“Placemaking” and Public Art in Saskatoon
I had never heard the term “placemaking” used to describe street art until I signed up for a downtown mural tour on a recent visit to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. My guide on the tour was Pam Staples, a graphic designer, illustrator and theatre set painter who has worked in the arts and culture development sector for many years both in Saskatoon and elsewhere around the country. Pam introduced me to the concept of placemaking while we were discovering some of the murals and creative installations in the downtown core.
“There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills!”: Visiting the Yukon in September
Like veins of the precious ore that brought miners and wannabe millionaires here in 1897, trails of gold begin to creep up the foothills of the Yukon’s mountain ranges starting in late August. Autumn in the Yukon is one of the most beautiful times to visit this northern Canadian Territory and by mid-September, when Henk and I had timed our visit, we had hit the motherlode of peak colour. Everywhere we travelled, aspens, poplar and birch trees lit up the landscape with their shades of yellow and gold, standing out in sharp contrast to their dark spruce neighbours and creating a variegated landscape of colour and texture everywhere we looked. But there’s more than just leaf-peeping waiting for visitors who venture ‘North of 60’ after most of the tourists have left. Here are some of the best things to do in the Yukon in September.
Bridgerton, Jane Austen, Harry Potter and More: “Starring Great Britain”
With all of its history, architecture and seemingly frozen-in-time villages, it’s easy to see why so many big and small screen productions are shot in England. From Jane Austen classics to Harry Potter and Thor, here are some of the film locations in the UK that we visited (sometimes by accident), and what to see in each of them.