From Echo Bay, Ontario
Robert-Ralph Carmichael was an artist who designed the image of the common loon on the reverse side of the Canadian one-dollar coin.
Born in 1937 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Lived near Echo Bay, Ontario
Died in 2016 in Sault Ste. Marie
The one-dollar coin takes its name, loonie, from the image of the bird on the reverse. The artwork depicts a loon swimming in a lake, with coniferous trees visible on a point of land on the horizon.
Carmichael’s initials, RRC, are visible directly under the loon’s beak, between the ripples on the surface of the water.
Since June 30, 1987, when Carmichael’s loonie design went into circulation, it has been reproduced more than a billion times.
The artist’s work has been exhibited across Canada at the National Gallery in Ottawa, the Beaverbrook Gallery in Fredericton, the Glenbow Institute in Calgary and the Tom Tomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound. It is also found in private and corporate collections. 
