Cameron Stevens’ Vintage-Style Canada Parks Posters

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.

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(Images credit: Cameron Stevens)

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~ Retro Winter Recreation and Travel Ads

~ Magnificent Travel Art of the Canadian Pacific Railway

~ Let’s Visit Ontario

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Go Fish!

During the week after Christmas Toronto’s temperature plummeted to a 57-year record low.  Brrrrr!  Bundled up tightly against such crazy wintery weather, the day was slightly brightened by coming across this group of colorful sculptures of fishing bobbins.  Situated in Canoe Landing Park in the CityPlace neighborhood, these cheerful works were created by noted Vancouver artist Douglas Coupland.  Elsewhere in the park there is an oversized sculpture of a red canoe (also by Coupland), in which park-goers can sit and look out across Gardiner Expressway toward nearby Lake Ontario.  Clever and fun subject for sculptures and another great example of the vibrant public art that can be found throughout metro Toronto.

 

Saint John’s Transcendent Old Loyalist Burial Grounds

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Weathered Tombstone, Old Loyalist Burial Grounds, Saint John, N.B.

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Cemeteries are places of transcendent reverence, contemplation and connectedness.  I’m particularly moved by final resting grounds that are situated in locations that cause them to be part of a people’s day-to-day lives.  One of the best and most visually gorgeous of these is the very old Loyalist Burial Grounds in Saint John, New Brunswick, which, like Halifax’s Old Burying Ground, is in the heart of the city’s downtown core.  These pictures from a recent trip on a brisk November morning makes clear that the majestic tombstones dating to as early as 1783 are very much a part of the urban environment built up around them.  With its winding walkways, inviting benches and vast shade trees, the Loyalist Burial Grounds is as much a frequented park space as it is a place for memory and serves as a peaceful oasis amidst the surrounding hustle and bustle.

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