I heard ‘Blow at High Dough’ and I was just blown away.”Ĭarruthers said he attended the Tragically Hip's final shows in Calgary, which he described as “amazing” and “emotional.” I heard them on one of these little sampler CDs they used to send out with all their new acts they were pushing. “The first time I heard them, I think I was 14 or 15, working at my dad’s record store. “I’ve been a fan forever,” he said of his appreciation of the Tragically Hip. in May – or artwork highlighting the heroic efforts of first responders, healthcare professionals and other frontline workers, Carruthers said art will tell a story about what it was like to be alive during this time.Ĭarruthers’ artwork tells a more personal story – one of fandom and love for a particular music group. Whether it’s murals depicting George Floyd – the black man killed by police officers in Minneapolis, Minn. “When you look at the news nationally and internationally, I think we’re seeing a bit of a shift in art and a bit of a shift in how art is telling people’s stories,” he said. He estimates the project took him 300 hours.Ĭarruthers said he picked away at the project for several years, but suddenly had an abundance of time once the COVID-19 pandemic began earlier this year.ĭuring the pandemic, he said, the role of art has changed. Starting at the top and working down, Carruthers went line by line, gluing the pennies in place. This process led to certain “swirls and bubbles” on some of the pennies that he incorporated into the design of the portrait to make it look more realistic. “Newer pennies don’t have as much copper in them, so those ones didn’t work very well.” “I started soaking these pennies in this liver of sulphur, and it’s quite a process – the water has to be boiling hot for it to work correctly,” he said. After trying vinegar, dish soap and chlorine bleach, he arrived on a chemical used by jewelers called liver of sulphur. Instead, he experimented to find a way to achieve the shades he needed. "The older ones are darker and don’t reflect.”Ĭarruthers said this method didn’t meet his desired vision. “At first the plan was, let’s just do this with all the natural colours of the pennies – obviously, newer pennies are quite a bit shinier, more reflective," he said. Instead, he was inspired to pay tribute to Downie after the Tragically Hip announced the frontman had been diagnosed with brain cancer and the band would embark on a final tour. “We decided if we ever move, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy it or take it with us.”Ĭarruthers used more than 1,000 Canadian pennies to depict Gord Downie. “I was originally going to do a penny floor in the basement,” he said. Seeing people at his workplace rolling pennies from donation boxes for the Alberta Children’s Hospital, he offered to buy the coins. I took out all the American pennies I thought it was kind of important to do.”Īccording to Carruthers, the project began in 2017. “The pennies as well are all Canadian pennies. “I kind of wanted to finish it with that extra piece of Canadiana,” he said. “It’s just been really incredible, the amount of feedback and positivity this has generated.”Ĭarruthers' portrait of the late Tragically Hip singer Carruthers is approximately eight feet tall and five feet wide, and is composed of nearly 11,400 pennies glued to a sheet of plywood and barn boards Carruthers purchased from Springbank. “I’ve gotten comments from people as far away as Australia, from people in Buffalo and Maine and all across Canada,” said Luke Carruthers, 45. An Airdrie artist’s portrait of Canadian singer Gord Downie started out as a labour of fandom but has drawn attention from across the country and around the world.
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