Vancouver Island artist designs loonie commemorating aeronautical trailblazer and champion of women's rights
CTV
An illustrator from Vancouver Island has designed the artwork on the Royal Canadian Mint’s new commemorative circulation coin, marking a career highlight.
An illustrator from Vancouver Island has designed the artwork on the Royal Canadian Mint’s new commemorative circulation coin, marking a career highlight.
The 2023 loonie celebrates aeronautical trailblazer and champion of women’s rights Elsie MacGill.
“She just sounded like a really fascinating person, especially during that time,” says artist Claire Watson.
The now Victoria-based artist was contacted by the mint about a year ago. She’s previously designed commemorative coins for the corporation, but never on a scale like this. She says she was asked if she’d like to submit a design for the loonie, and she was ultimately chosen for the project soon after that.
“I’m actually looking forward to one day somebody handing me one to pay for something and I’ll be like, ’Hey guess what,’” Watson smiles.
The artwork she designed and the limited edition coin itself was unveiled in Calgary Monday – honouring MacGill’s contributions to Canadian history.
“She’s a person we don’t talk about nearly enough,” said aviation fan David Dunsmore. “She was breaking barriers in so many different ways.”
