SPRING BAY—Every year since 2015, Perivale Gallery challenges each of its over 50 artists and artisans, as well as invited guest artists, to produce one piece of work inspired by the Group of Seven for a show originally entitled ‘In the Spirit of the Group of Seven.’
The challenge was readily embraced by all and the resulting exhibition proved to be a stellar success, not only for the gallery, but for tourism to Manitoulin Island in general.
“We found that many of our visitors had travelled to Manitoulin Island for the first time precisely to see the show,” said Perivale Gallery curator Shannon McMullan. “Given the resounding success of the first exhibition, it was decided that this would become an annual event. The event would go on to also embrace the inspiration of the iconic artist Tom Thomson. Hence, ‘In the Spirit of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven’ has become the name of the show.”
Since 2016, Ms. McMullan has been a member of Northeastern Ontario Tourism’s Group of Seven Product Marketing Team. Provincially, the Group of Seven is seen as a cultural asset to market as a tourism experience. The team explores and develops initiatives with that.
In the early 20th Century, a colonial mindset determined that, in general, European art, particularly Dutch art was superior, noted Ms. McMullan. “It was almost impossible for Canadians to find artistic reflections of their own natural environment. A Dutch pastoral scene would be much more likely to figure prominently in a Canadian art collection of substance than works reflecting our unique and distinctly beautiful rugged Canadian landscape. Canadian artists had previously been strongly influenced by their European counterparts and had limited themselves to those styles. First, Tom Thomson broke free of those colonial constraints, later followed by the Group of Seven and developed a distinct painting style to express a nationalistic feeling. In truth, they really shook up the art world.”
Their artistic works, inspired through direct contact with nature have come to symbolize what is the distinctly Canadian identity that we now celebrate today.
The show will open Saturday, July 20 at the gallery at 10 am and runs daily from 10 am until 5 pm until August 5. Images of all of the works in the show are available online as of 7 am on July 20 at PerivaleGallery.com/in-the-spirit-of-tom-thomson-and-the-group-of-seven. Visitors to the show will have an opportunity to vote for their top three favourite works for the People’s Choice Award, which will be awarded to the artist who receives the most votes.
