COMMISSIONED CANADIAN ART PRINT PORTFOLIO CELEBRATING
PARKS CANADA
In 1985, the Historic Sites Association commissioned twelve of Canada’s outstanding landscape print-makers, one from each province and territory, to create original prints in a variety of mediums: silkscreen, etching, lithograph, serigraph, and woodblock. Each artist chose a subject reflecting a national park or historic site in the artistic medium they felt best suited the image.
These twelve prints became a limited edition of 100 portfolios, whose common element celebrates Canadians’ affection for our wilderness, cultural, and historic heritage. 1985 marked Parks Canada’s centenary, and the portfolio became the legacy project that commemorated this event.
The Canadian Art Print Portfolio was launched in October 1985 at a ceremony at Rideau Hall. The first portfolio was presented to the Governor General of Canada, Madame Jeanne Sauvé.
The collection of prints is as richly varied as the artists that produced them. It ranges from abstracts to high realism and traditional Dorset style, the brooding Norse spirit of the Blackwood, and the luminous surrealism of the Eyre.
The portfolios were sold by the Historic Sites Association. The profits were placed in a trust fund to support the Signal Hill Tattoo, a living history program at Signal Hill National Historic Site of Canada.
COMMISSIONED “NEWFOUNDLAND: A PLACE CALLED HOME”
COLLECTION
The Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador celebrated the 500th Anniversary of Cabot’s arrival at Cape Bonavista by purchasing a collection of 30 unique clay sculptures by Joan Parsons Woods.
Woods, a Newfoundland-born artist, created these colourful vignettes as a way to show her children and grandchildren aspects of life in Newfoundland. Each sculpture is approximately 1 foot to 2-feet square in size, and depicts memories from her family’s experiences.
Sea captains, mummers, the old grocery store, the Garden Party at Government House, blueberry picking and family boil-ups are all depicted.
The collection, called Newfoundland - A Place Called Home; Special Memories of Joan Parsons Woods, has travelled across the province.
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
Held in 2000, the Viking Millennium International Symposium attracted over 300 historians, archaeologists, and enthusiasts from around the world. The conference started in St. John’s, moved to L’Anse aux Meadows, over to the Labrador Straits, and ended in Corner Brook. Selections from the papers presented were later published in Vinland Revisited: The Norse World at the Turn of the First Millennium.
MEETING OF TWO WORLDS SCULPTURE
The dramatic art piece, the “Meeting of Two Worlds”, is a sculpture that was developed in two separate pieces as a means of interpreting the historical significance of L’Anse aux Meadows. The two pieces, which symbolically correspond to the geographic points of departure and landing of the Vikings, come together to form an archway over the walking trail that takes visitors to the archaeological site, where they can see for themselves the place the Vikings first set foot. This meeting of the two pieces represents the meeting of two very different worlds and two very different cultures, that of the Europeans and of the Indigenous North American cultures whom they encountered.
Created by Luben Boykov and Richard Brixel, their idea for this beautiful sculpture came from the preparations being undertaken by Newfoundland and Labrador in 2000 as the province prepared to celebrate the millennial anniversary of the Vikings arrival. Through the sponsorship support generated by the forming of a sculpture committee, the Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador contributed $45,000 to the execution of this sculpture. Additional support for this project came from Parks Canada and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Anthony Insurance, Aliant, Persona Communications, Historica, Voisey’s Bay, and Imperial Oil.
CELEBRATING BARTLETT
In 2009, the Historic Sites Association, in partnership with many organizations, hosted Celebrating Bartlett to commemorate the life of the remarkable explorer and Newfoundlander, Captain Robert Bartlett. Marking Bartlett’s role in Admiral Robert Peary’s famous “dash to the North” in 1909, the celebrations included shows, lectures, exhibits, and more, and it travelled across Newfoundland and Labrador.
HEART’S CONTENT CABLE CONFERENCE
The Heart's Content Cable Conference was held in September 2016 as part of the extended celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the successful landing of the transatlantic telegraph cable. The two-day conference explored the legacy of the cable and its impact on world communications and on the community of Heart's Content. The conference featured guest speakers from Canada and the United States, a theatrical reenactment of the cable landing, and numerous folk and social activities.