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During a freakish coldsnap in the winter of 2018, temperatures outside plunged to -46C. Co-founders Michael J. Bainbridge and Brigitte Gall said ‘holy mother of all things holy, but that’s cold!’, and then they started a puzzle company. Well, first they told their friends who were visiting for the holidays not to leave that night or they might die. Then, they watched their friends walk around and around their kitchen table doing a puzzle. And then they started a puzzle company.
Going through the photos amassed by Michael in his decade long career as an award-winning mineral photographer, they set about to create original jigsaw puzzles and nerd gear. The duo’s two young daughters and Michael’s mom were not spared, and by that spring the whole family was pulling the sled. Their guiding philosophy is to question everything while being mindful of our interaction with the planet and each other. Also, never let friends drive home when it’s -46C.
$29.99
The perfect family activity for when you are stuck inside over winter, family game night or for rainy days at the cottage.
‘namaxsala is inspired by a story told to the artist, Mary Anne Barkhouse, by her grandfather Fred Cook. In the story, her grandfather helps a wolf cross a treacherous piece of water in a boat, on the West coast of Canada. “My grandfather’s stories always offered an alternative view for considering the world around me,” the artist remembers. “And so, I relate one of them here, to help negotiate cooperation with the ‘other’ and inclusion of the wild.”
The photograph, taken by Michael J. Bainbridge captures Barkhouse’s installation, locked in a perpetual gaze with Parliament. In the image, we also see the flags on Parliament Hill at half mast in recognition of the unmarked graves across the country of residential school children that never came home.
This deceptively simple image evokes a shared fate and highlights our need for critical introspection as a country.
‘namaxala is a Kwakwala word meaning ‘to travel in a boat together’. The sculpture of 'namaxsala can be seen and admired in person at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec.
Mary Anne Barkhouse is an Indigenous artist belonging to the ‘Namgis band of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation of British Columbia. She currently resides in the Haliburton Highlands of Ontario.
Reproduced in vivid wide-gamut colour, and mounted on genuine Eska board.
Piece Count: 504 unique shapes (if 500 is good, 504 is better!)
Finished Size: 42.0 x 59.4 cm (16.5 x 23.4")
Made by TheOccurrence in Merrickville, ON
$29.99
The perfect family activity for when you are stuck inside over winter, family game night or for rainy days at the cottage.
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish. Lesser known fact, between 333 and 322 BC, Aristotle provided the earliest taxonomic classification of fish, describing 117 species. Luckily for us, Emily S. Damstra is a living Ontario artist and illustrator whose work explores many facets of nature as well as ichthyology. This collage includes some of her Great Lakes watershed fish illustrations, many of which appear in the book "Guide to Great Lakes Fishes" by Gerald R. Smith.
Emily Damstra is a Canadian artist who lives and paints in Guelph, Ontario. Emily finds satisfaction in observing, celebrating, and sharing the details of nature through drawing and painting. Emily's work can be found in many other publications and on coins in Canada and in the USA.
Reproduced in vivid wide-gamut colour, and mounted on genuine Eska board.
Piece Count: 504 unique shapes (if 500 is good, 504 is better!)
Finished Size: 42.0 x 59.4 cm (16.5 x 23.4")
Made by TheOccurrence in Merrickville, ON
$32.99
The perfect family activity for when you are stuck inside over winter, family game night or for rainy days at the cottage.
The Hangdog Channel is nestled in the world’s largest chain of freshwater islands. Rock faces scraped bare from the wind, twisted white pine, and the wide, wild water of the 30,000 islands are woven into the Canadian identity. The rugged beauty of the Canadian Shield requests the observer to be still, and listen to the heavenly chorus of nature.
Wendy Wood is a Canadian landscape artist who lives and paints in the Haliburton Highlands of Ontario. When she’s not painting, she weaves, makes maple syrup and likes to do puzzles.
Reproduced in vivid wide-gamut colour, and mounted on genuine Eska board.
Piece Count: 1008 unique shapes (if 1000 is good, 1008 is better!)
