By: Michele McDougall
The Brandon Sun, published July 3, 2025
A six-foot-tall black bear was given a new home at Riverbank Discovery Centre in Brandon on Thursday under the watchful eye of renowned Glenboro artist Peter Sawatzky.
The newest addition to the Peter Sawatzky Sculpture Park is a bronze piece called “Curious Black Bear.”
It’s standing beside a walking path that runs parallel to the Discovery Centre entrance on Conservation Drive.
Renowned sculptor Peter Sawatzky helps install his bronze piece “Curious Black Bear” at the Riverbank Discovery Centre. “Curious Black Bear” is the fifth sculpture to be installed at the Peter Sawatzky Sculpture Park, which celebrates his work at the Discovery Centre. In total, 16 sculptures will be installed. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)
“Imagine you’re walking through the bush and you see a bear,” Sawatzky said, describing his work.
“He’ll have heard you, but maybe he can’t quite see you and he gets curious. So, he’ll either stand up on his hind legs or on a big log or rock to see what that is. His head is up, front right paw is on a rock, and his left paw is in the air — perhaps ready to run.”
The bear is the fifth of Sawatzky’s pieces that have been installed in the park. In May, a massive sculpture depicting 11 caribou crossing a river was added to the collection, which also includes bronze sculptures of a doe and her fawn, a great blue heron and a jack rabbit that were previously placed.
There are more pieces on the wish list for the park, said Riverbank executive director Dean Hammond.
“This is No. 5 of our total that will eventually be 16 pieces,” he said.
Funding for the sculptures has come from various sources, including provincial and community grants and private donations.
In December 2023, a major boost of $100,000 was gifted to the park from the family of the late Keay Dobson-Golletz, who lost her battle with cancer seven months earlier.
Dobson-Golletz was on the Discovery Centre’s board of directors for a decade, and she was in on the early planning stages of the garden. She worked as a fundraiser, design consultant, grant writer and an advocate to all levels of government, Hammond said.
Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett (right) helps workers from Alternative Landscaping to install the bronze sculpture “Curious Black Bear” by renowned artist Peter Sawatzky at the Riverbank Discovery Centre. (Photos by Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)
“Keay was a pretty special person,” he said. “Her favourite piece was the bear. And in her honour, her partner Richard Golletz put in significant money towards this piece, because this is the piece that he knew Keay would have been most endeared to.”
Among the crowd that gathered to see the bear’s arrival and installation were Dobson-Golletz’s two sisters, Susan Dobson and Anne Hay.
“We’re definitely proud of our sister,” Dobson said. “It’s so nice to see this come to fruition and we’re excited to see this piece because a curious bear means so much to Keay.”
Hay said she agreed. “This is pretty special. It was their term of endearment for each other — Keay and Richard. And there’s another thing — they had bears in their front yard all the time.” The couple lived at Clear Lake.
Hammond, Sawatzky and Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett pitched in to help unload the 6,000-pound sculpture from a flat-bed trailer, guide it onto a forklift and down to the ground.
Fawcett has been involved in the sculpture park for about eight or nine years, said Lois Ruston, executive director of YWCA Westman. Back then she was the Riverbank Discovery Centre’s general manager.
Ruston made the trek to Sawatzky’s studio in Glenboro with Fawcett “before he was mayor” to ask the artist if he would consider a sculpture garden in his honour.
“So, sometimes it takes a long time for seeds to grow, but when you continue to plant them, they do grow and bloom,” Ruston said.
Sawatzky helps place his sculpture at the Riverbank Discovery Centre. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)
“And it’s just lovely to see this place, especially in honour of Keay, who was always a wonderful booster and supporter of the Riverbank for years and years.
“So this is really meaningful.”
Fawcett said he counted Keay and Richard as friends, and Keay as the driver who had the vision of what the park would be “from Day 1.”
“I adored Keay, so I’m very grateful to Richard and his family for this recognition that will be here permanently, and it’s so great to have her sisters here, too,” Fawcett said.
He added kudos to the Riverbank staff and board of directors who have taken on the project and made it a success.
“Dean Hammond and his team really have it. It’s great to see them doing all this work and hopefully there are many more to come.”
Once the “Curious Black Bear” was on its cement pad, Sawatzky gave the forklift operator the thumbs-up and said, “Perfect.” He then began sweeping around the base to tidy up.
He said he met Dobson-Golletz a few times and described her as a dedicated and hard worker.
Sawatzky (right) works with employees of Alternative Landscaping to install his sculpture. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)
“I’m proud to do this for the Riverbank and for Keay and her family. And I love this bear,” he said, nodding toward it.
“It makes me feel good when I see the looks on people’s faces. When they’re happy, I’m happy.”
https://www.brandonsun.com/local/2025/07/03/curious-black-bear-makes-riverbank-debut
