2025 Uncoloured Canada $2 Celebrating the Life and Art of Daphne Odjig Brilliant Uncirculated (MS63)

025 Uncoloured Canada $2 Celebrating the Life and Art of Daphne Odjig Brilliant Uncirculated (MS63)

Art as a force for change: Daphne Odjig.

Daphne Odjig (1919-2016) was not only one of the most celebrated artists active in Canada in the 20th century, but a pathbreaking advocate for Indigenous art and culture. Her immense portfolio includes everything from minimalist fine-line sketches to massive paintings blazed with bold colour.

The recipient of some of Canada’s highest honours, and the first First Nations woman artist to be represented on a Canadian circulation coin, Daphne Odjig is honoured on all 25 coins contained in this Special Wrap Roll. Enhanced with colour, each $2 coin’s reverse pays tribute to her legacy as a creative force for change.

Celebrate the artist and cultural activist who reshaped perceptions.

In addition to being celebrated for her decades-spanning portfolio, Daphne Odjig was a founding member of the Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. (PNIAI)—a collective that redefined the place of Indigenous art in the art world – and established one of the first Indigenous-owned art galleries in Canada.

Layers of meaning
On the reverse, the outer ring includes Odjig’s drawing of a fisher, as it appears above her signature on her 1978 masterpiece The Indian in Transition, where it serves as a visual representation of her surname (the anglicized version of “Odjig” is “Fisher”)

The reverse design is based on the artwork Folk Singer by acclaimed First Nations artist Daphne Odjig (1919-2016). Enhanced with selective colour on the colourized coin, the centre features a cropped view of the female figure holding a drum, while the outer rim bears an engraved reproduction of the artist’s drawing of a fisher (the anglicized version of “Odjig” is “Fisher”), as it appears above Odjig’s signature on her 1978 masterpiece The Indian in Transition, which hangs in the Canadian Museum of History. The obverse features the effigy of His Majesty King Charles III by Canadian artist Steven Rosati.

Specifications:
Composition: Outer Ring: Three-ply nickel-plated steel; Inner Core: Three-ply brass-plated aluminum bronze 
Mintage: 10,000
Weight: 6.99 g
Diameter: 28 mm 
Finish: Circulation
Edge: Interrupted serrations
Face Value: $2
Artists: Daphne Odjig (reverse), Steven Rosati