Ottawa, Canada
In response to popular demand (and catering to both music fans and philatelists), our latest commemorative stamps in the Canadian Recording Artists series for Canada Post are now available as individual panes, in limited quantity. The iconic Canadian artists featured in this series which launched on the last day of June are Bruce Cockburn, Robbie Robertson, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, and chanteuse Ginette Reno.
We have been designing stamps featuring Canadian Recording Artists since 2007; the first series featured Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray, and Paul Anka; series two featured Édith Butler, Stompin’ Tom (Connors), Bryan Adams, and Robert Charlebois.
Stamp panes can be ordered by calling toll-free: 1-800-565-4362 (Canada and the United States), or 1-902-863-6550 (from other countries). Due to limited supply, these dedicated 16-stamp panes are not available at normal post offices or postal outlets. You can read more about this series release in the latest details / en détail magazine (2.5 MB PDF here); the magazine cover is shown below.
Some previous posts on this blog relating to similar stamp releases can be viewed here.
Montréal, Quebec
Just in time for Canada Day, I’m happy to announce that our latest set of commemorative stamps in the Canadian Recording Artists series has been launched. This series of stamps features black & white portraits of the artists, supported by typographic tapestries comprised of song titles. The iconic Canadian artists featured in this series are Bruce Cockburn, Robbie Robertson, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, and chanteuse Ginette Reno. CD-shaped booklets of 8 die-cut, pressure-sensitive stamps (along with envelope seals and information about each artist) are available in four styles, with individualized covers for each of the four artists. Also available are souvenir sheets, postcards, and an Official First Day Cover (OFDC, popular with philatelists).
CIRCLE has been designing the Canadian Recording Artists stamp series since 2007; the first series featured Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray, and Paul Anka; series two featured Édith Butler, Stompin’ Tom (Connors), Bryan Adams, and Robert Charlebois.
These limited edition stamps are available through post offices across the country as of 30 June 2011. They can be ordered online by following the links at Canada Post’s website www.canadapost.ca, or by calling toll-free: 1-800-565-4362 (Canada and the United States), or 1-902-863-6550 (from other countries).
Images: the round souvenir sheet on gummed stock; the four “postage paid” postcards, each featuring an enlarged stamp/portrait; and the Officidal First Day Cover (OFDC) with date-of-issue cancellations.
Toronto, Ontario
Popular Canadian music icons Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray, and Paul Anka have been honoured with a set of commemorative stamps designed by Circle in Winnipeg. The CD-shaped Canadian Recording Artists booklets puts a new spin on this type of collectible. There are four different booklets, with each cover featuring the image of one of the recording artists. Inside, the stamps are arranged in one of four different orders, with the singer featured on the cover appearing in the top-left position. The booklets also include envelope seals and information about the featured artist. In addition, a souvenir sheet, official first day cover, and postcards are available.
These limited edition stamps are now available through post offices across the country, can be ordered online by following the links at Canada Post’s website www.canadapost.ca, or by calling toll-free: 1-800-565-4362 (Canada and the United States), or 902-863-6550 (from other countries).
Paquetville, NB / Timmins, ON
On 2 July 2009 the latest set of commemorative stamps we’ve designed at Circle for Canada Post will launch concurrently—in the small Acadian village of Paquetville, New Brunswick, where chanteuse Édith Butler was born and raised—and in Timmins, Ontario, where renowned folklorist Stompin’ Tom (Connors) was first granted a 14-month contract to play at the city’s Maple Leaf Hotel. The set of four stamps also includes international rock superstar Bryan Adams and Robert Charlebois, a pioneer of French-Canadian rock.
Building on the market success of the Canadian Recording Artists series we designed two years ago (featuring Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray, and Paul Anka) this set of stamps adopts the round CD-shape precedent for booklets (each artist is featured on a separate booklet cover) and the gummed souvenir sheet (popular with collectors and philatelists)—the latter also appears with dual cancellations with date of issue on the Official First Day Cover (OFDC). Booklets of pressure-sensitive stamps include envelope seals and information about the individual artists.
