On Friday, January 10th from 7:00pm to 8:30pm, the Tom Thomson Art Gallery opens its doors to celebrate its new winter exhibitions.

Opening are two new contemporary exhibitions: Erin Loree’s The Swirl: Loree’s Mark on the Gallery’s Collection and Tony Miller’s Legacies, both curated by Heather McLeese.
Erin Loree’s The Swirl exhibition is supported by Upper Canada Stretchers.

Due to its popularity, the Gallery’s Collection Exhibition, Footprints in Time: Painting Around Georgian Bay, has been extended to February 29, 2020. Footprints in Time is guest curated by Katharine Lochnan, Senior Curator Emeritus, Art Gallery of Ontario and Artist Louise Moore.

The opening reception starts at 7:00pm with remarks beginning at 7:15pm. This is a free event and all are welcome.

About the Exhibitions & Featured Artists:

Erin Loree: The Swirl: Loree’s Mark on the Gallery’s Collection on view until March 28, 2020

Artist Talk:
January 11, 2020 at 1:00pm
Loree in conversation with Heather McLeese on the inspiration behind her painterly dialogue with the Gallery’s Collection. Erin Loree is a contemporary painter who lives and works in Toronto, Ontario.

The Swirl presents contemporary artist Erin Loree and her painterly dialogue with the Tom Thomson Art Gallery’s Collection. In June of 2019, the Gallery invited Loree into the vault to explore and select paintings, artifacts or drawings that resonated with her for development of a new painting series. Her vault selections gravitate towards notable historic and contemporary landscape masters like Tom Thomson, Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, and Emily Carr, as well as David Milne, Roly Fenwick and Allen Smutylo. Her contemporary responses, oscillating between representational and abstract, challenge the notion of traditional landscape painting and speak to the mystic forces present in nature.

Tony Miller: Legacies on view until March 28, 2020

Artist Talk:
February 8, 2020 at 1:00pm

Miller is a featured local artist from Owen Sound, Ontario.

Exploring the ties of family, memory and history, Tony Miller’s exhibition Legacies, presents a survey of work highlighting his multidisciplinary artistic practices as a painter and master printmaker. Miller shares a cross-section of linocuts and paintings revealing his personal history, traditions and identity with his African Canadian roots growing up in Owen Sound in the 1950s. His paintings, through colourful layers of acrylics, oils and enamels, shed light on Canada’s colonial past, depicting the hardships experienced by his African ancestors who faced slavery, racism, poverty and injustice. The show paints several important personal legacies for Miller, from his great-great-grandfather to his own parents, telling real stories of remarkable people.

Footprints in Time: Painting Around Georgian Bay on view until February 29, 2020

Following in the footsteps of artists featured from the Gallery’s Collection, including Norval Morrisseau, Tom Thomson, Fred Varley, A.Y. Jackson, Daphne Odjig and John Hartman, you are invited on a tour around Georgian Bay.

Beginning on Manitoulin Island, travel down the Bruce Peninsula to Owen Sound, and head east toward Honey Harbour then north to Killarney. See the many ways in which this distinctive landscape has inspired successive generations of artists producing a rich cultural mosaic. Explore the many ways in which cosmology, geography and geology have inspired memories, dreams and visions. Contemplate the journey in the context of the richness of our shared lives in this beautiful part of the world.

Guest Curated for the Tom Thomson Art Gallery by Katharine Lochnan, Senior Curator Emeritus, Art Gallery of Ontario, and Artist Louise Moore

Footprints in Time: Painting Around Georgian Bay is accompanied by a full colour catalogue published by the Ginger Press with contributions by Katharine Lochnan, Editor, Louise Moore and Judy Thomson, with the support of Michael McLuhan Photography and Kenneth Thomson.

Available now in the Gallery Shop is a NEW 2020 Calendar featuring many images from the Footprints in Time exhibition. The calendar is supported by CIBC Private Wealth Management and Michael McLuhan Photography.

For more information, please contact Heather McLeese, Curator of Contemporary Art at (519) 376-1932 ext. 228 or via email to [email protected]. The Tom Thomson Art Gallery is located at 840 1st Avenue West in Owen Sound, Ontario.

Admission to the Tom Thomson Art Gallery is free or by donation. More information about the Gallery’s hours, Collection, programs and events can be found at www.tomthomson.org.

source: media release, Tom Thomson Art Gallery