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by Michael Dumas

Likening a painting to a photograph seems to be a commonplace reaction when the painting in question appears highly realistic, especially if it entails a significant amount of detail. Such a comment, however, has a number of interpretations, including some not particularly complimentary to the artist. The benign, even favorable meaning behind the comment would be that the viewer has found the painted image as being highly convincing, and they are simply using the photographic reference for emphasis. Well and good as far as it goes, but is it accurate? If it is not, and yet the viewer perceives that it is a fair comparison, both the artist and the viewer are left at a disadvantage. The artist’s intent is not getting conveyed, and the viewer is left with less than a full understanding and appreciation of what might actually be there given a greater awareness. For both, it is essential to understand the fundamental differences between the act of painting an image, however convincing, and the characteristics to be found in creating an image with a camera.

The first thing to realize is the fundamental difference between normal binocular vision, and that of the camera’s view, which could be likened to being one-eyed. The three dimensional effect that is created by binocular vision simply does not exist in a single image created by the camera. While a photograph may offer clues of dimensionality, they are largely suppressed in comparison to what is observed with two eyes. The painter has the opportunity, if skilled enough, to create a sense of dimension to defy this inherent limitation of the two dimensional surface. To do this however, a host of illusionistic manipulations must be brought into play.

The focusing system of the eye is also quite different than that of a camera. The depth of field in photography governs the areas of sharp focus. Everything within a particular distance (it might be deep or shallow depending on the camera’s settings), top to bottom and side to side within the viewfinder will be indiscriminately focused to the same degree. With some settings, in certain circumstances, the camera produces the very specific optic effect of out of focus circles. This feature of the camera’s mechanics results in many deviations from how we normally see things.  For example, the way in which we observe surface reflections and sub-surface depth in calm water. If the camera is focused fairly close up on surface objects, such as lily pads, it will not be able to simultaneously include the sub-surface information and reflections of distant objects that are readily available to the eye.

The human eye focuses only on a very small percentage within our overall range of vision. To demonstrate this, simply focus on a detail within your environment and do not shift away from it. You will note that the vast majority of our vision is peripheral in nature, and goes quickly out of focus spherically in all directions away from the point of distinct attention. Our sense of the overall view of things is the result of our eyes scanning bits and pieces of the total view and forming a compiled impression within our brain. The experience is not just through the eyes, but also through the mind. Each of us has our own distinct preferences and we will pay more attention to some things and blithely ignore others.  Painting with this sort of personal interpretation not only allows for individual expression, and can be most convincing because it is not literal.

The speed at which a photograph is taken has a direct influence on the final image, and much of this does not match well to what we perceive. Consider the flowing water of a stream, and the drastically different result one can achieve in photographing it. Recorded at high speed the water is frozen into odd shapes that are real enough in actuality but are moving too fast for us to effectively observe with any confidence. We can recognize water in such images intellectually, but they do not convey the subjective reality of experience through our unaided senses. Likewise with a very long exposure that blurs the water into a soft flowing mist-like element. Very beautiful, but most certainly not what we can experience directly. Even if one selects a mid-point between these extremes, there is always a sense of the image not being as we remember it. This is because our impression of a flowing stream is rooted in an extended time frame to accommodate the movement. Conveying this impression governs how naturally convincing it will appear in paint.

Lens effects can dramatically alter images away from how we see the world through our own eyes. Wide-angle lenses distort perspective and sense of distance, filters alter color and contrast, telephoto lenses compress perspective, and so on. These effects can be positive ones for the photographer, providing choices for creative and dramatic imagery. Painters my find many of the things found in photography to be useful to them also, and may in fact be influenced by such effects, but whether or not the finished product is ‘just like a photograph’ is quite another issue. Unless the painter is blatantly faithful to copying a photograph, including all of the distinctive photographic ‘signatures’, the comparison is simply inaccurate, regardless of how ‘real’ and convincing it might be.

What then are the means available to the painter who desires to create very convincing interpretations of reality? Perhaps the single greatest attribute available to the painter is the degree of selection that can be exercised, and the amount of variation that can be applied to this concept. Take for example, the issue of creating a three-dimensional effect. By softening an edge, even to the point of losing it in the background, a sense of form receding into space can be authentically conveyed. The result is achieved not through literal translation, but is a manipulation of the brain’s susceptibility to certain types of visual illusion. Moreover, this strategy can be applied to each and every object of choice within the painting. In photographic terms this would mean individual depths of fields adjusted to all objects independently rather than one overall depth of field, and this is simply not available to the mechanics of the camera.

