The winner of the 49th Mann Art Gallery Winter Festival people’s choice award says “it’s flattering” his piece was chosen again.
The gallery announced Don Schoenfeld’s metalwork piece ‘The King’ as the 2025 winner of the Guy Rutter Memorial People’s Choice Award. Schoenfeld previously won in 2021 for his piece called ‘The Hunter’.
Schoenfeld said it’s great to receive accolades from the general public instead of just a few individuals.
“This is people at large that you didn’t know and they voted for you,” Schoenfeld said. “I find that very, very flattering.”
In a press release, the Mann Art Gallery described ‘The King’ is a masterful sculpture crafted from recycled metal that captivated audiences with its intricate detail, craftsmanship, and powerful presence. The Gallery said his work stood out among over a hundred pieces featured in this year’s Winter Festival Art Show & Sale, which showcased an incredible variety of artistic talent from across the region.
Schoenfeld is from Saskatoon and this is his fourth year entering the Winter Festival Art Show and Sale.
He said the piece was inspired by one in his own home.
“That deer was modelled after a deer that I have mounted in my house,” he explained. “I’ve looked at it for years thinking ‘I should try making that in metal. I think that would look really cool.’ It was always an idea that I had in the back of my mind.”
Schoenfeld worked professionally as a millwright and welder, so when he retired he started creating sculptures out of recycled materials from work and things he found at garage sales.
“I had been collecting for years,” he said. “When I’d come across a part that I thought might work for it I would just put it in the pail. Then when the pail got full, I thought, ‘well, I probably got enough to get a good start going on it’ and went from there.”
The Hunter was created over several weeks, Schoenfeld said. He likes to work for about four to six hours each day on his pieces.
“Some days it’s inspiring and you can put in five or six hours. Other days it doesn’t work very good and maybe it’s only a couple or three hours you put into it,” Schoenfeld said.
He said the components that make up The King are almost too many to list.
“I’ve got parts from transmissions and engines. I got some parts from an old fridge that I put in, old bearings and parts from pumps and other pieces of equipment that I’ve acquired over the years actually,” Schoenfeld said.
He is always on the hunt for components for pieces he is working on.
“I’m always shopping for materials,” he said. “I come across something at a garage sale or I have a friend in Saskatoon and at lunch we dumpster dive. He has a transmission shop, or (we go to) the salvage yards,” Schoenfeld said.
“When I’m looking around for stuff and I see something interesting. I acquire it and lay it aside. It might sit for years before I actually use it.”
Schoenfeld said he plans on entering the Winter Festival show again next year.
The Guy Rutter Memorial People’s Choice Award began with Peggy Kerr, who set up a Winter Festival Juried Art Show Award in honour of her son, Guy Rutter.
In its initial years, the award was named the Guy Rutter Memorial Award. The Board later requested it be changed to the People’s Choice (Guy Rutter Memorial Award) and Peggy agreed. Years later she passed away and her husband, Sandy, created the Peggy Kerr Memorial Award. For a number of years he gave the gallery $200 annually for the two awards. When Sandy passed away he left $500 and many of Peggy’s artworks to the Mann
Art Gallery. The funds received from Sandy have gone toward continuing the award for Winter Festival exhibitions well into the future.
With the naming of the people‘s choice award, this year’s winter festival show came to a close. The Mann Art Gallery will now prepare to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Winter Festival Art Show and Sale in 2026.
Schoenfeld appreciates both the Mann Art Gallery and the show.
“It’s always fun to see all the great artists in Saskatchewan and all the wonderful work that they produce and all the different medias that that are used, all of the different genres that are displayed,” he said. “I just think it’s a fantastic show and I’m really happy to be part of it.”
The High School Juried Art Show will debut on April 15 in the project space and education studio.
