Celebrating a Puppy's Journey to Become a Guide Dog
The BC Guide Dogs society provides professionally trained guide dogs, autism service dogs, and PTSD service dogs for people in BC and Alberta. For their 25th Anniversary, Canadian artist Zann Hemphill was approached to create a piece celebrating the incredible dedication these dogs show, and the paths they may take as adults.
As cute as this little pup is, he’s going to grow up with an important job to do. Guide dogs are a critical piece of independence for many people because of the incredible services they provide.
Anniversary Prints
Before the anniversary event, Zann signed 250 commemorative prints of the finished piece, Transforming Lives. These Giclees were produced locally by Canvas Plus in Ladysmith, and are of beautiful archival quality. The paper is so soft it feels like cloth!
Creating the Right Image
Using photos of many different service dogs, Zann worked with BC Guide Dogs staff to find the right composition, and show the vests and harnesses that make these dogs recognizable as registered service animals. As you can see below, these four harnesses show what service each dog provides.
Once the composition was settled, Zann got to work! The finished anniversary painting is 36″ wide, and hangs in the Vancouver head office.
To place an order for prints that support the BC Guide Dogs charity, you can visit their website here:
https://bcandalbertaguidedogs.com/transforming-lives
For more information about Zann Hemphill and to order custom artwork, visit PawsByZann.com.
