Two stars and a Maple Leaf - now THAT's Canadian
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| Don Stuart and Anne Murray,
both superstars in their own right, now connected through Anne's
love of Don's maple leaf pin. Anne has adopted the pin and pendant
as official insignia of her 40th anniversary tour. |
Anne Murray performed in Kelowna Tuesday night,Victoria
Wednesday night. She will do 27 live shows between April 15 and May
23 when she graces Toronto with the final curtain.
For 40 years, Anne Murray has lived her talented life, given the world's
music industry absolutely stellar moments, received with great grace
at least 76 national or international awards, moved back and forth between
soft rock, country, and pop music genres. She's received more Juno awards
than any living Canadian.
And she has remained Canadian, a down-home girl from Springhill, N.S.
This Companion of the Order of Canada embarked on what has been dubbed
her 'farewell tour' and wanted to do it celebrating not only four decades
in the music business, but also firmly anchoring herself in her Canadian
roots.
When her personal assistant, Darlene Sawyer, gave her a delicate, silver
maple leaf pin for Christmas a couple of years ago, Anne was taken with
its detail, with its gold stem, with its uniqueness. She moved it from
jacket to jacket and thoroughly enjoyed this gift.
And so, on the cusp of plans for this tour (there's been an even more
gruelling American tour before this one) Anne decided that the artist
of her maple leaf pin should be commissioned to mark this tour with
a pin and pendant that would identify with Canada's diva.
Don Stuart, goldsmith, silversmith, designer, was called on by the owner
of the Toronto jewelry store Metallurge, which carries his work. Don
Stuart, Barrie's famous son, is himself a member of the Order of Canada.
While Anne's vocal cords have nestled their way into our hearts, Don
Stuart's fabulous, insightful designs have done the same thing.
While Anne has been polishing Junos and Grammys and RPM awards, Don
has been humbly receiving DeBeers Diamond Design awards, Platinum and
Gold Counsel awards, Canadian jewelry design accolades.
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When Anne Murray decided the Canadian public
should be able to buy replicas
of her jewellery to support charity, Don complied, producing 500
maple leaf
pins and 250 pendants. You can order through annemurray.com
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Don designed a pendant, silver maple leaf with 14-karat gold stem looping
around its chain and a companion pin for our cross-border superstar.
He was honoured to have been asked. No stranger to commission work,
Don has been creating wedding rings, commemorative jewelry, liturgical
works of art.
"It's wonderful that someone so recognized as Anne Murray would
select my work. Everything has been approved by her ... it really is
for her," commented Don.
The commission grew when Anne decided to offer replicas of the pin and
pendant for sale in support of her charity, the Anne Murray Centre in
Springhill. This jewelry can be purchased through her website to support
her charity. Then David Asper of Canwest climbed on board and is offering
the pins and pendants for his Raise-a-Reader literacy project. Don Stuart
has now produced 500 of the pins and 250 pendants.
It made sense that these two artists, each famous in their own right,
should meet. It was at Anne's first Toronto show in April. "We
met backstage; it was very pleasant. As she approached, I said 'nice
pin!' and we laughed."
Don enjoyed how comfortable and down-to-earth the atmosphere is around
Anne. No swooning backstage; these were her friends.
There's a saying about fame ... the higher up you are, the more ordinary
you get.
Could be true. When the owner of Metallurge, Carol Slavic, was having
the jewelry appraised, the appraiser, a member of the American society
of Appraisers, looked at Don Stuart's work, assessing not only the jewelry
but also the reputation of the artist. "How come I've never heard
of this guy?" he asked. He was amazed at Don's international reputation.
It's enough to keep you humble.
From artist to artist. Pin to pendant. Canadian to maple leaf.
http://www.annemurraycentre.com
Thanks, Anne. Thanks, Don.
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