Feb. 7, 2003 Notes on the Arts Seen

For a number of reasons, I have seen some good Ontario and local art lately that I have enjoyed. Some of the art is close at hand, and a visit is a good cabin fever reliever.

I recently wrote about and visited John Seguin's retrospective exhibition at the W.P Kennedy Gallery at the Capitol Centre (150 Main Street, North Bay 11:00 - 5:00 Tues- Friday and 12 noon to 5:00 Saturdays). The show has been well received with reports on cable T.V. and on the French network from Sudbury. A catalogue is available. John not only did some great artwork, but he is a model of someone retiring early and using his time productively. The show runs until Feb> 15th.

The North Bay Area Arts Council sponsors monthly Art in Public Places exhibitions in the hallway leading to the theatre in the Capitol Centre. The current exhibition, running until Feb. 2, is by artist and photographer Liz Lott. This show is composed of intimate photographs of children and their families, along with photos of plants, animals, people and places that have interested her. Some are available for purchase.

A few doors down the street at 114 Main St. between the Capitol Centre and the North Bay Museum, is another exceptional show at the White Water Gallery. Dennis Geden, the director and curator of the W.P. Kennedy Gallery, is an outstanding painter whose touring exhibition is making its final stop at the White Water until Feb.22.

If you have a wider interest in art, check out the museum where they sponsor occasional trips to the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery in Ottawa.

The Tom Thomson exhibition that was in Ottawa and will be at the Art Gallery of Ontario this summer sparked considerable interest in Thomson's work. While researching a couple of articles on Thomson for Community Voices I visited the South River Festival of the Arts where a Thomson theme was in evidence, and where Thomson spent some time. Joan Murray, a Thomson expert who has written several books on him, spoke on Canadian art history, including Thomson, during the festival. I had the pleasure of hearing her and visiting the show she curated when it was in London on its tour of various galleries.

South River and area has some remarkable artists that show at the festival, and Renee's Café features some of their work, along with their fine food and music.

There is still time to catch the show Perspectives: Canadian Women Artists, featuring the work of 33 excellent women painters at the McMichael's Canadian Art Gallery at Kleinburg until Feb. 16th. I visited the show recently because my wife is a painter and we knew a couple of the artists personally and had followed their careers. Christiane Pflug, who has one of her powerful paintings in the show, was someone we knew through her two daughters who were friends with our oldest daughter and remain so today. In preparation for the show I re-read Pflug's biography Somewhere Waiting (1991) which discusses her struggle and eventual suicide.

I also read the biography (The Girls-- 1972) of Florence Wyle and her partner Frances Loring, who were two of Canada's outstanding sculptors before their deaths three weeks apart in 1968 after sixty years together. Florence Wyle has a piece in the show. My wife and I had the pleasure of visiting with "the girls" for an afternoon many years ago with a friend who wanted to be a sculptor. They paid his way to art school for a year. By coincidence, I noticed recently that this gentleman was one of the sculptors who did one of the plaques on the cairn in Champlain Park at the end of Premier Rd. in North Bay.

While at the McMichael, have a look at the relocated and restored old Tom Thomson painting cabin moved there by the McMichaels. It is interesting that the man who used the Thomson studio for years after Thomson died was the long-time best friend of Wyle and Loring, mentioned above.

The McMichael also has an outstanding collection of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven and Native art. The buildings and the site are worth the price of admission. I was disappointed in the lack of biographical information on the artists (no catalogue). I was reminded of a comment by Ann Davis in the Pflug biography -"public galleries are notoriously bad at providing even the most basic information about the artists whose work they hang."

There are many other outstanding artist in the North Bay area who should be looked at. For example, I always enjoy a visit to the Clermont Duval gallery in Mattawa, which features his work. I wrote about Mattawa's Gordon Dufoe in Community Voices a while back and received several e-mails enquiring about his work from people who wanted to buy or sell Dufoe work. I took these requests to the Duval Gallery and found they had several Dufoe paintings, the only ones they sell other than their own.

Check your Community Voices for other shows in the area, and support and enjoy the hardworking and talented art community. 

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