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JOHN COBURN Celebrates places and people through his pen and ink drawings CREATIVE ARTS, 1978 ARTIST On a Georgian field trip to The Big Apple, New York City became John Coburn's muse. "It was a serious connection to my heart and soul," he recalls. In the three decades since, John has authored four books about the city, but none more famous than Healing Hearts, a tribute in drawings to the families who lost loved ones in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. When the terrorist attacks took place on that Tuesday morning, John couldn't stand to watch the news coverage on TV anymore and made his way from Toronto to Ground Zero. Over the course of eight months and several trips to Manhattan, he completed 42 drawings. Ground Zero chaplain Thomas Taylor saw them and suggested they could help with healing. With each drawing, John asked his subjects if they had one thing to share that might help someone get out of bed the next morning. Their quotes are incorporated onto the pages. John's work shows how art can heal and provide social commentary. "It feels good to take what's inside and let it out," he says. Almost 3,000 copies of Healing Hearts were printed and distributed to the families of 9/11 victims. In 2006, John's Toronto studio caught fire. The only work to survive the blaze was a folio of 27 9/11 drawings, found in the smouldering ashes, burned around the edges but still intact. A 9/11 family member later told John, "It was like the drawings were so soaked in emotion they couldn't burn." In 2016, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of 9/11, the Consulate General of Canada in New York, announced the donation of John's Healing Hearts collection to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. John has done more than 50 exhibitions and commissions. Some of his other notable works include: designing the Canada 150 cup for Canadian coffee retailer Second Cup; a Macy's TV commercial; a limited- edition print commissioned by the National Hockey League; and silkscreen prints for a Robbie Williams concert tour. 2017 PREMIER'S AWARD NOMINEE CREATIVE ARTS AND DESIGN CATEGORY 32 GEORGIANVIEW 2017 PREMIER'S AWARD NOMINEES