Artwork and
Design
The physical dimensions of the
Salt Spring Dollar are identical to the Canadian Dollar (length, width and
thickness), and are printed on a durable, high quality paper. This allows
a banknote counting machine to be used for counting and bundling.
The currency
was designed by island artist,
Warren Langley.
His mixed media elements comprised of pen and ink, oil paints and
digitized computer art were merged together with the technical skills of
project manager and local artist/designer, Pat Walker.
Working with basic elements supplied
by IMF Directors Bob McGinn and Eric Booth, the design team has created a
complex and visually stunning currency, rivaling the artistry of money
designers worldwide. 25 separate layers, including anti-counterfeiting
techniques, combine to present bills that are, at once, complex,
nostalgic, artistic and timely.
The green ‘ones’ and the brown
‘twos’, along with historical portraits, create a feeling of nostalgia,
and conjure up the "good old days" when real money looked like real
money.
With the
addition of the $$10's, $$20's,
$$50's and $$100's we elevated Salt Spring Dollars to
state-of-the-art anti-counterfeiting technology supplied by Adlertech
International, Toronto.
Salt Spring Artists
The list of local artists who have
agreed to contribute their works to Salt Spring Dollars is growing and now
includes -
Feature Paintings -
"Beached" &
"Captains Passage"
Making an art out of making
residential and commercial cedar signs is the hallmark of Warren
Langley, whose work graces almost every road on his home island of Salt
Spring.
His distinctive hand crafted
cedar signs are everywhere; hanging throughout the island's pretty
seaside villages or posted on the winding country roads. On this piece
of paradise, a Warren Langley sign is de rigueur for the many art
galleries and artists, for businesses and private residences alike.
For two decades, Warren
Langley has hand crafted cedar signs for an increasingly international
clientele. Many clients have placed orders after visiting the Gulf
Islands and seeing Langley's work first hand or have discovered the
artist through one of the many articles written about his work.
A Warren Langley sign is
much more than lettering. An artist since childhood, Langley brings a
special genius to the creation of each sign, melding sandblasting,
carving and painting into a three-dimensional work of art.
-
Pat Walker,
Illustrator - Graphic designer for the $$1, $$2, $$5, $$10, $$20,
$$50, $$100 bills.
Painting -
"Salt Spring Island Sheep"
Jill Louise Campbell grew up in
Montreal, Quebec where she studied art prior to attending the Sorbonne
University in Paris, France. Together with her family, Jill lived for a
year in the Provence region of southern France. Much of this time was
spent wandering the French countryside sketching and immersing herself
in the engaging country of France. Upon their return to Canada in 1991
the Campbell family settled on Salt Spring Island.
While painting in her oceanfront
studio, Jill envelops herself in all that embraces her in
joy...photographs, her many journals, art books and music that fills her
spirit in joyfull wholeness. This is where the magic
begins..."watercolour is only a medium through which a rich story can
evolve. A freedom of expression happens for me that feels joyous and in
harmony with a greater force."
Painting -
"A Break
In The Fog"
Carol Haigh was born in the
Lincolnshire, England on Feb. 24, 1953. In 1995 her family immigrated to
Canada and settled on Salt Spring Island.
At age of 16 Carol left school
to sail through the Pacific Islands with her parents and sisters
on-board their 40 ft. trimaran "Tryste II". From 1970 to 1974 she lived
and worked in New Zealand, Australia and England before returning to
Salt Spring.
Carol is a self-taught painter.
During the last twenty years, she has worked with various mediums and
techniques producing paintings and silkscreen prints which can now be
found in private collections in New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain,
Japan and North America.
Carol lives with her family at
Southey Point, Salt Spring Island.
Painting -
"Feeding
The Swans"
This celebrated watercolour artist takes
great pleasure in painting the natural beauty of the West Coast of
Canada and the Pacific Northwest, and she captures every nuance of both
its power and grace in her paintings. Many of Carol Evans watercolours
portray British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest on the beautiful and
rugged pacific shores on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Her ability
to create intensity of colour in the watercolor medium and her attention
to the subtleties of light are trademarks of her increasingly popular
work.
The art of Carol Evans is expressed
through the medium of her exquisitely detailed watercolours. "When the
sun highlights a scene, often a fairly ordinary one, it catches my
attention. A common sight, even a relatively mundane setting will become
illumined and bright. It practically sings with radiance and everything
becomes extraordinarily beautiful. I always find it an uplifting moment
when that happens and it is one of my favourite subjects for painting -
not just the scene itself, but how the sunlight plays in the scene."
Since 1981 Carol has held 15 very
successful one-woman exhibitions in a variety of places; Vancouver, Salt
Spring Island, Gabriola Island and Naniamo. She was invited to
participate in a group exhibition by the Art Gallery of Greater
Victoria, "The Real West Coast" where she was honoured to have her
paintings shown along side the work of fellow west coast artists.
She is currently working on a new
collection of paintings for an upcoming exhibition project which has
caught her interest and enthusiasm.
-
"The real problems facing this planet are not
economic or technical, they are philosophical."
Painting -
"Thinking Like A Mountain"
Born in Toronto, Robert Bateman
has been a keen artist and naturalist from his early days. He has always
painted wildlife and nature, beginning with a representational style,
moving through impressionism and cubism to abstract expressionism. In
his early thirties he moved back to realism as a more suitable way to
express the particularity of the planet. It is this style that has made
him one of the foremost artists depicting the world of nature.
In the '70s and early '80s, Bateman's work began
to receive critical acclaim and to attract an enormous following. His
work is in many public and private collections and several art museums.
He was commissioned by the Governor-General of Canada to create a
painting as the wedding gift for HRH The Prince Charles from the people
of Canada. His work is also represented in the collection of HRH The
Prince Philip, the late Princess Grace of Monaco and Prince Bernhard of
the Netherlands. Bateman has had many one-man museum shows throughout
North America, including an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, D.C.; most of these shows have drawn record-breaking crowds.
His honors, awards and honorary doctorates are numerous; he was made
Officer of the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian award. He
was awarded the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of
Achievement. He has also been the subject of three films and several
video productions. Three books of his art, The Art of Robert Bateman,
The World of Robert Bateman, and Robert Bateman: An Artist in Nature,
have made publishing history. A fourth book of his art, Robert Bateman:
Natural Worlds, focuses on the importance of natural and cultural
heritage. Safari, an illustrated book for young readers, contains
firsthand accounts and interesting facts about African wildlife. The
book, Thinking Like a Mountain, details Bateman's environmental
philosophies and observations and includes pencil sketches throughout.
It is in honor of his contribution to art and
conservation that both a public school and a secondary school in Canada
have been named after him. With a degree in geography from the
University of Toronto, Bateman taught high school for 20 years,
including two years in Nigeria. He traveled around the world in a Land
Rover in 1957/58, increasing his appreciation of cultural and natural
heritage. Since leaving teaching in 1976 to paint full time, he has
traveled widely with his wife, Birgit, to many remote natural areas.
Bateman's art reflects his commitment to ecology
and preservation. Since the early '60s, he has been an active member of
naturalist clubs and other conservation organizations. This involvement
has increased in recent years and is now on a global scale. He has
become a spokesman for many environmental and preservation issues and
has used his artwork and limited edition prints in fund-raising efforts
which have provided millions of dollars for these worthy causes. He
says, "I can't conceive of anything being more varied and rich and
handsome than the planet Earth. And its crowning beauty is the natural
world. I want to soak it up, to understand it as well as I can, and to
absorb it. And then I'd like to put it together and express it in my
painting. This is the way I want to dedicate my work."
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