I have just returned from a holiday in Canada. My husband and I were spending time with my
family as well as a bit of touring just a few small bit of this vast
country. It was great to spend some time
at the family cottage with my cousins Kate and Helen who are also both artists. So you can imagine some of the conversations
that took place about making work, trying to sell work and all the ups and
downs it involves.
A week later we were walking in Algonquin Park, Ontario an
area that inspired The Group of Seven, Canada’s own impressionists, educated in
Europe but who returned home to develop their own unique views and language of
this wilderness area in
the early 20th Century. It is a spectacular landscape and would be a privilege
to be able to observe it through the year rather than just be satisfied with the
quick snapshot we were able to enjoy.
Returning to Toronto we stopped at the McMichael Collection
and saw some of the paintings that landscape have inspired, alongside more contemporary
visions and works from Native artists.
Back in Toronto Kate took us to see The Square Foot show, where as it
says in the title all the works are a square foot on size, and Kate and Helen
were both showing. A rich and varied
selection that really required more than one viewing, as they were tightly
displayed with so much to look at, from floor to ceiling.
Whilst Canada is a country that does not get mentioned much
in the art press here, it has its own rich history of art and a vibrant
contemporary scene that are well worth investigating if you have the chance.
A few views from Algonquin
