65-year-old Fredericton sculpture 'The Beavers' will return after restoration

For almost 60 years, they sat, unassuming, alongside a wading pool in Fredericton’s Officers’ Square. Two beavers, presumably a mom and her kit, sitting on two logs, made of limestone.

Children may have enjoyed them the most as the sculpture became a popular play structure.

So where did those beavers go?

“There's cracks and organic matter accumulating in the cracks. They're in danger of splitting,” said Fredericton cultural development officer Angela Watson. “So, they were moved to storage.”

The sculpture was removed when the Officers’ Square revitalization project began in 2016.

A historic picture of the Beavers statue in Fredericton. (Courtesy: The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick)

But the city knew the beavers have a rich New Brunswick history, and have been working on a plan to preserve them.

That plan brings the beavers back to their beginning.

“Lord Beaverbrook built the Beaverbrook Art Gallery for the people of New Brunswick. And right around the same time, these beavers were commissioned as a gift of the people of New Brunswick to Lord Beaverbrook for his 80th birthday,” explains Watson. “And the Claude Roussel, who carved these beavers, was actually hired by Lord Beaverbrook as a curator at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery when it opened in 1959.”

A historic picture of the Beavers statue in Fredericton. (Courtesy: The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick)

Claude Roussel is a very well-known Acadian artist, responsible for several historic sculptures, including the piece commemorating the Escuminac fishing disaster.

From his home in Cap-Pelé, 93-year-old Roussel tuned in via video conference to a Fredericton committee meeting, where members voted to send the beavers back to their roots – the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

“To see it revived like that, it is very touching for me,” he said in an interview with CTV News Atlantic. “I am confident that everything will be done properly. I give my complete confidence in the staff and to John Leroux.”

A historic picture of the Beavers statue in Fredericton. (Courtesy: The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick)

Leroux, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery manager of collections of exhibitions, says the intention is for the beavers to remain accessible to the public – they’ll be placed in the front lobby of the gallery, even visible through the window.

“There's no end of the resonance,” he said. “But it's really one most important public art works in New Brunswick, certainly in Fredericton. And so to give them a home where they're protected and certainly made public is a wonderful privilege.”

Perhaps not climbing on them, but Leroux says people will be able to touch the beavers like old times.

He promises the piece has now found its permanent home, and thinks Lord Beaverbrook would approve. 

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