By Sarah Wallace

Mann Art Gallery finally welcomes its bronze wolf

May 12, 2016 | 1:07 PM

It’s been five-years in the making, but a giant bronze wolf statue has finally found its home at Prince Albert’s Mann Art Gallery.

The wolf, created by Joe Fafard, was installed by the artist and his crew earlier this Week.

Gallery curator Jesse Campbell said the long road to an original piece was a bit of a fluke.

“In 2011, one of the former staff members of the was just networking with her contacts in the Regina area and it just came up in a discussion that there could be the possibility for Joe Fafard to create a public outdoor work of art for the Mann Art Gallery,” she explained.

The idea was presented to the gallery’s board and staff and according to Campbell, everyone was keen to start fundraising for the piece.

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“So a few “Wolf-Back a Beer” fundraisers later, some golf tournament fundraisers and other ways of acquiring money, we finally saw the installation this week,” she said.

The gallery had to raise $110,000 to procure their wolf, which Campbell agrees was a large sum of money but reasonable price for a piece of Fafard’s work.

“It’s worth significantly more than that but he really was excited to have a piece up in Prince Albert and up at the gallery, so he worked with us to give us a bit of a deal which we very much appreciate,” Campbell said.

The wolf, named Mahihkan, the Cree word for wolf, is a special piece of work to have in the city. Campbell said not only is this the first bronze sculpture at the gallery but fits in with the gallery’s strategic goals.

“It is in our mission to connect community and culture by means of the visual arts and this is a wonderful way to do it. So we’re happy to be working towards fulfilling our mission with this work of art.”

To officially welcome the wolf to the city the gallery will be hosting an event on May 27 at 7 p.m. and artist Joe Fafard will be in attendance.

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahthesquid