SHEGUIANDAH—The walls of the Centennial Museum of Sheguiandah are the temporary home of the 69th annual Northern Ontario Art Association (NOAA) Juried Exhibition featuring the curated works of some of the North’s finest artists. This year was also the NOAA 75th celebration.
“There were 120 works submitted from 15 art clubs across Northern Ontario,” said NOAA member Pam Jackson, who helped organize the display at the museum. “These are the 40 selected ones for the show, out of that 120, and 10 of them received awards.”
Ms. Jackson had some exciting news. “In 2026, in September, all the art clubs will be submitting their work here to Manitoulin and we will be hosting the 2026 NOAA exhibition here on Manitoulin,” she said. “Judges come and judge and then select the works that will be in the show and which will receive awards. We’re hoping to have it in the arena, but we haven’t nailed that down with the town yet.”
The works on display this year are truly stunning and feature a wide range of media and styles. Along with the works, copies of the NOAA magazine are also on hand, allowing those interested to see what the group have been up to across Northern Ontario.
Several artists were on hand to meet the public and to discuss their works.
Many of the artworks are for sale and several already have the red dots indicating they are sold affixed to their labels.
Among the award winners were Sheryle Boivin, for ‘Country Friends,’ who won the Anne McAllister Johnson Memorial Award for Best Non-Traditional or Mixed Media; Lynne Nyman for her acrylic ‘Spring Whispers’ who won the Susan Zabel Mancantelli Memorial Award for Best Use of Colour; Sue Lampinen, whose ‘Snow Birds’ won the Nancy Caldwell Memorial Award for Best Landscape; Valerie Leonard’s ‘A View From The Dock-French River,’ who won the Gaberiel Danis Memorial Award for Best Northern Landscape; Linda Mustard’s ‘Bouquet’ which won the Mary Weymark Goss Memorial Award for Most Innovative; Martha Heidenheim’s ‘Fading Colours,’ which won the Peter Giblin Memorial Award for Best Watercolour; Elizabeth Holmes, whose ‘The Ruin-Cobalt’ won the Jack Pacey Memorial Award for Best Contemporary Piece; Francis Cinq-Mars for ‘Grandad Smoking’ which won the Screaming Heads of Midlothian Award for Best Risk Taking Concept; Gigi Dequanne for ‘We Can’t Breathe’ mixed media, which secured the Eleanora Meissner Memorial Award for Best Innovative Creation; and last but far from least is the NOAA Best in Show winner, Brigette Bere, for ‘Golden Sunflowers,’ a collage on canvas.
Jurors for this year’s show were Janine Marson and Ingrid Rudnik-O’Gorman.
“I thank the artists who have presented their artwork,” said Ms. O’Gorman in her remarks. “To walk into this room, alone with another judge, with so many moving and articulate works of art in one place was an overwhelming, joyful experience. I was delighted by the high calibre of entries and genuinely found myself with the very difficult task in making final choices. First making a quick but thorough pass through the entire show individually, then asking myself what I remembered, what stayed with me or impressed me the most. Going around again with Janine to see if those pieces still held up, I was pleased to see that we both pointed out most of the same pieces.”
“Meeting my fellow artist juror, Ingrid O’Gorman, was the icing on the cake for me of the who experience, and we hit it off instantly,” said Ms. Marson in her remarks. “We soon discovered we were thinking about the juror process in the same way. We each took our time independently to observe each piece and then went around together to make notes and discuss the entries. Each piece was judged fairly and on its own terms. I was completely blown away by the calibre of the entries with so many really good paintings to choose from for the judging.”
The NOAA member clubs include our Island’s own Manitoulin Fine Arts Association. The exhibition will run at the Sheguiandah museum until the end of June.
