Rick Hansen Foundation 25th Anniversary Award
A couple of weeks ago I got an email from the Rick Hansen Foundation requesting a piece to use as a base to display a medal. And what a medal it is! Without size reference it’s not easy to see that it’s about 3″ in diameter and about 1/4″ thick. The medal is solid sterling silver and was minted by the Canadian Mint in Winnipeg. The medal commemorates the 25th anniversary of Rick’s world tour starting in 1985. Smaller versions were given to participants of the cross Canada relay held this last summer. This larger version was given to donors who donated over a certain amount. What that amount was, I have no idea. This particular medal was to be given to a couple who were significant donors to the Foundation. Normally they are presented in a beetle pine box but they wanted something a little extra for this donation.
They happened across my blog gallery and found a couple of pieces suitable for their purposes. Two pieces caught their attention: “Contrast” and “Harmony”. Both had four flat sides which provided space for text. After some deliberation and looking at a couple of other design ideas that I proposed, they settled on this design, which is very similar to “Contrast”.
I chose fiddle back maple to compliment their ribbon theme on the medal. Although I turned a thin bead outside the bowl form to emphasize the bowl, I felt it also represented his ’85 world tour.The laser engraving was done by Permel Engraving in Burnaby. I must say they did wonderful work and I enjoyed working with them.
Arlene and I delivered it today and they were very pleased. I have to say that I was very honoured to be chosen for this commission and very excited to have the opportunity to be a part of this presentation.
