Painted bear applications available
Black Bear Film Festival calls for 2007 artists MILFORD – Artistic? Creative? Want to exhibit your work locally? Submit your sketch for decorating a bear sculpture for the 8th annual Black Bear Film Festival. You dont have to make the sculpture yet, just devise a wonderful way to adorn it. Right now, the Black Bear Film Festival is seeking artists to create the Painted Bear Sculptures that will grace the streets of Milford for several months before this years Festival, to be held Oct. 11 to 14. Sketch application deadline is Monday, May 14, with bears to be completed by July 31. Artists whose concepts are accepted will transform the creatures into painted and decorated sculptures. From whimsy to funny to outrageous to extraordinarily beautiful, the Painted Bears are a highlight of each years Festival, and are auctioned at the end of the Festival to the highest bidder in an often hotly competitive bidding that is a prime Film Festival fundraiser. On Aug. 12 the completed sculptures will be unveiled and placed around the Milford area in front of sponsoring businesses. The painted bears are an exciting aspect of the Film Festival, and draw loads of visitors to the area, says Black Bear Executive Director Nancy Pitcher. As soon as the decorated bears are placed at our sponsor locations visitors come to snap photos of the sculptures. People often stop by the festival office to pick up a painted bear map and do the whole tour! 2007 marks the eighth year that the Painted Bears will roam the streets of Milford in honor of the independent Film Festival. The life-sized bear sculptures originate as fiberglass hunting targets sold by sporting goods stores. The idea of painted sculptures being placed around city streets originated in Zurich in 1998 with painted cows, and more cows soon popped up in Chicago and New York City. In 2000 the Painted Bears first appeared in Milford for the Black Bear Film Festival, and the idea has spread throughout the country, with decorated dolphins in Delaware, painted ponies in New Mexico, giant fish in New Orleans, alligators in Miami, painted moose in Toronto, and the Big Pig Gig in Cincinnati, just to name a few. Examples of past years designs can be seen on the Festivals website at www.BlackBearFilm.com (click on Painted Bear and Silent Auctions). Concept sketches will be voted on by a design committee in late-May, and the unpainted bear sculptures will be provided to the selected artists in early-June, with completed bears due by July 31. Artists receive $50 toward the costs of materials; bears become the property of the Festival for auction purposes. For an application form, please call the Festival at 570-409-0909, email info@blackbearfilm.com, or see the Festivals website www.BlackBearFilm.com.