Folllowing into the foot steps of other Canadian artist such as Alex Colville and Bill Reid, Gary Taxali's is now expressing himself in a new medium through a collaboration with the Royal Canadian Mint.
The Indian-born, Toronto-raised visual artist has created a limited-edition series of celebratory coins for the Mint covering six themes: birthday, wedding, tooth fairy, new baby, O Canada and holiday. The series launches today, January 23. Taxali designed both the images and the font featured on the coins.
Aren't they beautiful! I simply love his whimsical style! I'll be going to the Mint shortly, that's for certain.
There has already been interest in the series from abroad, revealing that fans have been emailing him to inquire about the release of the coins. Because each one bear his engraved initials, they are like miniature Taxali artworks, and are affordable to purchase!
Taxali has exhibited his artwork across North America and Europe. Still, he was thrilled to design the coin series. Taxali said he felt honoured to be selected and felt encouraged that the Crown corporation was now including graphic artists in its creative mix.
I am proud that the Canadian Mint or Canada Post continue to do in terms of reflecting our heritage by highlighting wonderful graphic artists and fine artists and designers that just do phenomenal work in this country. It is like owning a miniature piece of art that reflects great people in our country.
Check out Gary's blog for more details on the process. Sounds like a great project to be part off.