Finished Size: 68.6 x 48.3 cm (27" x 19")
Made by TheOccurrence in Merrickville, ON
$32.99
The perfect family activity for when you are stuck inside over winter, family game night or for rainy days at the cottage.
For as long as there have been road-trips, kids have been doing their part by proudly announcing passing road signs to the adult behind the wheel. These lowly sentinels hold vital information that is faithfully proclaimed from the catbird seat in order to avoid catastrophe as the road unfurls ahead. Local Traffic Only! Windy? Don’t Light! Brake for Snakes! Join us on this road-trip through the Maple Syrup Capital of Ontario. Sweet Corn Ahead! Welcome to Lanark County.
Stunning photographs and design by Micheal Bainbridge, reproduced in vivid wide-gamut colour, and mounted on genuine Eska board.
Piece Count: 1008 unique shapes (if 1000 is good, 1008 is better!)
Finished Size: 68.6 x 48.3 cm (27" x 19")
$32.99
The perfect family activity for when you are stuck inside over winter, family game night or for rainy days at the cottage.
Artist Lori Meeboer brings classic cottage country scenery to life with this colourful, nostalgic puzzle!
Piece Count: 1008 unique shapes (if 1000 is good, 1008 is better!)
Finished Size: 68.6 x 48.3 cm (27" x 19")
Made by TheOccurrence in Merrickville, ON
$29.99
The perfect family activity for when you are stuck inside over winter, family game night or for rainy days at the cottage.
Kurt Swinghammer is a Toronto based artist and musician. His modern take on an iconic subject, The Red Canoe, is an ongoing series of large-scale acrylic paintings that explore receding colour relationships within a repeated composition. He has created animations for Buffy Sainte-Marie and Bruce Cockburn, illustrated a children’s book of Stompin Tom Connor’s songs, composed music for The Nature Of Things, and art directed the Let Your Back Bone Slide video by Maestro Fresh Wes. He has released a dozen albums of his own music and his work is represented in the Permanent Collection of The Canada Council Art Bank.
Piece Count: 504 unique shapes (if 500 is good, 504 is better!)
Finished Size: 42.0 x 59.4 cm (16.5 x 23.4")
Made by TheOccurrence in Merrickville, ON
$32.99
The perfect family activity for when you are stuck inside over winter, family game night or for rainy days at the cottage.
Multi-media artist, Alice Hinther is known internationally for her extra sassy greeting cards (Canada, USA, Europe, Australia).
Her work is infused with artistry, the quiet parts said out loud, and unfettered joy.
If you’ve ever imagined falling into a painting where everything is just right, or wished that life could be filled with simple pleasures - the ‘Town of Perth, Ontario’ by Alice Hinther is the magic carpet ride you need to take! (please don’t drink and fly).
Stunning photographs and design by Micheal Bainbridge, reproduced in vivid wide-gamut colour, and mounted on genuine Eska board.
Piece Count: 1008 unique shapes (if 1000 is good, 1008 is better!)
Finished Size: 68.6 x 48.3 cm (27" x 19")
Made by TheOccurrence in Merrickville, ON
$32.99
The perfect family activity for when you are stuck inside over winter, family game night or for rainy days at the cottage.
Multi-media artist, Alice Hinther is known internationally for her extra sassy greeting cards (Canada, USA, Europe, Australia).
Her work is infused with artistry, the quiet parts said out loud, and unfettered joy.
If you’ve ever imagined falling into a painting where everything is just right, or wished that life could be filled with simple pleasures - the ‘Town of Westport, Ontario’ by Alice Hinther is the magic carpet ride you need to take! (please don’t drink and fly).
Stunning photographs and design by Micheal Bainbridge, reproduced in vivid wide-gamut colour, and mounted on genuine Eska board.
Piece Count: 1008 unique shapes (if 1000 is good, 1008 is better!)
Finished Size: 68.6 x 48.3 cm (27" x 19")
Made by TheOccurrence in Merrickville, ON
