The four-metre-tall ceramic rabbit has finally come out of the hat
Rabbits are everywhere in our society. From Roger to Bugs to Harvey to Frank from Donnie Darko. Recently, another rabbit named Jack has emerged from the hat. Two years of hard work has finally paid off for a group of university students and two artists, Brian McArthur and Dawn Detarando.
The project began in the summer of 2023, when McArthur taught an open ceramics class. Spurred on by McArthur and Detarando, 18 students from across many disciplines as well as ceramics majors decided to build a giant rabbit.
But why a rabbit? There are a number of reasons.
“I wanted to have something connected to the area. We often work with local flora and fauna,” said McArthur.
Detarando noted that there is an abundance of hares on and around campus.
Also, said McArthur, rabbits are delightful.
“They’re kind of very youthful and energetic and bring good fortune,” he said. “They’re very whimsical and there’s lots of interesting stories about rabbits.”
They’re kind of very youthful and energetic and bring good fortune. They’re very whimsical and there’s lots of interesting stories about rabbits. –Brian McArthur
After a two-year process, the four-metre tall ceramic sculpture is almost ready to be unveiled.
The rabbit has been named Jack, because of its breed and in honour of the late ceramicist Jack Sures, whose art can be found on display at the university.
Sures started the ceramics program in 1965 when the university was still part of the University of Saskatchewan. He also was the first to introduce gas kilns in Saskatchewan, and was granted professor emeritus status upon retiring in 1998. Sures maintained his connection with the university in the years that followed, up until his passing in 2018.
Down the rabbit hole: the making of Jack
McArthur and Detarando say they’re pleased to see the students’ hard work (and their own) paying off. Jack is decorated with tiles and composed of ceramics, metal mesh, parging cement and welded steel.
One of the more intriguing parts about the project is that all the tiles were made by the students and they are all unique. This includes varying degrees of tile colour: dark grey, light grey, amber and so on. The tiles are also made with various materials (terracotta for instance) and unique patterns (“engulfed slip” for instance).
Artists reflect on the two-year process
McArthur and Detarando said that each student came up with their own drawings for the project.
“Brian was trying to teach the students the processes of applications,” said Detarando.
These processes include researching, gathering materials, submitting the project and then completing it.
McArthur said he enjoyed “sharing the trials and tribulations of making projects … and working with all the different perspectives that people bring to it.”
One of the more difficult obstacles for the project was just getting the permission to start. “Getting Jack’s footing and groundwork completed was another chore,” he mentioned.
Last fall, five pilings which “are 20 feet deep (about six metres) in the ground” were put in, McArthur recalled.
How to find the big rabbit
Since the main sculpture was completed in 2023, many of the original students have graduated, but Jack serves as a symbol of their creative passions.
Detarando and McArthur hope the students took several things away from the project, including working as a cohesive group, and how to break down a massive project into simpler steps so as not to be overwhelmed.
Want to check out the big bunny yourself? Jack can be found in his warren, which is located in the university’s courtyard near the Riddell Centre, where it has found a permanent residence.