All of the features within a painting can be applied in a selective manner, be it the degree of hardness or softness in edges, range of tone and color, detail, patterns and textures, shape, placement, and so on. None of these things are good or bad on their own. However, detail for the sake of detail, color for the sake of color, etc. denies the potential of these qualities to express meaning outside of itself. Such things take on importance only to the degree in which they contribute to the success of the overall work, both conceptually and visually.  Of these, the declaration of ‘it’s just like a photograph’ seems most closely related to the presence of detail in a painting, but detail has many guises, and each one is subject to selective inclusion based on the painter’s personal preference and intention. Foundational detail would entail things like accurate shapes of the objects portrayed, shadows that conform to, and coordinate with a light source, a sense of dimension, and so on.  This sort of detail is truly foundational, and it is what makes even the most broadly painted works take on a sense of the authentic. In works that incorporate greater degrees of surface detail, this foundational aspect of detail is indispensable. Without it, regardless of how much surface detail is shown, it will simply lack presence.

The photographic comparison seems to be generated by the surface detail of objects, but once again, whether or not such detail is photographic in nature is very much in question. Some paintings, for example, depict fur by placing a multitude of individual lighter hair-like strokes over a dark undercoat, others use the same light over dark system, but concentrate on the pattern that the fur as a whole makes as it conforms to the underlying form. Still others establish the basic patterns by first indicating tonal variations while leaving the surface base largely untouched. Some painters may feel the need to take an ‘every hair’ approach, others prefer limiting the depiction to foundational detail, and still others will manipulate a broad range from specific surface detail that blends into suggested detail, and continues even further into areas restricted to basic tonal values.

Each method, and the degree of emphasis or suppression of detail will govern the final, and distinctive, result. Interestingly enough, even if one were to group paintings according to the approach taken, there would still be substantial individual differences based on who created the painting. The particularities and the touch of the individual impose a degree of uniqueness, much like one’s hand writing, the brush simply replacing the pen. Even so, success in painting must also include conceptual considerations be they dramatic or subtle, and an effective means of executing an idea. Photographers face the same challenge to establish individuality within their field, but because the tools at hand are specifically distinct, so too are the choices available. The notion that they are comparable based on the common ground of being images on a two dimensional surface, regardless of how ‘real’ they both might appear, is to misunderstand and thereby disregard the creative skills of both the painter and the photographer alike. Learning to distinguish between the two not only adds to the enjoyment of viewing, but also fosters an appreciation for the very discrete and separate skills that each endeavor requires in order to achieve success.

Canada’s leading landscape and wildlife artists will be exploring the aesthetic qualities and environmental importance of Water for an upcoming art exhibit at the Algonquin Art Centre. The show, which is simply called “Water,” will trace the major headwaters that flow out of Algonquin Park and into the surrounding regions.

“Water has become a significant environmental issue in recent years,” explains Matt Coles, the Centre’s Art Director, “and our intention is to offer visitors an aesthetic experience of the water systems in Algonquin Park – water, after all, is a big part of Algonquin’s charm and appeal to artists over the years, and we hope that this charm will inspire our visitors to be more conscientious of water’s importance, both environmentally and artistically.”

Algonquin Park is a dome-shaped highland, carved out by glacial movements some one hundred and twenty thousand years ago, and it has become an iconic piece of geography in Canada. A number of important headwaters flow out of Algonquin Park – the Petawawa, Oxtongue, Madawaska, to name a few – and the show “Water” will offer a unique perspective not only of these water systems, but of Algonquin’s geological history and value as a Provincial Park.

Join Canada’s leading artists in a celebration of Water at the Algonquin Art Centre. The show will be held from June until mid-October, 2012 at the Algonquin Art Centre, km 20 in Algonquin Provincial Park.

Watch the teaser of “Water” below.

“A Painter of Wilderness”, a new book about Paul Gauthier, explores the life and works of an artist whose love of the Canadian landscape can only be expressed in the beautiful and revelatory paintings that he produced. The book documents Paul’s  trips across Canada, from the Yukon to the Arctic, through photos, newspaper clippings, gallery programs and, of course, his paintings, each of which demonstrate the  tremendous skill and profound understanding of a master artist at work.

November Sunset, Algonquin Park by Paul Gauthier

The composition and harmony of a piece like “November Sunset, Algonquin Park” raises the landscape to the plane of revelation, where the bright shafts reflecting on the shimmering water betokens the promise of some illumination – whether intellectual or spiritual doesn’t matter: the landscape speaks a universal language and appeals to both thought and feeling. This piece can represent the book as a whole and, by extension, Paul’s life as an artist always seeking, always striving, and never yielding.

