Bear and the Ursa Major Constellation - Seattle, WA
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 47° 36.040 W 122° 19.991
10T E 550124 N 5272132
This bear is one of four totems by the same artist at this location.
Ursa is the Latin word for "bear".
Waymark Code: WMR4AF
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 05/11/2016
Views: 4
The small plaque accompanying this totem has text in several languages, the portion in English reads:
"Bear
Duane Pasco
1975"
This totem is also waymarked in the Seattle Art & Seek category (WM46FH) which informs us of the following:
"This totem is called Bear. He is facing Tsonqua and when they were originally installed, there was a garden between them. The garden has since been replaced with bricks and now you can walk between them.
Bear is approximatly 12 foot high. He is carved from cedar and has been painted. The base he sits on is made from concrete. Unlike Tsonqua across from him, Bear doesn't look very welcoming. His teeth are shown and his paws are drawn up under his chin. Bear is an animal that is many Native American legends. He was installed here in 1987.
He was initially sculpted in 1974 by Duane Pasco for Richard White. He was displayed at White's restaurant, Kiana Lodge. In 1985 White donated the totems to the City of Seattle. Pasco refinished the totems and they were placed in Occidental Square in 1987.
Duane Pasco is a Northwest native and became a career carver in 1967. He lives in Poulsbo, Washington, and his works can be seen throughout the greater Seattle area."
As for the Constellation, Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"Ursa Major ... (also known as the Great Bear) is a constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. One of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy (second century AD), it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It can be visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name, Latin for "the greater (or larger) she-bear", stands as a reference to and in direct contrast with Ursa Minor, "the smaller she-bear", with which it is frequently associated in mythology and amateur astronomy. The constellation's most recognizable asterism, a group of seven relatively bright stars commonly known as the "Big Dipper", "the Wagon" or "the Plough" (among others), both mimics the shape of the lesser bear (the "Little Dipper") and is commonly used as a navigational pointer towards the current northern pole star, Polaris in Ursa Minor. The Big Dipper and the constellation as a whole have mythological significance in numerous world cultures, usually as a symbol of the north.
The third largest constellation in the sky, Ursa Major is home to many deep-sky objects including seven Messier objects, four other NGC objects and I Zwicky 18, the youngest known galaxy in the visible universe."