Portfolio

I was approached by the fine people at the Aboriginal Children’s Mental Health Project to develop characters and a storyline that would engage Urban Aboriginal children and their families. Working with award winning illustrator Rocco Baviera, we created the two super-heroes that would come to the assistance of children who were dealing with mental health concerns. Using their superpowers Miksô and Wesakechak would rush to their aid.

To promote the Aboriginal Children’s Mental Health Project, we created a directory, tags, a colouring book and a powerpoint presentation. These items were used to promote the program to front line workers, health care providers and those in the medical professions through workshops.

After the success of the Roger’s House Telethon, I was asked to breath new life into their next campaign – The Walk, Roll & Run Campaign for Roger’s House. Once again I donated my time and expertise in assisting these wonderful organizations with the layout and design of this year’s campaign. The campaign included direct mailers, letterhead, banners and newspaper advertisements and outdoor signage.  The Walk, Roll & Run Campaign raised $183, 654 this year!

The Ottawa Senators Foundation
The mission of the Sens Foundation is to leverage and provide both financial and in-kind support to registered charitable organizations whose programs focus on improving the quality of life for children and youth in eastern Ontario and western Quebec.

Roger’s House
The hockey world and countless others lost a beloved coach, friend and mentor in 2003 as Ottawa Senators assistant coach Roger Neilson passed away after a long-term battle with cancer. To honour Roger, and his lifetime commitment of helping others, the Sens Foundation, the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) forged a partnership to establish Roger’s House, Ontario’s first paediatric respite and palliative care home dedicated to enhancing the comfort and quality of life of children and families in a time of need.

I was approached by the fine people at Furnished.PRO. They were in the final development phase of their reservations system for property owners. Their current look was put together ad-hoc during development and they felt their user interface looked inconsistent. The general consensus was that the public facing pages and overall company image needed a more polished and business-like appearance, giving visitors a stronger identity with which to associate the words Furnished.PRO.

Our first task to was to develop a strong identity for the company which would be the foundation for the branding of the website. Once that was established work began on the user interface and client side dashboard pages. Overall, the new interface gives them a professional image and lends creditability to the new start-up.

I was honored to have been asked to design the Spring/Summer promo for Concrete Indians 2010. Concrete Indians is a portraiture series and exploration of Indigenous collective identity in the Urban setting. I was approached by Nadya Kwandibens who is a very talented photographer from Toronto. Nadya Kwandibens is of Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) / French heritage from the Northwest Angle #37 First Nation in Ontario, Canada. She is a self-taught, dynamic photographer specializing in artistic natural light portraiture, fashion, promotional sessions, and event photography. Nadya is the owner/operator of Red Works Studio. Please check out her vast portfolio on her website.

Artist Statement

We, as Indigenous people, are often portrayed in history books as Nations once great; in museums as Nations frozen stoic; in the media as Nations forever troubled. These images can be despairing; however, my goal seeks to steer the positive course. If our history is a shadow, let this moment serve as light. We are musicians, lawyers, doctors, mothers and sons. We are activists, scholars, dreamers, fathers and daughters. Let us claim ourselves now and see that we are, and will always be great, thriving, balanced civilizations capable of carrying ourselves into that bright new day.

I was honored to have donated my time and expertise in assisting these wonderful organizations with the layout and design of this year’s campaign. The campaign included direct mailers, letterhead, banners and newspaper advertisements. The Roger’s House Telethon raised $606,183 this year for the Pediatric Respite and Palliative Care Centre.

The Ottawa Senators Foundation
The mission of the Sens Foundation is to leverage and provide both financial and in-kind support to registered charitable organizations whose programs focus on improving the quality of life for children and youth in eastern Ontario and western Quebec.

Roger’s House
The hockey world and countless others lost a beloved coach, friend and mentor in 2003 as Ottawa Senators assistant coach Roger Neilson passed away after a long-term battle with cancer. To honour Roger, and his lifetime commitment of helping others, the Sens Foundation, the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) forged a partnership to establish Roger’s House, Ontario’s first paediatric respite and palliative care home dedicated to enhancing the comfort and quality of life of children and families in a time of need.

Having worked with the fine people at Mount Hamilton Baptist Church on several design initiatives in the past, I was approached this time to re-vamp their online presence. MHBC wanted to be able to manage their content, so I had developed their site using off the shelf CMS software. The new website allows them greater flexibility than their old site. It now includes new features like an events calendar, the ability to add media (audio & video) and it also allows them to podcast all of their sermons. The congregation loves this feature because now they don’t miss any sermons and/or can listen to the sermon again just in case they missed key points.

[mhr] studios helped a local small business owner launch their own fitness consulting company called “First Nations Fitness.” First Nations Fitness empowers Aboriginal people be able to take control of their health through the exchange of knowledge. I enjoy helping small business compete on the same visual level as a multi-national brand and improving the health of their bottom line.

NAV CANADA, the country’s civil air navigation services provider, is a private sector, non-share capital corporation financed through publicly traded debt. With operations coast to coast, NAV CANADA provides air traffic control, flight information, weather briefings, aeronautical information services, airport advisory services and electronic aids to navigation.

This work was completed while at Hangar 13 Art & Design. It involved meticulous handling of typography, as well as photography from locations across Canada.

As the largest independent Canadian air transport consulting firm, LPS-AVIA Consulting has “earned it’s wings” on more than 200 of the most challenging and rewarding projects across North America, Europe and Asia including 75 in northern Circumpolar Regions. Since 1991, the Ottawa, Canada-based firm has been providing innovative, pragmatic (and successful) counsel to aviation organizations, airports of all sizes, air carriers, government agencies, air safety, navigation and security authorities.

LPS-AVIA provides a thoroughly creative and holistic approach to solving aviation-specific problems, an approach that always takes into account the inter-dependencies and multiple influences at play in every assignment the firm undertakes. Moreover, LPS-AVIA’s independent advice is always delivered honestly, directly and to the highest standards of professionalism and integrity.

For this diverse customer,  a new corporate brand was developed which included a corporate identity package, brochures, trade show displays and a website.

This work was completed while at Hangar 13 Art & Design.

Niwasa provides early intervention programs and services for the health and well being of Urban Aboriginal (Status & Non-Status Indian, Métis & Inuit) preschool children in the Hamilton area. Their mission is to foster the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical growth of each child, which will contribute to life long learning and transition to elementary school. Niwasa wanted to update their web presence with a new look. They wanted a site that they could easily manage and update themselves. I had decided that using the WordPress platform would be the quickest and most economical way for them to have a website. I had their new site up and running in about 24 hours. Complete with full customization. Website: www.niwasaheadstart.com