We also designed a set of postcards—each of these includes an additional performance image of the featured artist. We initially decided to create monochrome portraits for the artists (using a vector-conversion process based on sourced photography of dramatically varying quality levels) and then brought them all into the same dynamic visual “performance space,” a spotlit simulation of how they might appear live and on stage. As we did in the 2007 series, we incorporated a distinctive MetalFX® process of under-printed metallic inks into backgrounds and selvedge areas, adding a lustrous sheen that helps convey the feeling of shiny vinyl and “gold album” prestige.
These limited edition stamps will be available through post offices across the country as of 2 July 2009, can be ordered online by following the links at Canada Post’s website www.canadapost.ca, or by calling toll-free: 1-800-565-4362 (Canada and the United States), or 902-863-6550 (from other countries).
Images: the round souvenir sheet; the four postcards, each featuring an enlarged stamp/portrait; the OFDC with dual cancellations.
Ottawa, Canada
(from a piece in CBC’s Arts & Entertainment)
…Canada Post has announced that a new stamp featuring the celebrated singer-songwriter will be issued on June 30 as part of the third instalment of its Canadian Recording Artists series. His stamp will join the previously announced stamps of Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Robbie Robertson and Ginette Reno.
“This is very exciting,” the Ottawa-born Cockburn said in a statement. The stamp’s design—a black and white image of him against a red background featuring titles of his hit songs—is “beautiful,” he added. Over the years, the folk-rock singer and activist has won multiple awards for his music, which includes hits such as The Coldest Night of the Year and If I Had a Rocket Launcher. His original songs have inspired covers by a wide range of artists—from Jimmy Buffett to the Barenaked Ladies.
He released his 31st album, Small Source of Comfort, in March and is currently touring the U.S. Cockburn, who is also an officer of the Order of Canada and member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, is slated to publish his memoir in April 2012.
We were happy to have the honor of designing this latest set of stamps featuring Canadian singer/songwriters (at CIRCLE, our third such series)… look for more news and image releases in the weeks to come.
Asheville, North Carolina
A few weeks ago, after he interviewed me on his site, I sent Marty Weil of the ephemera blog an envelope containing some of the philatelic collectibles from the recent Canadian Recording Artists stamps that Circle designed for Canada Post. Marty has now produced and posted a short video of his response, here.
(Thanks again for your interest, Marty).
Winnipeg, Canada
Circle’s latest Canadian Recording Artists stamps (that launched a week ago) have garnered a fair bit of early attention, and there’s been a steady stream of feedback from both near and far. Locally, I was interviewed on 3 July by Margaux Watt on the CBC radio afternoon show, and on 4 July the Winnipeg Free Press ran an article about the stamps’ design in the Business section (view a larger JPG of the article here or read the piece online here).
The Globe And Mail ran an in-depth story (online here), CTV gave the issue quite a bit of coverage as did Radio-Canada (highlighting that this is the first time that Canadians who perform in French are being lauded by Canada Post), and the stamps and related stories have appeared on numerous websites and blogs (including Bryan Adams’ website here) and philatelic collectors’ sites such as Stamp News International.
Canada Post and the featured artists all appear to be pleased. Stompin’ Tom says he’s “delighted, humbled and overwhelmed by the ‘stamp of approval;’” Édith Butler (whose great grandfather was a postmaster and who sent us photos of the stamp launch in Paquetville, NB—where her 92-year-old cousin was the first in line at the post office to buy a souvenir sheet) called the stamps “the greatest thing that ever happened to me;” a chuffed Bryan Adams responded “It is a wonderful honour to be amongst the great men and women who have graced our Canadian stamps… I am humbled by the recognition;” and Robert Charlebois stated: “I wish my parents would be alive to see this, because when I started 40 years ago, I never thought I would land on a stamp… I probably will send all my friends postcards with my own face on it, especially to my friends in Belgium and Switzerland—they’re going to faint, they won’t believe their eyes.”
Winnipeg, Canada
Yesterday evening I gave a presentation entitled Pushing the Envelope to the Winnipeg Philatelic Society—founded in 1900, it is the oldest stamp club in Western Canada. I showed developmental sketches, shared the process of designing stamps, and answered questions of the many enthusiastic participants (I’ve had the honored privilege of being involved in the design of over 20 Canadian stamps to date).
Some of the commemorative stamps we’ve designed at Circle: 1999 Pan American Games, 125th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Fishing Flies, Canadian Recording Artists.
