On Guard for Thee…
A closer look
Jennifer Robitaille
Trilyth — On Guard for Thee
They stood on guard for us. Trilyth looks beyond the collective language of duty, courage and sacrifice, asking us not to glorify war, but to remember lives interrupted, futures surrendered and losses carried long after service ends — the human cost borne by those who stood on guard for us.
Susan Jephcott
In Distress
A clarion call to recognize shared perils: when division overwhelms our responsibility for one another, no nation, community or family remains whole. When our neighbours struggle, will we recognize their peril as ours — and stand on guard for one another?
Brenda Sutton Mader
Broken Warrior
Formidable yet breakable, Broken Warrior reminds us that those who stand between others and harm are themselves vulnerable — that courage does not leave them unscathed.
What do we choose to stand on guard for?
Susan Jephcott
Fallen Sparrows
War destroys more than lives. It dismantles the moral order through which each life is recognized as precious, reducing the individual to one body among many. Fallen Sparrows asks us to look again: at young men treated as quarry — and recognize, in every fallen figure, a life that mattered.
Sawsan Shorbajee
Vortex of Change
In times of upheaval, as destruction and renewal collide, we may feel ourselves swept into a vortex of change beyond our control. Vortex of Change reminds us that kindness, courage and compassion can be counterforces — quieter, perhaps, but no less consequential — and asks whether hope itself may be worth guarding.
Alan Forster
The Sound of Silence
Histories suppressed, experiences disregarded and injustices unanswered. The Sound of Silence asks whether standing on guard requires more than witnessing — whether it demands that we listen, speak and act.
Eliska Smiley
Cycles of Hunting and Hunted, Turtle Island
We may no longer see ourselves as hunters, yet our appetites — as individuals, societies and nations — can overwhelm other lives, communities and ecosystems. Eliska refuses to resolve this tension, asking whether standing on guard begins by recognizing our power and accepting the responsibilities it carries.
What we choose to protect reveals what we hope to become.
Heather Wright
Never 51
Defiance through humour — and the patient handwork of domestic life — gives Never 51 its striking immediacy. Familiar national symbols become a declaration of belonging: Canada is not territory to be acquired or renumbered by someone else, but a home whose identity is lived, valued and protected.
Suzette Power Kelly
Sacred Messenger
Snow Geese remind us that hardship yields, in time, to abundance. In Sacred Messenger, Suzette elevates these hardy northern birds through luxuriant colour and pattern, giving them an almost mythic presence. Moving collectively along ancient migratory routes, they connect landscapes, peoples and generations — reminding us that our natural inheritance also carries a responsibility to stand on guard.
Eliska Smiley
Cross Roads
Cross Roads presents identity as an ongoing process of choice: how we care for the land, relate to one another, reconcile our histories and imagine our future. Like each of us, Canada continually arrives at new crossroads where we can choose possibility over conflict.
Explore the On Guard for Thee… collection
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Echoes of the Past
Vendor:Carole RenaudRegular price $295.00 CADRegular price -
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I need ammunition, not a ride
Vendor:Olga HarhajRegular price $900.00 CADRegular price
Beyond the exhibition
Photography
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Woodland Wonder
Vendor:Eliska SmileyRegular price $300.00 CADRegular price -
White-throated Sparrow
Vendor:Albert RoyRegular price $50.00 CADRegular price -
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Vendor:Albert RoyRegular price $50.00 CADRegular price -
Barred Owl
Vendor:Albert RoyRegular price $50.00 CADRegular price
My Canada collection
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Sucrerie de la Montagne — Rigaud — Quebec
Vendor:Merle Halpenny-RoyRegular price $180.00 CADRegular price -
View from the Bridge
Vendor:Merle Halpenny-RoyRegular price $250.00 CADRegular price -
Majestic Iceberg
Vendor:Merle Halpenny-RoyRegular price $200.00 CADRegular price -
Full Summer Across the Field
Vendor:Robin PattersonRegular price $225.00 CADRegular price
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