About Fairy Bear

I teach young children, and I have always been blessed with very generous students. Fairy Bear, pictured below and in the header, was given to me by one of my students several years ago for some special occasion. I no longer remember which occasion, which school, or even which child. Fairy Bear went on my Shelf for Useless but Sentimental Gifts I’m Not Yet Emotionally Ready to Part With, and he languished for years.

He found his calling in life this past winter when a friend of mine was asking for toy donations for her senior show. She was making “sort of a toy graveyard installation kind of thing” and wanted toys that people didn’t mind donating permanently. I decided that Fairy Bear was ready to graduate from my shelf and handed him off. This photo captures Fairy Bear just after his final make-up session before being posed on the set for his new modeling career.

The installation was a huge success.

“Everyone loves Fairy Bear!” said my friend.

Fairy Bear also reports that he is quite happy with his change in fortunes.

“You know,” he said, “When I was on that shelf, I was there, but it was like I wasn’t really there,   you know? Like I was just going through the motions of life, a shadow of myself. Now, it’s so clear to me that I have a purpose. This installation has meant so much to so many people, including me, it’s great to be a part of something bigger than myself.”

For a look at the rest of the installation, please click here.

Anyway, all this to say that Fairy Bear and my artist friend have agreed to let me use his name to  anonym-ize my blog. The themes of Lost and Found in the art show in which Fairy Bear participated resonate strongly with me at this point in my life. I lost Fairy Bear but found inspiration in his new path, lost some old dreams but found some new ones, lost my youth but found my voice.

Fairy Bear and I hope you like our blog.