating bears (Stirling, 1988).

F. Tracking.

1. Scientists use radio collars to track the movements of polar bears.



a. Once a polar bear is fitted with a radio collar, the collar sends signals to a receiving station via satellite. Scientists can enter the data into a computer program that plots the polar bear's path.


b. Only female polar bears can be tracked using radio collars. Male polar bears have necks wider than their heads, and the collars simply fall off.


Using radio collars, scientists can track the movements of polar bears.
(Photo by Joel Bennett.)

2. The movements of polar bears can also be studied by following their tracks in the snow, usually by aircraft.

3. Other behaviors are recorded by observing polar bears directly, or finding evidence of polar bears, such as a partially eaten seal.

4. Most polar bear research is conducted in the spring or summer when weather conditions are more favorable to humans.

G. Attacks on humans.

1. Humans may encounter polar bears wherever human and polar bear habitats overlap. Polar bear attacks occur most often at sites of human habitation, such as hunting camps, weather stations, and towns. Compared to other bears, polar bears are more willing to consider humans as prey. Consequently, the person attacked is usually killed unless the polar bear is killed first.

2. Polar bear subadults and females with cubs attack most often. They're also the chief scavengers (among polar bears) of human dump sites. Both groups tend to be thinner and hungrier; subadults are inexperienced hunters, and females with cubs must feed themselves and their young.

polar bear - rhymes

From a pre-school activites website for games for kids that include the subject of polar bear.

"Polar bear, polar bear
Turn around
Polar bear, polar bear
Touch the ground
Polar bear, polar bear
Reach up high
Polar bear, polar bear
Touch the sky
Polar bear, polar bear
Bend down low
Polar bear, polar bear
Touch your toe
Polar bear, polar bear
Shine your shoe
Polar bear, polar bear
That will do
Polar bear, polar bear
Climb the stairs
Polar bear, polar bear
Say your prayers
Polar bear, polar bear
Turn off the light
Polar bear, polar bear
Say Goodnight"


"The polar bear lives in Alaska
He never gets cold in a storm
He swims in cold icy water
His heavy coat keeps him warm
Warm, warm, warm, warm
His heavy coat keeps him warm
Warm, warm, warm, warm
His heavy coat keeps him warm"

Polar Bear Twinkle

"Polar bear, polar bear, turn around,
Polar bear, polar bear, touch the ground,
Polar bear, polar bear, show your shoe,
Polar bear, polar bear, that will do.
Polar bear, polar bear, bend your knee,
Polar bear, polar bear, climb this tree,
Polar bear, polar bear, make a frown,
Polar bear, polar bear, sit right down.

Polar bear, polar bear, stand on your toes,
Polar bear, polar bear, touch your nose,
Polar bear, polar bear, wink your eye,
Polar bear, polar bear, say good-bye"

(~ This Polar Bear Poem maby be adapted fro units on other bears
Change to Black Bear, Little Bear, Brown Bear or Grizzly bear
~ Sing this polar bear song to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)

Bears, Bears, Bears

"Bears!
Bears. bears,
I like bears.
Polar bears,
Grizzly bears,
Black bears,
I like bears. Bear Cheer
The bears are in!
The bears are out!
Grab a bear and give a shout!
Give me a B!
Give me an E!
Give me an A!
Give me a R!
Give me and S!
What have you got?
BEARS!!!!!
Three Brown Bears"
(this polar bear song can be sung to the tune of Three Blind Mice)

Little Polar Bear

"Little Polar Bear
White as the snow
Sat on the ice
Near the cold water's flow.
I am hungry, he said
and made a wish
Then stuck in his paw
And pulled out a fish!"

The Polar Bear Never Makes His Bed Poem

"The Polar Bear never makes his bed;
He sleeps on a cake of ice instead.
He has no blanket, no quilt, no sheet
Except the rain and snow and sleet.
He drifts about on a white ice floe
While cold winds howl and blizzards blow
And the temperature drops to forty below.

The Polar Bear never makes his bed;
The blanket he pulls up over his head
Is lined with soft and feathery snow.
If ever he rose and turned on the light,
He would find a world of bathtub white,
And icebergs floating through the night."
(Polar bear poem by William Jay Smith)

The Polar Bear Poem

"The polar bear by being white
gives up his camouflage at night,
And, yet without a thought or care,
he wanders here, meanders there,
and gaily treads the ice floes
completely unconcerned with foes.
For after dark nobody dares
to set out after polar bears."
(Jack Prelutsky)

Polar Bear in there

"There's a Polar Bear
In our Frigidaire--
He likes it 'cause it's cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He's nibbling the noodles,
He's munching the rice,
He's slurping the soda,
He's licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know he's in there--
That Polary Bear
In our Fridgitydaire."
(Shel Silverstein)

Friday 11 March 2011

black & white photos


Polar bears at St Louis zoo


A polar bear emerges from its crate at Dudley Zoo in Worcestershire, and inspects its new environment, 28th April 1937. The zoo, which is due to open to the public on May 6th, was formerly the private collection of the Earl of Dudley. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Dudley Zoo opened to the public in May 1937, constructed over 40 acres within a 200-acre densely-wooded site which includes an 11th century castle.
The idea to convert Dudley Castle¹s grounds into zoological gardens came from its then owner, the third Earl of Dudley, who chose a team of Modernist architects called The Tecton Group to design the zoo.

Using reinforced concrete the team created a revolutionary new design of building: Tectons.
The structures have stood the test of time and seven decades on Dudley Zoo has the world's largest single collection of Tectons, which in 2009 received World Monument Status.

Today the Tecton buildings are boosted by a variety of animal housing, paddocks and enclosures which are home to 170 species and more than 1300 creatures.

Polar bear complex
An existing ravine was adapted to provide a trio of enclosures for polar bears, tigers and lions. One of the most exciting uses of the Tecton technique, it was built into an old quarried area on the southern side of the hill.

A major structure, it was intended for polar bears at the centre and big cats to either side. The circular polar bear pit was placed in the centre with an elevated terrace around it which bridges the ravine and affords excellent views into the three enclosures.




The polar bear pit at Dudley Zoo is pictured in 1951.