Toller cranston Foundation
“We All Float Away One Day” – oil on canvas
Be Bold
Fill the Canvas
Toller lived every day of his life by these rules:
- Always give the best you can.
- Strive to make a life that is memorable, that has impact.
- Watch for the signs.
- Accept the struggle.
- Embrace failure as your friend.
- Speak out. Stand up.
- Live without inhibitions.
- Discover where you fit.
- Chase your destiny. There are many ways to get there.
- Be bold.
- Fill the canvas.
Toller’s legacy is growing through initiatives that celebrate, honour, and memorialize him. The Toller Cranston Foundation is committed to supporting and empowering young athletes, young artists, and young people everywhere to live with courage and creativity, and to chase their destiny.
The Foundation has partnered with business and non-profit organizations in Canada and in Mexico to deliver programs and projects in Toller’s name.
SPEND A VIRTUAL EVENING WITH TOLLER
Speeches & Presentations
Learn more about this important Canadian. He is a legend.
The stories are colourful, eccentric, poignant, and sometimes hysterically funny. The messages about commitment, and authenticity are powerful. The values of hard work courage, and creativity are overarching. The motivation and focus is prominent. The colours, the fantasy, the destiny are fascinating.
No one knows Toller or tells the story better. Click here to book an in-person or remote presentation with Phillippa.
BOOKS IN THE TOLLER, ARTIST SERIES
Phillippa acknowledges that she could never have written these books if her brother were still alive. He would have demanded an utterly impossible work ethic and more flexibility with the truth than even she could accept. Nevertheless, she remains understanding of his quirks and fiercely proud of his talent. She is dedicated and committed to telling her brother’s stories and celebrating his life. Publication expected 2023.
TOLLER CRANSTON: THE ICE, THE PAINT, AND THE PASSION
Toller Cranston was a 6x Canadian figure skating champion who won World and Olympic medals. He was an artist who created more than 20,000 paintings. He holds an Order of Canada, was Athlete of the Year, and Skater of the Century. Lots of people won medals. Lots of people painted. Some people hold an Order of Canada. No one had a life like his. With his death in 2015 at age 65, Canada lost an icon. Figure Skating lost a trailblazer. The creative world lost a powerful force. He inspired generations. He became a legend. This is Toller.
TOLLER CRANSTON: THE PAINTINGS
Toller Cranston viewed painting and figure skating as inseparable artistic expressions. His skating was distinctive. He introduced artistry and theatricality to the sport and changed it forever. His artwork was distinctive. It is said that you can recognize a Toller Cranston painting if you drive past it at 100 miles an hour, just as you might a Picasso, or a Warhol. He created more than 20,000 original paintings that are sought by collectors worldwide. He was a fearless, creative force and truly authentic in everything he said and did. Toller Cranston died in 2015 in Mexico. His headstone in San Miguel de Allende reads Toller, Artist, 1949-2015. The book contains images of more than 400 paintings as well as quotes from the artist about life, death, skating, and art.
TOLLER CRANSTON: CASA TOLLER, THE PROPERTY IN MEXICO
In 1992, Toller Cranston acquired a rambling estate property in the World Heritage Spanish Colonial city of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Over the next 23 years, he created an extraordinarily magical, utterly dazzling property that was designed to surprise, enchant, and delight. It was indescribable by his design. Nothing was random or scattered. And too much was never enough. The property was not just his home. It was a studio, a gallery, a classroom, a showplace. Through stunning photographs and never-before told stories from Toller’s Mexican staff, the book reveals the full dimension of Toller Cranston’s creativity when he was gives a canvas that extended from one cobble-stone street to the next.
THE TOLLER CRANSTON MEMORIAL FUND
THE TOLLER CRANSTON AWARDS
Toller was a force in the world of Figure Skating. He inspired generations. The Toller Cranston Memorial Fund was created by the Canadian Olympic Foundation in 2017 to honor his legacy, support the development of young athletes, inspire them to believe in their own potential, and live in harmony with the Olympic ideals both on and off the ice.
