When I was very little, I remember my mum bringing home a borrowed projector and a bunch of NFB animation reels for us to watch together, projected on our living room wall. When I was older and studying Illustration & Design, our class had the privilege of being taught a few classes by the talented Ishu Patel. He even took us on a tour of the NFB's offices and we were able to see some animation projects in progress - it was so motivating. I remember being so excited to visit a space where such inspiring work had been dreamed up.
I have friends who work at the NFB, my talented husband has worked on a few of their productions and we live in Hudson, the town that the inimitable Norman McLaren called home. Whether you remember The Hockey Sweater or The Big Snit (a personal favourite), every Canadian has a special connection to the NFB. So when they asked me to illustrate a timeline to help celebrate their 75th anniversary, I couldn't have been more thrilled!
The best part about working on this timeline was becoming totally absorbed by the NFB website - watching movies and discovering even more about the people and work that are such a special part of our heritage. To see the entire timeline and to find out more, please check out their blog post - and if you haven't already, I invite you to spend some time exploring the NFB site - it's a whole lot of fun. Happy anniversary, NFB!!
