By Sault Tourism
The Art Gallery of Algoma is a public gallery dedicated to cultivating and advancing the awareness of visual arts in Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma. Approximately 24 exhibitions are mounted each year featuring local, national and international artists. The art gallery also boasts an ever-growing permanent collection of 5,000 works of art and an arts-related resource centre.
In the summer and fall of 2024, the Art Gallery of Algoma hosts a special exhibit by Group of Seven painter Franklin Carmichael, a gallery on the Canadian Wilderness, also featuring works from Group of Seven artists, a beautiful photography display, and pieces of renowned Indigenous art. Keep reading to learn more, or click on this link to go to the Art Gallery website.
The town of Cobalt, Ontario—some 500 kilometres north of Toronto—was established in 1904 following the discovery of rich silver, cobalt, ore, and nickel deposits. At peak production in 1911, Cobalt provided approximately one eighth of the world’s silver. In its heyday, the story of Cobalt was known around the world, and the town attracted miners, scientists, scholars, and of course, artists.
This exhibition, which run to October 12, showcases the work of the artists who visited and documented Cobalt and its silver mines between the First and Second World Wars, after much of the natural resource deposits were depleted. Among them was a rising generation of Canadian modern painters which included Yvonne McKague Housser, Bess Larkin Housser Harris, Isabel McLaughlin, Frederick Banting, A.Y. Jackson, and Franklin Carmichael. These artists created works that depicted Canada as a new, modern industrial nation in step with the future — a contrast to the better-known works from this period that picture Canada as untouched wilderness. While some artists conjured Cobalt as a heroic bastion of industry and enterprise, others focused on the town’s grit and dishevelment. This exhibition and its accompanying publication will explore both sides of this dynamic relationship and shine new light on the settler relationship with the natural landscape.
Organized and circulated by McMichael Canadian Art Collection.
Curated by Dr. Catharine Mastin Ph.D.
Love of Canadian Wilderness features artwork by the Group of Seven from the Art Gallery of Algoma’s permanent collection.
The Group of Seven in Canadian art history remains the most recognizable art group for over a century. One of their favourite places to paint and visit was Algoma and the shores of Lake Superior. This rugged landscape, mostly wild and untouched, remains to this day an inspiration to many contemporary artists.
The way in which the Group of Seven artists depicted the Canadian landscape is still the image instilled in people’s minds when they think about Canada. It is a perception of stunning natural beauty, adventure in the wilderness, solitude, and admiration of nature. Algoma is a huge part of it.
Fifteen Minutes of Fame? presents photographs from the Art Gallery of Algoma’s permanent collection. While technology can facilitate Internet stardom today, these glossy black-and-white photographs by acclaimed American photographers Edward Steichen (1879-1973) and Larry Fink (1941-2023) present fame through the glamorous world of actors, writers, and visual artists from the 1920s to the early 2000s, as well as gritty scenes of boxing matches in the 1990s.
Gallery 3 presents a rotating selection of paintings from the permanent collection and on the lobby of the Art Gallery is where you’ll find work from Norval Morrisseau
Norval Morrisseau (1931-2007) is the most known and recognized Indigenous artist in Canada. He is considered the founder of the Woodland School of art, which is the art style based on the traditional Indigenous legends. It is unmistakably recognizable through the use of bright colours, bold lines, heavy black outlines of forms and X-ray views of people, animals and spirits. He was the first to break traditional rules by depicting spiritual knowledge in his paintings. Morrisseau’s images carry powerful messages, they are full of symbolism and spirituality translating oral into visual stories. This exhibition features a selection of his works from the Art Gallery of Algoma’s permanent collection.
The Art Gallery of Algoma offers a number of tours that are designed to engage out of town visitors and local community members alike. Please contact us about any of the tours listed below. Custom tours are available upon request with 48 hours prior notice. Occasionally, group tours can be booked outside of regular hours of operation dependent on staff availability.
Tours include a Group of Seven Painting Tours, Art & Architecture Tour, Tour and Lunch, Guided Tour and Art Activity or a Wine and Cheese Reception. Get all the details by clicking here.
