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.
Toronto, Canada
I gave my presentation at FITC Toronto 2011, the 10th-anniversary gig, earlier today… exploring “why” we do what we do, and “to what end.” My talk included a personal existential narrative (tracing back to the 16th-century Holy Roman Empire) wrapped in a “big-picture exposition” on the power of design to shape culture and influence our tomorrows. Thanks to Shawn Pucknell for bringing me back to FITC on this special occasion (my 8th time giving a talk at FITC I believe).
Thanks also to those in attendance for the positive comments and feedback following the session. As promised, anyone who was registered for this FITC event can contact me and I’ll send you a link to download a PDF version of the presentation.
Winnipeg, Canada
Much as I’m not big on formal events, I am looking forward to the gala black-tie dinner tonight at the Hotel Fort Garry on Broadway (which I’ll attend with Evelin and some colleagues from CIRCLE). This evening’s special honoree is our well-liked former provincial Premier, now Canada’s Ambassador to the USA in Washington, Gary Doer. This event is the 28th annual for the Concordia Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to preserving the high quality of health and wellness services provided by Concordia (Concordia Hospital, Concordia Place, Concordia Hip & Knee Institute, Concordia Wellness Projects and Concordia Village).
CIRCLE is a sponsor of the gala event, and we also designed the related graphics and collateral materials. We recently launched a new website for the Concordia Foundation, here.
Ottawa, Canada
The Gibson font family is a humanist sans serif typeface designed by our colleague, the eminent Canadian type designer Rod McDonald. It honours John Gibson FGDC, Rod’s long-time friend and one of the original founders of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC).
As well as paying tribute to John Gibson’s productive life and love of the typographic arts, the Gibson family is intended to be a mainstay of the future of Canadian design education. The 8-font family is available at token pricing (only $48 for all eight weights!) to make it especially affordable for design students. For less than the price of a design textbook, a student can now have a sturdy and contemporary humanist sans serif family that fits pretty much any design application, and will remain useful long after academic studies and well into a professional career in design.
All the revenues from the sale of Gibson are being donated to the GDC, where they will be allocated to a variety of programs aiming to improve the creative arts and elevate design education in Canada. Read more about this special typeface launch here.
Each of the eight Gibson fonts comes with 370 characters and features extended Latin-based language support. The Gibson family ships in cross-platform OpenType format. Test or buy Gibson online here.
Winnipeg, Manitoba
If you’re a climber in or near these parts, mark the evening of 18 April (two weeks from today) to take in a talk by, slide show (yup, the old-fashioned kind) with, and a film about climbing legend Fred Beckey, sponsored by the Manitoba Section of the Alpine Club of Canada. Known variously as “the original dirt-bag climber,” “old man of the mountains,” “the climbing bum’s climbing bum” and a variety of other colourful monikers, Fred Beckey boasts an impressive resume of alpine first ascents second to few—and at the age of 87 (not a typo) he’s still climbing!
The Fred Beckey gig will take place at the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre at 340 Provencher Boulevard in Winnipeg (more details still to come). In the meantime, read more about Fred Beckey here; watch a 5-minute film piece that The New York Times featured two years ago here.
Image: a Patagonia climbing poster featuring Fred from a few years back.
Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba
I’m the chuffed new owner of the one-of-a-kind Paddlelele built by master luthier Fred Casey (of C.F. Casey Guitars). This tenor ‘ukulele began as a child’s canoe paddle… by dent of imagination and practiced skill it evolved into Fred’s entry into the Lake, the WAVE/WINNBAC art show currently on exhibit at the New Iceland Heritage Museum in Gimli, Manitoba (I was attending the show with Ev, who’s entry was entitled On the surface all seemed normal…, and the Paddlelele called to me the moment I saw it on exhibit).
Lake Winnipeg (the world’s 11th-largest freshwater body) looms large for anyone living in these parts. Commenting on Paddlelele, Fred says: “To me, the lake means canoeing: slipping along in a sheltered cove or quiet backwater. Canoes and ‘ukuleles just seem to go together: a couple under a full moon, he paddling slowly as she serenades him with her ‘uke.”
Paddlelele, front, back, and side views. The original paddle is white poplar, back and sides are black walnut, as is the fingerboard. The tuning pegs are hand-carved black walnut, salvaged from one of Fred’s early dulcimers.
(even as they recede…)
When traveling across glaciers, it’s obviously best to avoid crevassed areas if at all possible. While skis lessen the possibility of punching through the snow layer in winter (a ski distributes your body weight more broadly than a boot), negotiating snow-bridges and moving safely above the snow- or firn-line* where underlying crevasses can lurk can be harrowing as well.
Photos (from the top): crossing The President Glacier, BC (photo by friend David Cormie); the sphincter-tightening process of negotiating melting snow bridges; belaying my partner Peter Aitchison as he jumps icy streams atop the firn (the water disappeared into bottomless sink-holes here and there with a terrifyingly-deep flushing sound); happily roped-up with colleagues on a Bugaboos ascent; crossing a tricky bit of steep glare-ice using French technique (pied à plat) for good crampon purchase, trying not to think about the long run-out below.
* the firn-line is the highest level to which the fresh snow on a glacier’s surface retreats during the melting season, or the line separating the accumulation area from the ablation area
Gimli, Manitoba
This is an invitation for anyone in the Manitoba Interlake region to attend the vernisage of ‘the Lake’ art show at the New Iceland Heritage Museum in Gimli tomorrow (19:00-21:00 Friday, 25 March 2011). This exhibit (open until 6 May) is a precursor to the 10th WAVE Artists Studio Tour.
Image: my girlfriend Evelin Richter’s piece in the show, a ceramic sculpture entitled “On the surface, all seemed normal…”.
Winnipeg, Canada
Two months ago I announced the online launch of The Canadian Gallery, a collection of exquisite outdoor and nature photographs by long-time friend and client, Mike Grandmaison. (The Canadian Gallery offers images of our great land specifically selected for their appeal to collectors—as fine art pieces, for corporate decor, and for use as corporate gifts).
The Canadian Gallery’s physical exhibit space opens with a vernisage this evening (19 March) at Photo Central, 2nd Floor, 499 Notre Dame Avenue in Winnipeg… and I’ll have the honour of introducing Mike. Check out some of the imagery on display here.
Above: a few select images from The Canadian Gallery. All ©2011 Mike Grandmaison.