In a unique collaboration, the Canadian Olympic Foundation and Skate Canada originated the Toller Awards in 2017. The awards recognize courage, creativity, and expression in Junior and Novice skaters competing at the national level. Recipients of the Toller Awards are continuing to succeed at the highest international levels.
To support the Toller Awards, contact:
The Toller Cranston Memorial Fund
Canadian Olympic Foundation
250 Yonge St, Suite 3000
Toronto, ON M5B 2L7
Corey Circelli – Toller Award Winner
THE TOLLER COLLECTION
AT THE BIBLIOTECA PÚBLICA DE SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE
Toller spent more than a third of his life in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. When he died, there were more than 18,000 items on his property including 400 original paintings, furniture, rugs, chandeliers, candelabra, arches, pedestals, and a spectacular collection of pretty much everything.
There were also 103 large cartons of books on art, artists, architecture, and design. Toller’s library was his most valuable and treasured possession. He was intensely proud of this collection and was proud to share it with young and old, Mexican, expats, artists, and scholars.
Toller’s library now has a home at the Biblioteca Pública in San Miguel where it will continue to provide joy and inspiration to the entire community.
Donations to support the Toller Collection can be made through Amistad Canada, a Canadian/Mexican collaboration that connects and unites people to promote social equity through health and education projects.
https://www.amistadcanada.org
YO INC. SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, MEXICO
Toller understood his skills, talents, intelligences, experiences, attitudes, and capacities and he used them to make a living, and to make a life. Yo Inc is an interactive entrepreneurship program that was developed in his honour. It takes young people through a process of thinking of themselves in new ways. Through this understanding, they identify and organize what they need to start a business, build a career, get a job, or manage a project.
TOLLER CRANSTON RESUMÉ
Toller Cranston
1949-2015
Athlete, artist, illustrator, author, designer, choreographer, coach, commentator, and star of award-winning television specials and films.
“He is his own work of art,”
The Globe and Mail, 2003
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
Three-time World Free Skating Champion
World Professional Figure Skater of the Year, 1988
Olympic Bronze Medallist, Innsbruck, 1976
World Figure Skating Bronze Medallist, 1974
Six-time Canadian Champion, 1970-1976
Skate Canada International Champion, 1973 and 1975
Gold Medal, Canada Winter Games, 1967
Silver Medal, North American Championships, 1971
Officer of the Order of Canada, 1977
Canadian Athlete of the Year, 1975
Canada’s Walk of Fame, 2003
Canada Sports Hall of Fame, 1977
Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, 1976
Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, 1996
Skate Canada Hall of Fame, 1997
Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, 1996
World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, 2004
International Order of the Olympics, IOC
Sports Federation Athlete of the Year, 1974
Special Olympic Order, Canadian Olympic Association, 1995
Order of Merit, City of Toronto, 1988
Cabbagetown People Program, 2001
Honorary Degree LL.D., Carleton University, 2011
Artist in Residence, Harvard University
TELEVISION AND LIVE THEATRE SHOWS
The Ice Show, Palace Theatre, NYC 1977
Ice, Radio City Music Hall, NYC 1983
Strawberry Ice, TV, 1982;
Magic Planet, TV, 1983
The True Gift of Christmas, TV, 1985
Performed in North America, Europe, China Japan
Guest judge for Battle of the Blades, 2010
Official Artist of Skate Canada, 2013
ACTRA Award
ANIK Award
Montreux Award
Created 20,000 original paintings that are in prominent art collections worldwide as well participating in more than 300 exhibitions mostly one man shows.
BOOKS
Toller, 1976, number two in the Canadian non-fiction charts
A Ram on the Rampage, 1977
The Nutcracker, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Retold by Veronica Tennant. Illustrated by Toller Cranston. 1985
Zero Tollerance: An Intimate Memoir by the Man Who Revolutionized Figure Skating (1997) with Martha Lowder Kimball,
When Hell Freezes Over: Should I Bring My Skates? (2000), with Martha Lowder Kimball
Ice Cream: Thirty of the Most Interesting Skaters in History, 2002