Skip to main content
Collections Menu
SAM'S collection
Sea Bear
Sea Bear

Sea Bear

Date1990
Maker Sherry Markovitz American, born 1947
Label TextWalking along a beach after giving birth to her son, Sherry Markovitz cites all her senses being called upon to take a quiet turn and observe. Here, she has adapted the trophy head form into a guardian form: a bear emerging from the sea. Tiny seed beads become fur, and a necklace of driftwood is accented with pearls, also from the sea. Recently asked about her sense of water, Markovitz responded, “Water is life sustaining. It is everything. Water mirrors emotion—sometimes calm, sometimes raging, always present. Water quiets my mind and opens my eyes to beauty.”
Object number90.3
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Views and Visions in the Pacific Northwest, June 7 - Sept. 2, 1990. Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue Art Museum, The Ubiquitous Bead II, Apr. 27 - June 23, 1996. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Collection Highlights: 1945 to the Present, Sept.12, 1996 - June 1, 1997. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Weird and Whimsical: Northwest Art from the Permanent Collection, Jan. 4 - Oct. 14, 2001. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Contemporary Art: Made in Seattle -- A Northwest Summer, May 4 - July 23, 2006. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water, Mar. 18 - May 30, 2022.
Credit LineGift of Terry Hunziker
Dimensions25 x 17 x 29 in. (63.5 x 43.18 x 73.66 cm)
MediumWood, beads, shells, fabric, paint, papier-mâché
Sherry Markovitz
2000
Object number: 2003.42
Sherry Markovitz
1985
Object number: 2009.52.63
Photo: Scott Leen
Jeffry Mitchell
1991
Object number: 92.136
Shrine horse (shimme or kami koma)
Japanese
19th century
Object number: 94.20
Book Cover Exterior with Yusuf (Joseph) and His Brothers
Persian
18th century
Object number: 42.12.1
I Wish I Were a Walkie Talkie
Sherry Markovitz
1986
Object number: 2000.199
Democratic Republic of the Congo
early 20th century
Object number: 2001.45
Japanese
1804 - 1817
Object number: 35.637.1
Japanese
1804 - 1817
Object number: 35.637.2
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Sherry Markovitz
1982
Object number: 85.197.1