‘Hopefully they’ll wreck their tools’: Red Deer artist aims to make his art theft-proof after string of statue thefts

Artist Danek Mozdzenski and his sculpture of Francis the Pig on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)

An Alberta artist is making an effort to deter thieves from making a second attempt at stealing a sculpture he made.

The sculpture is of Francis the pig, who captured the hearts of the community of Red Deer and the nation in 1990 when he escaped from a local slaughterhouse by jumping over a 1.2 metre wall, sneaking through the plant and escaping into the bush.

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Much like the pig himself, Danek Mozdzenski’s sculpture of Francis narrowly escaped a terrible fate two years ago.

“I was showing the sculpture to a friend and he noticed that there was something wrong - the base, the three mounts, had been prepared for the sculpture to be stolen that night,” said Mozdzenski.

“They were cut through 90 per cent so somebody with a zip saw could have just gone through (the rest) in two minutes, and because of the place where it was, in a park, someone could have backed up a pickup truck right to it.”

He called police and the city to have Francis moved and a guard stood watch overnight before the statue was taken by city officials the next day and put in storage.

Recently, Mozdzenski began working on Francis again in an effort to make the statue too hard to steal.

“I’m making a new base that will be very difficult to saw through,” he said.

“Time is of the essence in thievery, and they won’t have the time required to do the cutting and hopefully they’ll wreck their tools doing it.”

Mozdzenski hopes Francis will escape the fate two statues and a number of medallions and plaques in Edmonton have suffered recently, as well as three of his previous sculptures that were stolen.

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“It’s a terrible loss for the art, for the artist, and it’s a terrible loss for the community,” Mozdzenski said.

“A sculpture is a community effort, someone has to gather money, somebody has to plan the location, it’s a huge investment, which is just lost.”

Two of his stolen sculptures were never found, and only cut up parts of the third were found.

Recently stolen items were made of bronze, which can be melted down and sold. In an effort to prevent this in the future, the Edmonton Arts Council is discouraging artists from using bronze for future pieces.

“Aluminium can be cast, steel can be cast as well and they can go through a chemical process to look like bronze,” said David Turnbull with the council.

There is still a concern that statues made of those materials could be stolen, but they would be worth less as scrap and steel is harder to cut through, added Turnbull.

Even though other metals can be used, Mozdzenski said it is “a shame” to not use bronze, which has a track history of around 4,000 to 5,000 years of being used in various forms, including tools and art.

“It’s really the most appropriate (metal) for expression … an artwork needs to have dignity, and time has proven that there’s nothing like bronze to give a subject aesthetics and gravitas,” Mozdzenski said.

The Edmonton Arts Council said it is working with the city and Edmonton police to ensure the bronze artwork still on display in public is being monitored.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson