The "Elliot" Bear Sculpture

The "Elliot" bear sculpture in the Ojai Arcade Plaza is a memorial to the black bear that wandered into town in October of 2009, climbed into a tree on E. Aliso St. and subsequently was tranquilized and later euthanized by the California Fish & Game. This avoidable event caused many in Ojai to question what happened and to come up with a plan on how to handle a similar situation in the future.
     This sculpture, by Ojai artist Mark Benkert, is made of Cor-Ten steel, which develops a rusty patina. It has a backwards inscription of the Beatles lyric, "It's been a hard day's night." The bear was dubbed "Elliot" after the character in "ET", who dropped into a community and changed their lives. This sculpture, made at the request of the Ojai Arts Commission, was installed after my book, "A Photo Guide to Fountains and Sculptures of Ojai", was published. Please add this piece to the list of sculptures to see in Ojai. For more information read the following articles. Ventura County Star 10-12-09 and Ventura County Star 10-23-09

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Mark Benkert, who lives across the street from the evergreen tree occupied by the bear, witnessed the entire incident. He was so upset that he decided to create a commemorative sculpture and hoisted it onto the branch where the bear had sat. This sculpture is a forerunner to the Arcade Plaza piece and is still in the tree today (on the south side of the 200 block of east Aliso.
    View the video story of the Aliso Street Bear

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