Atlantic Canadian art and activities for the Holidays
Just in time for the Holiday season, share the gift of art and creativity with this selection, ranging from Maud Lewis’ Christmas paintings, photography portraits of Nova Scotia, crochet designs and the craft of literature. This selection features the art of poetry, painting, cooking and more to inspire Atlantic Canadians on your list.
Christmas with Maud Lewis
Bob Brooks and Lance Woolaver
Goose Lane Editions
Share the Christmas spirit this year with Maud Lewis’ timeless winter paintings. Maud Lewis started her art career by painting Christmas cards as a young child growing up in Yarmouth and the Acadian Shore of Nova Scotia, and went on to marry fish peddler Everett Lewis in Digby, where she spent the rest of her days. Christmas with Maud Lewis features more than 30 of Maud Lewis’ paintings, including joyful winter scenes, vibrant characters and playful takes on everyday life. This charming collection brings the magic of Maud Lewis scenic paintings and Christmas together, perfect for art lovers and Nova Scotia enthusiasts on your list.
The Crochet Crowd
Michael Sellick and Daniel Zondervan
MacIntyre Purcell Publishing
Tis the season to grab your yarn and hook, and make unique Afghans, scarves, hats and cowls! Michael Sellick shares creativity and his long-term love for crocheting in this book perfect for first-time or experienced crocheters. Michael Sellick began crocheting as a young child and started sharing videos called ‘The Crochet Crowd,’ now including three million people around the world on Youtube. The Crochet Crowd includes pictures and patterns from Michael Sellick and Daniel Zondervan that emphasize texture, colour and coziness in design. This is a great gift for anyone interested in learning or looking for new ideas, to get cozy with during the cold season.
Off the Beat ‘N Path
Classified
MacIntyre Purcell Publishing
Classified, known first as Luke Boyd in Enfield, Nova Scotia, started his own production label and released his full-length LP Time’s Up, Kid in 1995. Follow Classified off beat on his journey to make it as a rap artist in Classified: Off the Beat ‘N Path. With an ear close to the ground, his story follows the ups and downs of making it to where he is now: an award-winning rapper, producer and studio engineer. This is a great gift for readers captured by both music and history, visceral lyrics and Classified.
My island’s the house I sleep in at night
Laurie Brinklow
Island Studies Press
Imagine what home means to you: and then listen to the ripples of Laurie Brinklow’s poetry in My island’s the house I sleep in at night. This is a great gift for lovers of the art of poetry and the ocean, based on interviews with artists from Newfoundland and Tasmania. What does the island mean to you? “Being an islander means that you aren’t like everyone else,” Brinklow writes. My island’s the house I sleep in at night captures the heart of belonging to more than an island, belonging to each other and sharing stories from home: a rock in the ocean.
It’s Not So Simple Now
Christopher Heide
Pottersfield Press
Christopher Heide takes us on a journey of love, travel and loss in this collection of 60 poems. “The journey, across South, North, West and finally East has not been aimless. It was always intended to bring me here, by the ocean,” Heide writes. Heide’s poetry is direct and conversational, passionate and humourous, a good book for poetry lovers who are interested in the human experience. Follow Heide from close to home in the Maritimes, Western Canada, Nunavut, the UK and Indonesia.
Lexicon 20: Puzzles to Challenge & Entertain
Theresa Williams
Nimbus Publishing
Theresa Williams’ Lexicon puzzles will keep curious minds busy, with her crossword and word-searches that became popular through the Halifax Chronicle-Herald in 1988.
The latest Lexicon includes more than 52 brand new puzzles for all ages. This will makes a wonderful gift, one to enjoy over the holiday season and long after.
The Running Trees
Amber McMillan
Goose Lane Editions
Amber McMillan explores the art of communication through a collection of comic, seamless conversations.
Jump between two siblings bickering over ‘the’ pen, a book club with drastically differing opinions and a long-haired cat, lost in pondering existence.
The Running Trees is a fabulous book for anyone interested in the funny yet serious way we communicate and create meaning together.
Atlantic Seafood
Michael Howell
Nimbus Publishing
This holiday season, share the gift of Atlantic Seafood for a creative chef-in-making or experienced cook. Atlantic Seafood by Chef Michael Howell includes more than 50 of his favourite recipes, covering a variety of 14 kinds of fish.
Michael Howell shares the art of cooking Atlantic seafood with 40 vivid colour photographs and easy tips to source local and ethical ingredients. With dishes ranging from Spicy Caribbean Crab Cakes to Tandoori Monkfish and Crispy Calamari, there is a dish for every seafood lover to explore.
The Peggy’s Cove Barrens
Kent Martin
Formac Publishing
Visit Peggy’s Cove anytime in this collection of 100 vivid photographs that shape the rocky landscape and shifting skies. Explore a thousand acres of rugged shoreline, salt marshes, small lakes and granite boulders and the iconic lighthouse. Kent Martin photographed Peggy’s Cove with the patience of portraiture, carefully documenting mosses, flowers, birds, mammals and tumbled rocks. His photographs capture the beauty of changing seasons and natural biodiversity, a perfect gift for nature and photography lovers.
Forgotten Nova Scotia
Ted Pritchard and Ingrid Bulmer
MacIntyre Purcell Publishing
Ted Pritchard and Ingrid Bulmer write their love letter to Nova Scotia with unique photographs of ‘forgotten’ buildings and landscapes. Instead of decay or rot, these photographs imply stories about the characters that came before. Explore old buildings with wonder and find the beauty of Nova Scotia, old and new, through Bulmer and Pritchard’s inquisitive lens. This is a perfect gift for artists interested in the antique, the rustic history of quiet spaces – Nova Scotia’s visual footprints.
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