As the opening of the Algoma Fall Festival’s Group of Seven in Algoma Exhibition nears interest in the collection of paintings continues to grow.
Special guest curator Tom Smart, former CEO and Curator of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and current Deputy Director and Curator of the Art Gallery of Sudbury has assembled a one of a kind exhibition that features original paintings from private collectors and prestigious art institutions. These loans feature two paintings with significant meaning to the region of Algoma including A.Y. Jackson’s Pic Island and J.E.H. MacDonald’s The Solemn Land.
“The paintings of the Group of Seven are national icons, telling us much about the importance of the landscape in defining who we are as a people”, says Tom Smart. “ The paintings on view at the Art Gallery of Algoma show the manner in which this visionary group of artists described the landscape in and around Algoma, in the Killarney and LaCloche regions and in other locations in Northeastern and Central Ontario.”
Along with pieces from local collectors the exhibition will feature nearly forty original paintings including generous loans from Toronto’s Arts and Letters Club, the Women’s Art Association of Canada, the Art Gallery of Sudbury and the Art Gallery of Algoma.
The Festival has noted that interest in the exhibition is coming from the local community as well as the entire region.
“We are so pleased to have been given generous support from Celebrate Ontario which has allowed us to create an exhibition that is culturally significant and of benefit to our economy”, says festival president Donna Hilsinger. “ We are expecting many visitors to the Sault to see these great works along with our other events and performances”.
Also on exhibit is George Walker’s The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson which tells a remarkable story in over 100 wood engravings. The suite of prints show Walker’s astonishing range as a printmaker who finds in the paintings this icon of Canadian art and inspiration for the Group of Seven; abiding values if nationhood and a source of inspiration for his own art.
The Group of Seven in Algoma exhibition is one of a number of themed visual arts events that include a rousing panel discussion about the Group’s life and times and Northern Ontario’s first Nuit Blanche, a contemporary outdoor art event going deep into the night that will light-up the Sault’s downtown. These events are generously funded by the Province of Ontario through the Celebrate Ontario program.
The exhibition runs from October 2-26 at the Art Gallery of Algoma in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Admission is $9.00 (including HST). For more information visit: www.algomafallfestival.com
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