Beloved Fredericton stone beaver statues getting second life with conservation

Carving a sculpture takes artistic skill and a vision, and so does restoring one.

A team in Fredericton, N.B. is using toothbrushes, scalpels and steamers to spray, pick, massage and brush a 1,300 kilogram limestone sculpture of two beavers that has sat in the heart of the city for more than six decades.

Eight years ago, it was sent into storage at the start of Officers’ Square revitalization project.

Cracks had formed. The beloved public art piece was in danger of splitting.

Nova Scotia-based conservator Michelle Gallinger and her team are tasked with reviving the two beavers.

“I think I have one of the best jobs, because when I clean something, it's not like doing your dishes,” she said.

“When I clean something, it gets cleaned and repaired and whatever else. And then, everybody just all of a sudden notices the object.”

After sitting outside for more than 60 years, Gallinger said the beavers have weather damage. Lichen, biological material and cracks have showed up.

“And there's some cracks that we were concerned were actually through the stone, and might need some serious consolidation,” she said.

The City of Fredericton hired Gallinger and her team to restore the beavers so they can be displayed at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

This week, they sit in a city-owned warehouse hoisted by an industrial strength strap. The conservators lie beneath it, stand over it and walk around it to inspect and fix what’s in need of repair.

Nova Scotia-based conservator Michelle Gallinger inspects and cleans a beaver statue, which has been a beloved landmark and play structure in Fredericton, N.B. (Sarah Plowman, CTV News)

The job is part art-doctor, part chemist. Gallinger understands the chemistry of her subject but also how to revive it. The sculpture is limestone, which means using anything acidic is a no-no. Soap that won’t damage the piece is best.

But another part of this job is preserving the history. Gallinger said there are a lot of cracks and damage on the sculpture that serves as evidence that many children have climbed and played on it. That wear and tear will remain.

“It’s smooth in places and those are all part of its history,” she said. “And it's glorious to touch and hold and be around.”

Carved by Acadian artist Claude Roussel, the beavers had been a popular and recognizable piece of art in downtown Fredericton for more than 60 years, and for a long time, they sat next to a wading pool. Children often played atop them.

New Brunswick commissioned the piece in 1959 as a gift to Lord Beaverbrook for his 80th birthday, the New Brunswick-born businessman and British politician who served in Winston Churchill’s war cabinet and also built the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

These beavers are getting a deep clean before they're set back in public at a local gallery. (Sarah Plowman, CTV News)

“I think many people that grew up in Fredericton and also those who visited Fredericton over the years have seen them, had their photo taken with them, climbed on top of them if they were a small child,” said Angela Watson, Fredericton’s Cultural Development Officer.

Watson also points to the history of the piece to explain why it was important to keep it alive.

“Claude Roussel was a young sculptor artist who created the beavers, and he was actually hired as a conservator by Lord Beaverbrook when he opened the gallery in 1959,” she said, noting that Roussel has gone on to influence and educate many Acadian artists since. “So it's a very important part of our cultural history.”

Watson expects the beavers to be installed at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in the fall, possibly by October.

“It will literally be the first thing that you see as you walk into Beaverbrook Art Gallery through the main doors and it will be the last thing you pass coming out,” said John Leroux, manager of Collections of Exhibitions at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. “So it’s appropriate. They’re energetic, they’re alive, they’re wonderful.”