Bear: model: side view

For the Stuart Collection, Tim imagined a bear constructed of boulders. Eight granite stones - torso, head, ears, arms, and legs - were found locally. Together they make a bear 23'6" feet high with a total weight of 180 tons. Bear sits in the spacious Academic Courtyard formed by three signature engineering buildings: Atkinson Hall of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, the Computer Science and Engineering Building, and the Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall. First proposed in 2001, assembly of the sculpture took place onsite in May 2005 and the landscaping was completed in November 2005. Bear looks simple but was a sophisticated transportation and engineering feat. The process of placing and securing the boulders together was complex and unusual - actually unknown - in the construction world.


This model was assembled by the artist from individual stones that were made on a 3-D printer in the early 2000s.

• 2005

• Stuart Collection (San Diego, Calif.)

• Gregoire, Mathieu (American conceptual artist, born 1953)

• Hawkinson, Tim (American installation artist, born 1960)

• Beebe, Mary Livingstone (American, born 1940)

Computer Science and Engineering Building; University of California, San Diego; La Jolla, San Diego, California, United States

casting plaster; Computer printers; 14 inches

• Assemblage (sculpture technique)
• Colossi
• Monumental
• Public art
• Scale models
• Sculpture (visual work)
• Site-specific works

• Animalia
• Humor
• Monuments
• Scale (relative size)
• Stuffed toys
• Teddy bears

Point: 32.881974, -117.234137

• image

Architecture and City Planning

Garden and Landscape

Sculpture and Installations

• UC Regents

Under copyright (US)

Use: This work is available from the UC San Diego Library. This digital copy of the work is intended to support research, teaching, and private study.

Constraint(s) on Use: This work is protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Use of this work beyond that allowed by "fair use" requires written permission of the UC Regents. Responsibility for obtaining permissions and any use and distribution of this work rests exclusively with the user and not the UC San Diego Library. Inquiries can be made to the UC San Diego Library program having custody of the work.

UC San Diego Library, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0175 (https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/contact)

2021-10-08