A New Brunswick man, who has been taking people back to the past with numerous posters of locations across Canada in a style reminiscent of the 1930s and ’40s, is taking his art to the wider market.
Eric Goggin, of Salisbury, N.B., started “My NB Poster Prints” after his wife bought him a calendar featuring vintage CP Rail designs for his studio wall and eventually it prompted him to try something new as an artist.
“Every month, I was staring at this new piece of vintage art and I thought, we run up every weekend to the lake here in Washademoak Lake on the St. John River and I thought, ‘I’m going to do some artwork pertaining to that cottage country,” he said.
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“I know that if I can create art that would touch their heart, they would buy it.”
Goggin put a price of $50 and had some pieces printed. After creating a Facebook page, he got requests from across Canada, 12 states in the U.S. as well as China, Africa and Australia.
A couple of months ago, Bernie Michaud of Imprimerie Incolor Printing in Moncton got in touch with Goggin with the idea to produce his posters across multiple mediums to “take this to the moon.”
Goggin’s art starts with an idea of a location, he then researches for accuracy, makes sketches, scans them into his computer and digitally renders the art.
That artwork is now making its way wider through a partnership between Michaud and Goggin, including a name change, better printing press, and brand new website.
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“Just vibrant, clean fun art that people will love for cottage and home decor and many sizes, many different types of media,” Goggin said.
Along with a bigger company, Goggin also has changed the name of his business to Destination Art by Eric Goggin Est. 1972 — referencing when he was first established.
When he was doing it on his own, he tried to do one-on-one connections but he saw it was time-consuming and now, through the Facebook page, there will be a “Buy Now” button that will link people to the soon-to-be launched website, streamlining the process.
But he said he still appreciated the personal interactions.
“The good thing is everybody wanted to say how that piece of artwork touched them and why they decided to buy it … I had exchange teachers from Australia that came in one evening, three ladies, and bought the entire set to bring home,” he said.
Goggin selects various locations to do artwork based on what can sell well. He said he gets many suggestions, but they “have to think of sales” in terms of locations that are popular like St. Andrews, N.B. and Halifax, as well as one that depicts the Acadian lifestyle in Atlantic Canada. He said he also determines what to depict based on things that will appeal to people and be recognizable of that location, without bridging on copyright.
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While many have depicted locations in New Brunswick, in part due to being from there, he said the plan is to keep developing his portfolio.
Posters will be available for purchase in various materials including laminated poster print, plaque mounted posters and Baltic birch prints. The starting cost is $50 for a laminated poster print that’s 18” by 24” but can increase based on the size and style of print.
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