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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
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