When people pass by the white-pillared Beaverbrook Art Gallery starting this weekend, they will be greeted by one of Fredericton’s most famous sculptures.
Called “The Beavers,” the artwork is a 1,400-kilogram grey limestone carving of a mother and baby beaver, both hunched over logs. Sitting in the entranceway of the museum, the sculpture is visible from the outside through the building’s glass doors. The piece was commissioned by the province in 1959 as a gift to William Maxwell Aitken, known as Lord Beaverbrook, for his 80th birthday.
First installed in Officers’ Square in 1959, the sculpture spent decades braving the elements — and generations of children who climbed atop the carving or sat on the beavers’ stone backs. But it was removed from the downtown park in 2016 after city workers noticed how badly it was damaged. Following a two-week restoration over the summer, it will be presented to the public in its new home on Saturday.
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