Eric Goggin’s Inviting Travel Posters of Atlantic Canada and Beyond

September 7, 2018 By Brett in Art, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island Tags: Atlantic Canada, Canada, Design, Illustration, Inspiration, Posters, Travel, Vintage 53 Comments

Travel posters at their best showcase memorable places in distinctive ways as well as the talent of remarkable artists. A case in point is the beautiful series of travel posters by Salisbury, New Brunswick-based graphics designer Eric Goggin. The stylized design, bright colors and buoyant fonts are all fun. Many of Goggin’s posters have a pleasing vintage feel to them and focus on locations throughout Atlantic Canada.

While well-known cities and areas, such as Gros Morne, St. Andrews By the Sea, Cape Breton and the Bay of Fundy, are featured, Goggin also directs some of his artistry to lesser-known but still picturesque locales, including Cape Forchu, N.S., Shediac, N.B., and Cavendish, P.E.I. Of course, because they are travel posters they fulfill their principal purpose by inviting curiosity and wonder about the places depicted and make the viewer itch to get on the road to see these sites.

You can see more of Goggin’s terrific poster designs on his DestinationArt website here.

Eric Goggin, Shediac

(Images Credit: Eric Goggin)

Similar posts on O’Canada:

¤ Cameron Stevens’ Vintage-Style Canada Parks Posters

¤ Magnificent Travel Art of the Canadian Pacific Railway

¤ Retro Winter Recreation and Travel Ads

Cameron Stevens’ Vintage-Style Canada Parks Posters

May 1, 2018 By Brett in Art, History, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec Tags: Canada, Graphics Design, Illustration, Inspiration, Outdoors, Parks, Posters, Vintage 71 Comments

Cameron Stevens is a hugely talented graphics designer working in Ontario. Several years ago he embarked on a project to design vintage screen-printed-style posters for a number of Canada’s national and provincial parks. A few years later he’s now up to 58 gorgeous posters, each of which is characterized by a spare, consistent layout and muted pastel tints as evidenced by the sampling shown here. Whether intentional or not, most also include a body of water, which is certainly reflective of the vast number of lakes, rivers and sea coasts throughout the country.

On his official Canada’s Parks poster art site, Stevens notes that he was inspired by the artwork produced by the U.S. Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s and 1940s to promote America’s National Parks. His Canada Parks posters clearly harken back to that earlier era, as well as the time when the Canadian Pacific Railway blanketed the country with its highly stylized travel posters. These contemporary posters with a vintage feel are beautiful to behold while bringing well-deserved attention to many of Canada’s spectacular outdoor treasures across its provinces and territories. Stevens sells these as posters and prints, which can be accessed through the above official poster site and his graphics site.

(Images credit: Cameron Stevens)

Similar Posts on O’Canada:

~ Retro Winter Recreation and Travel Ads

~ Magnificent Travel Art of the Canadian Pacific Railway

~ Let’s Visit Ontario

~ Go By Air With TCA

The Daring Canadian Pulps: Oh, My!

March 3, 2018 By Brett in Art, Books / Literature, History, Society Tags: Canada, Canadian, Crime, Graphics, Illustration, Magazines, Pulp Fiction, Vintage 55 Comments

Spurred on by a wartime ban on the importation of non-essential foreign goods, including the lurid magazines from below the 49th parallel commonly referred to as “pulps”, the Canadian pulp magazine industry flourished during World War II and the decade after. Like all good pulp publications, the featured stories often blurred the lines between fiction and reality and routinely served up tales that were risque, grisly, shocking and as often true as not. Avid readers ate up this stuff!

Adding to its diverse holdings, Library and Archives Canada acquired in the late 1990s a core collection of pulp magazines dating back to the golden post-War era of such publications. These cover images are from the Archives’s fascinating “Tales From the Vault” exhibition. Of these covers, I think my favorite might be the fairly simple red-and-black layout above that promises dirt on a Vancouver cult and Winnipeg’s pock-marked Frankenstein. I’ll bite!

Vintage Cover Art: The Goblin

September 6, 2017 By Brett in Art, History, Media, Ontario, Quebec, Society Tags: Canada, Cover Art, Illustration, Inspiration, Magazines, Toronto, Vintage 38 Comments

Prior to the great stock market crash at the end of the decade and the ensuing economic chaos, the prevalent mood of the 1920s in many places was upbeat and carefree. Magazine covers from the era typify this, including these fabulous illustrations from Canada’s Goblin, a monthly humor magazine. Launched in 1921, it was in print for about ten years during which time its highly stylized, and at times witty, covers helped it to become Canada’s then most widely circulated magazine.

(Image Source: University of Toronto Archives)

Eric Bergman: Master Wood Engraver

February 22, 2016 By Brett in Art, History, Manitoba Tags: Art, Canada, Eric Bergman, Illustration, Inspiration, Manitoba, Vintage, Wood Engraving 17 Comments

H. Eric Bergman, "White Morning" (1932)

H. Eric Bergman, “White Morning” (1932)

The intricate artistry of wood engravings amazes me and Canada has its fair share of accomplished artists in this medium. Chief among them is H. Eric Bergman, who emigrated from Germany in 1913 and made Winnipeg, Manitoba his home throughout a highly productive career until his passing in 1958. Images from the Canadian wilderness figure prominently in many of his very stylized and moody works.

H. Eric Bergman, “The Cascade” (1931)

H. Eric Bergman, “Moving Ice” (1934)

H. Eric Bergman, “Spirits of Past Wood” (1932)

H. Eric Bergman, “Steaming Up” (1935)

H. Eric Bergman, “Glacier Water” (1931)

H. Eric Bergman, “Whirling Water” (1939)

Similar posts on O’Canada:

• Lisa Brawn’s Vibrant Woodcuts

• Laurence Hyde’s Southern Cross

Lisa Brawn’s Vibrant Woodcuts

May 17, 2015 By Brett in Alberta, Art Tags: Alberta, Animals, Art, Calgary, Canada, Illustration, Inspiration, Woodcuts 31 Comments

Lisa Brawn, “Bluebird”

Lisa Brawn is a Calgary-based artist who painstakingly creates exquisitely vibrant woodcuts. Her subject matter ranges from wild animals to celebrities to pop culture icons. Shown here are some of her amazing images of wild birds, each with an abstract background carving that nicely complements the main subject. Brawn’s annual “Wild Bird Woodcuts” wall calendar is gorgeous and is a hot collector’s item, having quickly sold out its 2014 and 2015 print runs. More of her fabulous art can be seen at her website here.

Lisa Brawn, “Blue Jay”

Lisa Brawn, “Vermillion Flycatcher”

Lisa Brawn, “Puffin”

Lisa Brawn, “Gray Jay”

Lisa Brawn, “Geese”

Image Credits: Lisa Brawn

Cheeky Humor of Vintage Canadian Tire Catalogues

June 20, 2014 By Brett in Art, Business, History, Humor, Society Tags: Art, Canada, Canadian Tire, Graphics, History, Illustration, Old Advertisements, Vintage 39 Comments

Wherever you go in Canada, you’re probably not far from a Canadian Tire location, a retailer that carries auto parts, sporting goods, hardware and some appliances, clothing and all manner of other goods. Canadian Tire is so popular it even has its own pseudo-currency — Canadian Tire Dollars — that are both usable and collectible. Many of the retailer’s older advertisements featured humorous bits — some slightly suggestive — as illustrated by these Spring and Summer catalogs across the years. (I’ll post later some others from Fall and Winter editions of the C.T. catalogs.)