2, ENTERTAINMENT, THE HERALD, Wed. Aug. 11, 1976

By Victor Hayes

In the last column, con-
temporary coin design from

1937 to the present was

discussed. In this edition of
Canadian Coin World, we
will look at the people
responsible for the two
major series of Canadian
commemorative coins since
that date — the Centennial
year coin issue of 1967 and
the Olympic coin issue of
1973-76.

In 1967, Canada
_ celebrated its one hundredth
birthday. One of the means
of celebration was a com-

plete revamp of the reversal -

images of the Canadian coin

issue of that year. It was felt -

that such an issue would
bring the significance of the
event into the hands and
minds of Canadians and that

the special beauty of a.

particular coin issue would

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serve as a reminder of the
year long after it had gone
past.
Submissions for the
Centennial issue were. in-
vited. in 1964. Many
Canadian artists exhibited
designs for the govern-
ment’s consideration. The
Minister of Finance, the
Hon. Mitchell Sharp, an-
nounced.in April, 1966, that
the winner of the com-
petition was .Toronto-born
artist Alex Colville.
Colville was born in On-
tario but grew up in
Amherts, Nova Scotia.
Perhaps it was in the
Maritimes that he grew to

love and understand the.

wonders of the natural
world: For most of his ar-
tistic career, he has painted
simple natural subjects:
dogs, wildlife, farm land-

‘scapes and portraits in-

appropriate settings.
His artistic style has been

‘high realism’. His paintings
are extraordinarily life-like,
at first glance. almost
‘photographic in — their
realism and at second
glance, by far transcending
photographic images of the

, Ht
therefore that he chose

same subjects.
is not surprising

images of Canadian wildlife
for his coin designs. He said
at the time of submission
that he felt that the national
flavor of the images would
avoid regional associations
thereby keeping the spirit: of

~ the Centennial celebrations.

He also felt that the
developmental role of the
animal. in the history of
Canada was applicable to
the Centennial, They would
portray a century and not
merely a time and a place
that was specific in the
history of the nation.

The images he chose were
a Canada goose, a wolf, a
wildeat, a mackerel (the
creatures of the sea were
not forgotten), a rabbit, and
in the hopes of peace in our
. time, a dove.

The images were struck
on the 1967 Canada coin

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called ‘magic realism’ or

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issue and at the time, there
was talk of continuing the
use of the designs after the
Centennial year. This’ did

not develop.

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The Olympic coin issue

-was intended to carry
images of Olympic
historical and modern

significance with particular
accent on the development
of Olympic sports in Canada
and the role that Canada
was to play in the Games.
- This intent was to be
expressed in each of . the
seven series of coins in a
different manner, but with
each of the series designed
to carry reversal images
that would, as a group,
portray that sentiment.
The coins were intended to
be fine works of art at the
same time. Consequently,
artists were invited to
submit designs along the
predetermined themes of
each issue bearing the
historical aspects of the
Canadian games in mind for
the appropriate issues, the
geographic significance for

the appropriate issues, and
so on down the list of all
seven series.

The first issue was
executed by the graphic
designers of COJO, the
organizing committee of the
games. The resultant issue
carried the geography
theme familiar to us.

The winner of the com--
petition for the second series -
was a graphic designer at
the Nova Scotia. College of
Art and Design, Anthony
Mann. His message was the .
mythological background
associated with the games.

Series three designs, early

Canadian sports, was
awarded to another
Canadian ‘high realist’, Ken
Danby. oe

- The fourth series was
done by Leo Yerxa, a
Canadian artist born on the
Ojibway Reserve in
Couchiching, Ontario. His
design illustrates the Track
and Field sports of the ©
Olympics. ;

The Olympic Water Sport —
theme for series five was

. awarded to a Canadian’

student, Lynda Cooper from
the University of Western

7 Ontario. 0

The designs for series six,
Team and Body Contact

"Sports was: awarded to a

Tokyo
Fukuda. a ;

The final series‘ of
Olympic coins, the game.
souvenir designs were

artist, Shigeo. |

’ awarded to a Toronto

designing firm. They are the
work of Elliot Morrison, the:

-.. president of the firm
: ‘Stewart and Morrison.

USE FIRE
CAREFULLY