‘I love polar bears’: Saskatoon women uses deck as setting for polar bear sculpture

The sculpture of the polar bears, a mom and her cubs to be exact, now resides on the deck of Patricia Leguen's residence in Saskatoon.

A Saskatoon woman is using her free time this winter to shape the snow in her backyard into sculptures of her favourite animal, polar bears.

The sculpting of the polar bears, a mom and her cubs to be exact, as well as a tree, now resides on the deck of Patricia Leguen’s residence.

She used some household materials to help hold the snow in place and shape the polar bears. She also used professional carving tools collected from around the globe, including Russia and France.

The professional sculptor has travelled the world and competed in over 100 competitions. She has been professionally carving since 1979. Leguen was born in France and has been living in Saskatoon since 1983.

“We had some blizzards here, and a lot of snow on my deck. So instead of shovelling, I thought I’ll sculpt something. I used plastic forms I used for sand sculpting. I clamped them together to make big circles and piled them like a two- or three-layered cake,” Leguen said.

Now she is taking a more local approach to her passion, as COVID-19 puts a hold on her international travel plans for the time being.

“I’ve done a lot of sculptures of polar bears. I was looking online and found a picture of the momma bear and her triplets and thought, ‘Oh that’s perfect,” Leguen said.

“It takes me about 12 to 15 hours to complete from start to finish a project like this.”