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Getting creative with print.
To celebrate SJC’s 65th anniversary, we launched a campaign asking our clients, staff and readers for one word that describes how print is meaningful to them today. We received dozens of submissions. To help bring some of them to life, we asked our staff to submit a creative representation of one of the words, using the artistic form of their choice, whether that was painting, graphic design or photography.
SJC Artist: Lisa De Nikolits, Assistant Art Director, HELLO! Canada
Format: photography
“This is a precious t-shirt that I have only worn once in my life – it has all kinds of magazines on it, some of which I have been lucky enough to work for – Vogue and Marie Claire. And I love this recent special issue of Princess Diana so much – I have always been a big fan of hers – to me, there is something eternally mysterious and beautiful about her and I loved the issue that HELLO! put out. (I didn’t actually work on it ) To me, it shows exactly why print is beloved to me – because it can document the past so beautifully.”
SJC Artist: Andrew Heindl, Project Manager, SJC Content
Format: hand-drawn and completed on iPad using Procreate
“I love to draw and have always had a unique style. I grew up as a traditional artist using mostly a pencil but I discovered the Apple pencil and iPad a few years ago and cannot stop…I actually published a children’s book last year about my boxer dog called Murphy’s Butt Goes Bananas and have already started working on a follow-up. Check out my Instagram account at @ruffdraft1985 and my personal website/portfolio at www.heindl.ca for a more detailed look inside my brain!”
SJC Artist: Michael Finley, Senior Project Manager, PMO & Business Operations, SJC Media
Format: freehand drawing, acrylic paint and collage
“This is a hobby I got into over the pandemic. I found the word comfort more difficult to portray than I had initially thought, so I went with “Print is comfort in a digital world.” I tried to include social media logos. I turn to magazines and books when life gets overwhelming. Living in this digital world leaves us bombarded with constant notifications, people reaching into our lives all the time. Unplugging, and shifting focus brings me a sense of comfort. It’s a comfortable space where you can reconnect with yourself, or not, but it’s time alone that is enriching and enjoyable. Also, leaving the gadgets behind occasionally is also important for our mental health – or mine anyways!”
SJC Artist: Rebecca Suen, Packaging Intern, SJC Content
Format: Adobe Illustrator
“I was inspired by all the fun educational books I would read as a kid!”
SJC Artist: Kathryn Boyd, Account Director, SJC Content
Format: 4″ x 6″, Acrylic on Wood
“Oh wee mushroom, I think I’ve found my ground. My darling forest, I think I’ve found my home.”
A bit about me: A Toronto native, Kathryn’s artwork combines elements of earth and sky with emotions of sweetness, mischievousness and sadness. Her creative process is meditative and often used as her own vehicle for healing and expression.
Kathryn’s inspiration comes from what surrounds her every day. Despite her higher education in Fine Arts, Kathryn prefers to describe herself as self-taught as she feels true artistic expression comes from inside and not from technique alone. Find her on Instagram.
SJC Artist: Ann Ross, Directrice de production éditoriale | Editorial production manager, Châtelaine
Format: paper, recycled magazines, string and shadows, 28″x22″
“It’s such a personal process that even my husband is sometimes taken aback!”
SJC Artist: Tonia Scarangella, Senior Account Executive, SJC Print
Format: Photography
“A moment in time is always captured and never forgotten. A family photo, a historical event, a joyous occasion, a bible passage, a passport, a concert ticket, a favourite book or a handwritten card leave a lasting impression in our heart and mind.”
SJC Artist: Stephen Caissie, Production Coordinator, SJC Content
Format: Photography
“My original idea was to anthropomorphize a magazine – do an overhead shot of someone walking down a sun-dappled street with a human-sized magazine beside them, some of its pages curled around their shoulder as if they were taking a walk and having a conversation; but the prop stylists in the studio weren’t sure how well they could rig up the magazine and the weather was going to be iffy and I wasn’t sure if I could find a proper location and get a model out there at exactly the right time of day, so I went back to the well and decided to simplify the idea. I knew it had to visually communicate a sort of cause/effect scenario but just showing the start and end states (reading the magazine/holding up the protest sign) might have read as an either/or dichotomy. So I went back to a technique that I had used to photograph a dancer (where I rapidly fired a strobe as they were moving across a dark space) to show a fluid progression from one state (reading) to the other (protesting) with enough intermediate steps to make it clear that one action led to the other. I intentionally left the sign blank to let the viewer fill that information in and make it a bit more universal.
If there had been time, I would have done three or more sequences, each starting with someone reading a magazine, and ending with a different action.
As for the production part, I set up my lights and tripod after work on the 29th, then got some scrap wood from the workshop and a small piece of foam core to make the sign. At lunch on the 30th I dragged Kelvin in, shoved a magazine in his hand and took a half-dozen or so photos, carefully posing him to create the sequence. Then it was just a matter of blending the shots in Photoshop to create a sort of digital multiple exposure.”
SJC Artist: Judy Kirwin, Media Service Coordinator, PMO & Business Operations, SJC Media
Format: Free-hand drawing
SJC Artist: Flora Scarangella, HR Manager, SJC Print
Format: Computer-drawn
“Relaxing in my garden, ensconced in a newspaper, magazine or book and enjoying mother nature, reminds me that ‘Life is good.’”
SJC Artist: Amanda Theyers, Page Assembly Artist, SJC Content
Format: Photography, Photoshop, Digital Art
For me, storytelling is a large part of our lives; we connect with others through stories, our conversations are made up of stories and we know what is happening all around the world through storytelling. Print captures these stories in a moment of time and it is shared like ripples in a pond or echoes of sound, spreading to others with warmth and energy. It can inform, drive change, create interest and bring people together. I wanted to capture this energy, show how it encompasses us and spreads among us; how it becomes part of us. I showed an open magazine in the centre of this to depict the source of this power and used bright and friendly colours to depict the positive energy.
SJC Artist: Lina Palladino, Receptionist, SJC Print
“My dogs had 5 puppies and thought to use them for the campaign. From the print of a child’s book to the very print on our tombstones, print is ‘TIMELESS.'”
SJC Artist: Kareem Abdu, Digital Asset Management, SJC Content
“When I got the theme “print is universal,” I decided the look and feel should be Space and the element should look like it was drawn and from there I improvised.”
