A New Rabbit Hops onto the U of R Green

With tall ears and playful spirit, a new larger-than-life rabbit has hopped onto the University of Regina campus, and it’s here to stay.

Unveiled during a campus celebration on October 31, 2025, Jack Rabbit, a ceramic sculpture created through a 2023 outdoor ceramic sculpture course led by alumnus Brian McArthur (BFA ’94), now calls the Dr. Lloyd Barber Academic Green home. It joins the University’s President’s Art Collection as a permanent feature in the Outdoor Ceramics and Sculpture Garden.

Being able to make this work and leading a group of students through the process is a meaningful contribution to the local community — Brian McArthur, U of R alumnus, ART 290 guest instructor, and artist

Since his time at the U of R, McArthur’s artistic practice has flourished. He's completed more than 30 public art commissions and co-owns professional art studio Voyageur Art Inc. with his partner, Dawn Detarando. The pair returned to campus earlier this year to complete the installation of Jack Rabbit. The collaborative project brought together students, alumni, Visual Arts faculty, and members of the Regina and Area Potters Guild.

Learning by making

“It’s alive!” screamed the Visual Arts students—or so it might have felt—the moment the final tile was set and Jack Rabbit stood tall. Though far less menacing than Frankenstein’s creation, this furry-tailed creature was born from imagination, experimentation, and a whole lot of community support.

The idea for the project began with Ruth Chambers, a U of R Visual Arts professor from the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance, who helped conceive the Outdoor Ceramic Sculpture (ART 290) course and bring guest artist McArthur on board to lead it. In 2023, inside this creative “laboratory,” Jack Rabbit began to take shape. Under McArthur’s guidance, students designed, welded bones of steel, and mixed the very clay that would form Jack’s tiled skin. They also developed a professional public art proposal complete with a cover letter, project description, drawings, and scale model.

“Experiential learning demystifies the art-making practice, demonstrating to students how much labour, planning, and communication are needed to complete a work of art,” says McArthur. To him, opportunities to work on large-scale projects like Jack and work alongside professional artists offer students invaluable, hands-on experience and insight into how artists apply for and execute real-world commissions.

“The opportunity to share the challenges and opportunities of a seemingly impossible project and break it down into manageable steps is one of the reasons I love teaching,” says McArthur. While Jack Rabbit may have seemed impossible at first, McArthur approached teaching the course with equal parts enthusiasm, experience, and knowledge, and strived to create an open, creative, and supportive environment which in the end, helped create a new U of R landmark.

Why a rabbit?

When it comes to Regina’s ceramics history, there’s a deep rabbit hole to go down.

Regina’s international reputation as a hot spot for ceramic art took off in the mid-1960s, when artist Jack Sures established the University’s ceramics program. Alongside early instructors Beth Hone and Patricia Leigh Wiens, and later artists like Victor Cicansky and Joe Fafard (among many others), Sures helped spark what became known as the Regina Clay Movement. These revolutionary artists didn’t just make beautiful objects; they created sculptures and infused their work with humour and a strong sense of place.

Jack Rabbit continues in that same spirit.

“I think I follow in the long history of clay arts inspired by regional folklore, place, play, nature, and humour,” McArthur explains. As a former U of R student, McArthur studied under Sures, Cicansky, and Fafard, often passing by Fafard’s iconic ceramic Frog sculpture on the College Avenue Campus. While this history influenced his art, McArthur also chose a rabbit for simpler reasons. The campus is already home to plenty of real jackrabbits, and with their whimsical nature and association with good fortune, they were a natural fit. “When a person comes across them, they will almost always make you smile and feel happy,” he adds.

Many hands, one hare

It takes a village—and plenty of clay-covered hands—to build a sculpture this big. Jack Rabbit came to life thanks to the combined efforts of students, alumni, Visual Arts faculty, and members of the Regina and Area Potters Guild.

“As an alum, being able to contribute a work of art to campus makes me very proud and content,” says McArthur. “Being able to make this work and lead a group of students through the process is a meaningful contribution to the local community.”

The project was also made possible through support from the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance, the Department of Visual Arts, and the University of Regina Ceramics Students’ Society (URCSS).

Interested in exploring your creative side? Visit the Department of Visual Arts to learn more.

Next time you’re on the Green, stop by and say hello to Jack Rabbit. He’s hard to miss.

Banner Photo: Dale Storie, Associate Dean (Research), Archer Library, speaks at the October 31 unveiling of Jack Rabbit. Faculty, staff, students, and members of the University community gathered to celebrate the newest addition to the President’s Art Collection. Photo credit: University Communications and Marketing.