John Mahnic and Family

John Mahnic grew up in Regina, and was the middle sibling in a family of six boys. He and his brothers lived hockey - they were an instant street hockey team, and would often play eight or nine hours a day when they weren’t in school.

Alongside his boyhood fascination with hockey, John was a budding artist. If he wasn’t playing he was drawing, and sports themes dominated his paintings. At age 14, he painted a portrait of Bobby Clarke entitled ‘Captain Clarke’. He decided to submit his work to the prestigious Art Saskatchewan Exhibition - a province-wide juried show held in Regina.

His painting was selected for exhibition and he received an invitation to the opening gala. John rode his bicycle to the event, only to be turned away at the door. They refused to believe he was an artist with a painting on exhibit.

Despite the hurdles the young artist faced, John was determined. He became an art teacher, working in Saskatchewan and Inuvik N.W.T. A subsequent three year teaching job in Europe allowed John to see and study the Renaissance art that became such an influence for him. In fact, it was during one of his visits to the Sistine Chapel in 1991 that he had his hockey/high art epiphany. The Sistine Chapel was newly restored and Michelangelo’s frescoes were an overwhelming experience for John.

Inspired, John immediately began to create his “Sistine Hockey” painting, entitled ‘The Canadian Game’. The painting is full of meticulous details, culled from images he researched at the Hockey Hall of Fame archives. Featuring 160 players, the 9.5-ft. x 3.5-ft. mural details the history and grassroots of hockey, starting with the Ottawa Silver Seven and building through the decades.  
After 10 years, and a total of 4,000 hours of work, ‘The Canadian Game’ is finished. But for John, completing this painting is just the beginning. John hopes to take a leave of absence from his teaching job so he can begin work on the grand-scale version of ‘The Canadian Game’, which will be 18 feet high x 52 feet in length.  

It's that time of year again. The leaves are falling and the spirit of Christmas is fast upon us. That's why we decided to extend our promotion of Free shipping and handling on all orders within Canada and the United States until January 2008.

If that wasn't already enough, we're also going to include a Free Family Print Package of twenty 8x10 signed art prints with every order of any two or more prints on the site. Just our way of helping you spread the Christmas Spirit this year. To see a sample of what is included, click here