MOOSE JAW — Mac the Moose is an internationally recognized and celebrated statue, but during the upcoming world curling tournament, another artwork known as “Map the Moose” will hog some of the spotlight.
Members of A.E. Peacock Collegiate’s art club spent several weeks painting a world map onto a seven-foot-tall wooden moose, which features all seven continents and five oceans.
To honour the 13 teams competing in the 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship from March 29 to April 6 at the Temple Gardens Centre, the students drew the countries’ borders on the map. They also painted directional arrows that indicate the distance to those countries from Moose Jaw.
The students explained that their teacher, Cori Saas, learned about the curling tournament from Heather Eby, vice-chair of the organizing committee, who wanted them to paint the world map on the “funky-lookin’ moose” and highlight the participating teams.
Saas asked the club members whether they were interested since they would have a short turnaround time with the tournament approaching so quickly.
Most students agreed to take on the project — two focused on the moose while others painted the directional arrows — and immediately set to work. They started before the February break and spent almost two hours daily working, while they stayed late on Fridays.
“And then at first, we were just going to do the base colours (of) blue and green. We wanted to make it look a bit more interesting and a bit more real instead of very cartoony,” said Anna Fullerton, who worked on the moose.
Her sister, Mia, said they focused on painting mountainous regions to highlight the countries’ geography. She noted that being asked to do this was unexpected, while they struggled to find a blue-coloured paint they liked, but overall, she was happy with how it turned out.
“And it’s just hard to see the big picture before the completed project,” she continued, adding they didn’t originally add Antarctica due to limited space but thought that it would be cool to have the moose standing in snow, so they painted parts of the continent on the animal’s legs and used a white base.
Exterior red house paint — used for the arrows — is “a really horrible” colour to use because it required several coats, while almost every country has three or four different colours that also required several coats, said Saas. Also, instead of painting the edges black, the students wrapped the colours of the continents and oceans onto the back.
Saas added that it was the “brilliantly creative young people” who took the lead with this project.
Mia Fullerton said that a closer inspection reveals the oceans have different shades of blue and white to represent the depths — something people will see if they stand close to the moose.
“That’s awesome. I’ve got goosebumps,” said Eby, who, along with Devon Oleniuk, another vice-chair and the man who carved the wooden moose, picked up the colourful artwork from the school recently to take to the arena. “It is more than I could have ever asked or imagined.”
Eby said she asked Peacock’s art club to pursue this project because of its connection to the Project 104 High School Arts Collective’s anti-graffiti team. The group has painted murals around the city since 2014 with support from the Moose Jaw Police Service, .
Oleniuk had constructed a similar wooden — but colourless — moose for the 2020 Scotties Curling Championship, something everyone enjoyed, she continued. She wanted to do that again this year but wanted a world map on it.
“And I had no idea how to do it (but) I thought, ‘Oh, I bet you know who does,’” she chuckled. “So it’s awesome.”
Eby added that Oleniuk has constructed three other wood moose statues, while he will attach the directional arrows to signposts that will stand beside the artworks.
