Purolator has teamed up with emerging Canadian artists to help spread a little holiday cheer this year.
The shipping company has selected 13 artists from across the country – one from each province and territory – to design a unique and festive shipping box that will be made available at Purolator shipping centres and Michaels craft stores for anyone looking to send a little extra cheer along with their gifts to their friends and families this holiday season.
With the country boasting a population of more than 37 million people, choosing one artist from each province and territory in Canada could have proved to be quite daunting, but Patrick Hunter, a Two Spirit Ojibwe artist, said he thinks the online community he has already amassed helped to secure him the spot as Ontario’s representative.
“I have a pretty nice following of people on Instagram, and I think that’s how they reached out when they were trying to find diverse artists to be a part of this project,” Hunter explained.
“It was a quick turnaround to get the project off the ground, I think we started in November or the end of October, but with really cool emails like that, ‘Purolator wants to work with you on such-and-such,’ it’s a pretty quick response. I think it took me all of ten seconds to say ‘yes, I’m in.’”
While he is currently working out of Toronto, Hunter is originally from Red Lake. His art in the Woodland style takes inspiration from his hometown and the work of famed Woodland artist Norval Morrisseau, and he brought the same sensibilities he brings to his painting to the art he was inspired to create for Purolator’s box, along with his own wishes for the holiday season.
“It’s all digital artwork, so you have to know how to use some graphic design-y programs,” Hunter explained.
“We were given a template to work within the edges and back and top sides. Why I chose the imagery I chose, which is Ojibwe florals, is because it’s a holiday season, it’s one of my favourite gifts to give, and one of the best gifts First Nations folks give their friends are beaded moccasins or gloves, so my hope for these boxes is when someone gets a box that they have that feeling of ‘oh my god, beautiful box’ but then ‘what’s inside?’”
Being chosen by Purolator to be the representative for Ontario also carries added heft for Hunter. Knowing the boxes have the potential to wind up almost anywhere in the world, Hunter said that it was like a personal responsibility to answer Purolator’s call for his art.
“I’m a First Nations gay man from Red Lake, Ontario,” he explained.
“When things like this come along you have an obligation to the people that are coming behind you to try and illuminate the path. So my goal with this is to show other First Nations kids and gay artists can have opportunities like this too and not be afraid of them. As well, to bring some visibility. I don’t think First Nations culture is always put in the forefront in a mainstream way and Purolator has done a good job of asking not just me but other diverse people in Canada to come up with box designs.”
Laurie Weston is the director of retail for Purolator who was on the team searching for artists to take part in the campaign. She noted that part of trying to find emerging artists to design a box was ensuring they were a good fit for both where they came from and the peoples and cultures they represented.
“What’s really interesting about this is we actually went grassroots and we scoured social media,” Weston explained.
“We went through social media and we narrowed it down to the ones that we felt their artwork represented not only the province but their culture. I think with Patrick, we were so incredibly lucky he wanted to do this with us because I think his floral motif and his indigenous background and what it represents for Ontario is pretty special. So it resonated with us. So that’s why we picked him.”
In a year when the shipping company expects far more packages to be delivered over the holiday season – Weston said their busy season began in August this year, when it usually starts to pick up in November – the drive to showcase original Canadian art on special holiday boxes was to help spread that sense of community and Christmas spirit that might otherwise be hard to come by in 2020.
“People are not able to travel, and what’s happened with us is the increase in shopping online, but people are coming in and shipping packages to loved ones,” Weston explained.
“They’re not able to travel and see their loved ones this holiday season so we really wanted to share some of the Christmas spirit from a Canadian lens. Purolator does support small businesses and entrepreneurs, but this is a different evolution of that. We just really wanted to showcase these new artists.”
As part of Purolator’s partnership with Michaels craft stores, the companies are also holding a Design-A-Box Sweepstakes. Members of the public are encouraged to visit the Michaels website in order to download a box template they can then design, photograph and submit for the chance to win a $1,000 Michaels gift card and free shipping with Purolator for a year.
Hunter has been doing his work professionally for the past six years, and in the near future he’s also looking at moving out of Toronto to be a little bit closer to home, and begin producing more items in his line of houseware products. He noted the opportunity to be a part of Purolator’s holiday campaign helped to confirm in his mind that pursuing the career path he did was a good choice and hopefully help to spread awareness of Indigenous artists even further abroad.
“It makes me feel like I’m on the right path and I did choose a good career in graphic design,” he said.
“To have [the art] put on these boxes in such a public way, it means a lot and I’m so thrilled just to be a part of the project, but then to have this kind of message of like ‘hey, we’re Indigenous people, we haven’t gone anywhere, we’re still here’ I think it’s great to illuminate the path for people to ask questions.”
For more information on Purolator’s holiday boxes visit their website and to take part in the Design-A-Box sweepstakes, visit the Michael’s website.
For more information on Patrick Hunter and his artwork, visit his website at patrickhunter.ca or follow him on Instagram @patrickhunter_art
