Jimenez
Saskatchewan sculptor Joe Fafard was renowned for his empathetic and technically innovative depictions of rural subjects, farm livestock, and cultural figures. After establishing his own foundry, Julienne Atelier, in Pense, Saskatchewan in the mid-1980s, Fafard transformed his sculptural practice by casting in bronze, developing specialized patination and powder-coating techniques that allowed him to introduce rich, durable colour directly onto sculptural metal. While best known for his quiet, character-filled representations of cattle, Fafard frequently turned to horses in his mature career, capturing their anatomy, weight, and kinetic power.
Cast in 2014, Jimenez depicts a heavy draft horse caught in full, dynamic stride. Fafard modeled the horse with both front legs raised in suspension, balancing its mass over a compact, textured bronze base anchored beneath the hind hooves. The surface displays Fafard’s characteristic tactile clay-modelling texture, translated into bronze and heightened by hand-applied powder coating: a dapple-grey body, a windblown black mane and tail, and white feathered fetlocks. Rather than an idealized equestrian monument, the sculpture emphasizes natural animal energy, combining sculptural mass with momentum and expressive surface detail.
Joe Fafard
1942 - 2019 Order of Canada, RCA
Nationally and internationally acclaimed artist Joe Fafard was born to French-Canadian parents in the small agricultural community of Ste. Marthe, Saskatchewan. He attended both the University of Manitoba (BFA 1966) and Pennsylvania State University (MFA 1968). He was at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina from 1968 to 1974 and visiting lecturer at the University of California at Davis in 1980 1981.
Fafard was one of Canada’s leading professional visual artists and exhibited a wide variety of work across the country and around the world. He was recognized as being at the forefront of his art and he significantly raised the profile of both Saskatchewan and Canada on the international stage. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1981; received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2002; received the National Prix Montfort in 2003; and in 2005, the Lieutenant Governor’s Saskatchewan Centennial Medal for the Arts.
In the early 1970s much of his sculpture used clay as a medium. In 1985 he shifted to bronze as his chief sculptural medium, successfully establishing a foundry in Pense. His insight and humour characterized his portraits of neighbours, farm animals, and famous artists that he came to respect as he learned his craft.
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