Bear and Squirrel" bronze sculpture

Details

Honey and Nuts 

In this lively bronze piece, a grounded bear cub is paired with a nimble chipmunk in a sapling tree. Their dispositions and juxtaposition give a playful nod to nature’s drama. The bear anchors the scene with heft and curiosity while the chipmunk, perched and mid-motion, injects a wink. The textured surfaces of the sculpture catches light and shadow in a way that adds to the feeling of movement.  

Artist David R. Nelson has focused his artistic career on capturing “nature’s ambassadors in bronze,” and this concept is very much alive here. The forms are realistic enough to read as lifelike animals yet stylized and joyful for apublic art setting, making them seem as much at home along a sidewalk as in a forest clearing.  

About the Artist 

David R. Nelson is sculptor based in Marble and Aspen, Colorado. Throughout his decades-long career, he has focused on creating large-scale, life-size and monumental bronze wildlife figures. His portfolio includes works such as life-size cougars, bears with cubs, and American bald eagle, and in the case of Honey and Nuts, chipmunks.  

“As a child I sought refuge in my imagination, nature, story and the making of things,” Nelson said, adding that as an adult he still retreats to his own space of creation, where “emotions and intellect coalesce… childish excitement, curiosity aroused and sated, failures and accomplishments.”  

Website: davidnelsonsculptures.com