Mendel legacy being erased, family says

A member of a prominent Saskatoon clan is unhappy with changes being made to an art gallery bearing the name of its main benefactor.

Chip Mitchell is a grandson of Fred Mendel, who opened a meatpacking plant in Saskatoon some 70 years ago.

Mendel's financial support and donations of art helped found the Mendel Art Gallery.

Mitchell says he is not happy with plans to move the gallery to a new space and change its name.

He said many people in the community supported the Mendel Art Gallery.

"Thousands of people over the years ... have made contributions in art or money," Mitchell observed. "They were doing this for their mother or themselves or their grandmother. Thinking it was going to be there in perpetuity. It obviously doesn't mean anything anymore today, given the current direction it looks like we're going in."

The new building is to be called the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan and would include a space in Mendel's name.

Saskatoon City council recently approved the plan for a new gallery in a development called River Landing.