“A Painter of Wilderness” solidifies the artistic genius that Paul Gauthier possesses and his reputation as an artist to collect.
To see the original works of Paul Gauthier, click here.

The Group of Seven established the Canadian wilderness as a place of inspiration and beauty. Their paintings continue to be cherished not only for their importance to Canadian art history, but for their aesthetic achievements.

To celebrate the Holidays, the Algonquin Art Centre is offering a 10% off discount on all reproductions of the Group of Seven works. You can view the selection of images under the Reproductions below. To purchase, call 1-800-863-0066

The Cameo©Framed Collector Editions  Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven plus other Canadian Masters Framed: Matted & Glass NOW ONLY $89.10 plus tax Image Size 6.5" x 8" Frame Size 21.5" x 22" Click HERE for available images

Regal Canvas©Giclée Collection  Timeless images from Canada’s most important historical artists, including Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven Beautifully Re-Created Directly on Canvas Giclée Printed Coloured Band Around Image Now enhanced with our exclusive B&N Finish™ Ready to Hang • Ready to Cherish   The Red Maple by A.Y. Jackson Size Designation     Dimensions      SALE PRICE Studio Size           20″ x 24″       $153 Designer Size        29″ x 36″       $270 Full Size                 38″ x 47″      $427.50 Grand Size             48″ x 60″       $855               Woodland Waterfall by Tom Thomson   Size Designation     Dimensions      SALE PRICE Studio Size            20″ x 24″            $153 Designer Size        29″ x 36″            $270 Full Size                 38″ x 47″             $427.50 Grand Size              not available             The Jack Pine by Tom Thomson Size Designation     Dimensions      SALE PRICE Studio Size                not available Designer Size         33″ x 36″            $270 Full Size                  39″ x 42″            $427.50 Grand Size              56″ x 60″             $855                   The Pool by Tom Thomson Size Designation     Dimensions      SALE PRICE Studio Size            20″ x 24″            $153 Designer Size         29″ x 36″           $270 Full Size                  39″ x 48″          $427.50 Grand Size              49″ x 60″          $855                 The Canoe, 1912 by Tom Thomson   Size Designation     Dimensions      SALE PRICE Studio Size            not available Designer Size         24.5″ x 36″        $270 Full Size                  34″ x 50″          $427.50 Grand Size              41″ x 60″            $855         Northern River by Tom Thomson   Size Designation     Dimensions      SALE PRICE Studio Size            20″ x 24″            $153 Designer Size         32″ x 36″           $270 Full Size                  40″ x 45″           $427.50 Grand Size             53.5″ x 60″           $855                     In the Northland by Tom Thomson Size Designation     Dimensions      SALE PRICE Studio Size            20″ x 24″             $153 Designer Size         29″ x 36″           $270 Full Size                  38″ x 47″           $427.50 Grand Size              48″ x 60″           $855               The West Wind by Tom Thomson   Size Designation     Dimensions      SALE PRICE Studio Size            20″ x 24″             $153 Designer Size         29″ x 36″           $270 Full Size                  38″ x 47″            $427.50 Grand Size              not available

By: Joel Irwin

The cultural fascination with painter Tom Thomson is beyond measure – not only have his paintings become a foundation in Canadian art history, but his story and mysterious death have become the stuff of lore. Thomson has been the subject of plays, songs, poems, and even board games, and art lovers have traveled from across the world to walk in his footsteps in Algonquin Park.

The risk of this cultural ascendancy, however, is a detachment from the truth that is Tom Thomson – that is, the love and passion that compelled Thomson to paint is sometimes lost in the surplus of clichés that have come to be associated with him. But every once in a while, a new perspective is created which breaks through to the heart of the story and to the man.

This is the case with “The West Wind: The Vision of Tom Thomson” a new documentary which premiered at Film North, a film festival in Huntsville Ontario. The directors, Michèle Hozer and the talented Peter Raymont, who is best known perhaps for his films, “Shake Hands with the Devil,” or “The Genius Within” bring the story of Tom Thomson to life as they explore the personal struggles and cultural forces that led Thomson to realize his greatest works of art. Beyond the gripping historical footage from the early 20th century, as well as the use of audio tapes which lends the film a haunting air of realism, “The West Wind” creates a beautiful portrait of Algonquin Park, Thomson’s muse, which allows viewers to grasp Thomson’s own conceptions of beauty and experience it for themselves.

