Reindeer to the rescue Logs, twigs comprise magical art installation to spread cheer By: Brenda Suderman Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Sunday, Jun. 21, 2020

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/06/2020 (1606 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Without a red nose between them, dozens of tiny reindeer playing games in a city park are vying to become the most famous reindeer of them all,

But instead of pulling a sleigh for Santa across a cold December sky, these reindeer constructed of small logs and twigs have a completely different job: cheering up people during the global pandemic.

“Have you ever seen people on stilts playing soccer? Reindeer are magical,” explains artist Paul Leullier of the whimsical pair of ball-kicking reindeer he installed in the green space of Grant’s Old Mill, sandwiched between Grace General Hospital and Portage Avenue.

Since early April, the west Winnipeg woodworker has constructed and installed about two dozen vignettes of reindeer engaged in activities along a small section of Sturgeon Creek Greenway Trail. The numbers are a bit fuzzy because Leullier makes a new set every few days, and sometimes some go missing.

Titled “Reindeer are people too,” Leullier began creating the wooden reindeer from found materials as a way to deal with the shutdowns due to COVID-19. The tall and lanky St. Charles resident spent the first few weeks glued to his television, growing more despondent as the world shifted around him.

So the 62-year-old picked himself off the couch, headed to his backyard workshop, and started sawing logs and branches to fashion his reindeer people, and then building props and vehicles to portray them engaging in outdoor recreational activities.

“When I got the idea of putting one model in the creek, I saw the reaction of people, my workshop and willingness exploded,” says the former groundskeeper now on disability leave.

To date, he’s made about four dozen wooden reindeer ranging in size from 20 to 30 centimetres. Some are having fun on their own, but most are gathered in small groups playing cards, making music in rock bands and jazz groups, paddling a canoe, or tubing behind a power boat. His most recent installations include reindeer flying a hot air balloon, and driving various vehicles, including a lawn mower, scooter, soapbox racer and three-wheeler.

Leullier places the sculptures at ground level in bushes and beside trees, where they blend into the background, waiting for visitors to spot them. He’s also anchored several in the shallow muddy waters of Sturgeon Creek, including a metre-long voyageur canoe with five paddlers, a kayak, and a power boat towing a reindeer on a tube. Along the shoreline, a reindeer fisher waits for a big catch from the comfort of his armchair constructed from sturdy twigs.

“It started out with one water skier,” Leullier says of how the project developed. “A week later it was knocked off and I brought it home and put (another one) on it.”

Then he replaced the skiers with a reindeer on a tube and went on to create more vignettes.

He doesn’t worry too much about vandalism or breakage, figuring these sculptures made from fallen branches and small logs from his backyard woodpile can either be repaired or replaced if stolen. Many are secured into the ground by wires or stakes to deter sticky fingers.

“I don’t care if they disappear. I’ll just make another.”

He’s more interested in people’s reactions to his efforts, spending two hours each morning and evening perched on a picnic bench answering questions about the large herd of tiny reindeer roving through the green space between Booth Drive and Sturgeon Road.

“How long does it take to make these things?” asks Rob Isaac, who stopped during a family bike ride to search out the reindeer with his son Jacob, 12, and daughter Danica, 8.

The answer is up to three hours, with more than 50 hours and about $30 devoted to making all the reindeer in the park.

“It’s a good use of time during this period,” responds Rob’s wife Suzanne Isaac.

Other park visitors stop to thank Leullier, with some reaching out to shake his hand in spite of physical distancing guidelines to commend him for his effort in keeping the park interesting

“I think they’re great, very artistic,” says Edie Peters, who lives just north of the hospital.

“It shows creativity. It shows you can make items of out unusual (materials).”

That’s the ongoing creative challenge for Leullier — taking found objects and transforming them into recognizable creatures having a good time in the woods.

“If you take the antlers off the reindeer, what does it look like? A pile of sticks. You put antlers on them and they have personality,” says Leullier, who has created reindeer for the last 15 years.

They have personality, but they also have all the right accessories, right down to a set of playing cards with blue patterned backs constructed from a real set of cards, and tiny chess pieces made from 1/8-inch dowels.

In the past, he’s constructed airplanes, hand gliders, hot air balloons and helicopters to transport his fanciful reindeer, but during the pandemic, Leullier likes to keep his creatures a little closer to home, just like their human counterparts.

The lifelong St. James resident encourages fellow Winnipeg craftspeople to follow his example of installing his work in a public space, inviting them to share their art, crafts and music in a public place for people to see and smile about.

‘Smiles are supposed to be free. That’s the challenge I want to put out there’– artist Paul Leullier, explaining, partly, his motivation for creating the reindeer

“Smiles are supposed to be free. That’s the challenge I want to put out there.”

That invitation parallels other small scale and interactive installations such as yarn bombing or boulevard gardens, sometimes referred to as guerrilla art, says Tamara Rae Biebrich, senior project manager of public art for Winnipeg Arts Council.

“I think there’s a history of artists doing intervention in public spaces,” she says.

Whether its self-initiated installations like the reindeer or commissioned public artwork along bridges, rapid transit lines or nature walks, she says all artists aim to enhance community spaces.

“It really challenges people to think about where they are and what they’re doing in a different way,” says Biebrich.

For Leullier, he knows his art encourages people of all ages to leave the paved pathways and hunt for his reindeer. And he’s pleased the reindeer people invite the humans to shut out the noise and the traffic and employ a bit of fanciful thinking about the wooden creatures whizzing by on scooters, racers and motorboats.

“This thing will do 200 m.p.h. across the river,” he says of his reindeer-driven powerboat.

“It’s all up to your imagination.”

brenda@suderman.com