The film also manages to balance the serene landscapes of Algonquin with the tumult of the war years, which plays a pivotal role in the documentary, as it did Thomson’s life. By contrasting these opposing forces, the drive for destruction and that of creation, the film portrays the conflicting emotions that must have plagued the artist and must have influenced the furious pace of his final works, where he completed sixty three sketches during his last spring in Algonquin Park, before his tragic end.

The heart and soul of the film belongs to David Thomson, an avid collector of Tom Thomson’s works, who manages to describe Thomson’s paintings with such emotion and compassion that the audience feels close to something sacred, not only in Thomson’s art, but in art itself. It benefits, too, from interviews with some of the leading Thomson scholars, including Ross King, David Silcox, Joanne Murray, Dennis Reid, and Roy Macgregor, who clearly explain some of the many complexities surrounding the artist, the man, and his mysterious death.

There’s no denying that the “West Wind: A Vision of Tom Thomson” is an important addition to the culture of Tom Thomson, but its major success is beyond its scholarship and its well-crafted story-telling – it contains a beauty entirely of its own, a testament to the art of filmmaking.

For more information on the film, visit the website the White Pine Pictures website http://www.whitepinepictures.com; for more information on Film North, the film festival held in Huntsville, Ontario, please visit their website at http://www.filmnorth.net/.

By: Joel Irwin

for part one, click here

"Moose in Moonlight" by Robert Bateman

The Present

The Algonquin School of Painters marked the beginning of a Canadian tradition in landscape art. Since Thomson’s tragic end in Canoe Lake, artists of all kinds have traveled from far and wide to discover the hidden beauties in Algonquin Park. But as times change, so do artists and their ideas, and the Algonquin forest no longer represents the mysterious and dangerous North country, but a place to be protected and understood. When the industrialism of the early 20^th century provoked fears of alienation and a loss of humanity, artists responded by rediscovering the human through their art. In the present age, the rapid industrial and technological advances have come to pose new kinds of threats and, as a result, have inspired new kinds of artistic responses.

A New School of Algonquin Artists

In the early 1940’s, a young chore boy working at a Wildlife Research Camp fell in love with the landscapes and wildlife of Algonquin Park. The beauty of the Park helped inspire this youth to try his hand at art, and after many years of painting and study, this young man would become one of Canada’s most famous wildlife painters. His name is Robert Bateman, and since his early days in Algonquin, he has initiated a number of environmental programs to foster healthier relations between people and the natural world. His paintings have become an integral part of these programs, as he uses them to convey pointed environmental themes, which articulate how humans live against, rather than with, their environments.

"Outcrop, Eastern Wolf" by Michael Dumas

“But the biggest impact of all was Algonquin Park” says Bateman, when describing his influences; “until my late teen years I had thought of “The Park” as being an almost mythical place … the great Canadian northland, the heart of Tom Thomson country.” The mythic stature of the Park would draw a number of young artists to its interior and help shape their artistic temperaments. Among them was Michael Dumas, a now renowned Canadian painter. His wildlife paintings express the beauty and grace in the Canadian forests, and inspire a refined connection with the natural world, where viewers can experience directly the magnificence of nature.

Dumas’ connections with Algonquin ran deeper than that of Bateman’s, since he was raised just outside the Park’s borders. His father and relatives worked in Algonquin as guides and helped erect some of its landmark buildings. Dumas himself worked as a Park Ranger for four seasons, where he earned enough money to put himself through art college.

Dumas explains that his years spent in Algonquin had influenced him as an artist quite deeply: “There seems to be something about Algonquin that gets to you as a person” he says, “some aura, or exertion of influence on a person that is difficult to define but very easy to feel…it’s bound to make for some common ground with every artist who is inspired to paint here.”

The “aura” that Dumas describes has become a significant element in artist Tony Bianco’s Algonquin paintings. Bianco has experimented with gold and silver leaf in his landscape oils and has achieved

"Skies Over Solitaire" by Tony Bianco

a luminosity far beyond the capability of any palette. His works convey a rich, reflective quality, as they create a halo-like aura around his trees, reminiscent of the gold halos in medieval, religious iconography, or the eroticized auras of a Gustav Klimt painting. But Bianco’s works express something wholly new, as they instill in the viewer an almost spiritual reverence for the natural world.

These artists are few of the many whose works are part of a greater and developing movement in contemporary art. Like the modernist painters who challenged the alienation of humans from one another, these artists are challenging the alienation of humans from the natural world. They create through their works a refined sense of nature while challenging the perspective which sees it only as a resource to be exploited. Their works remind us that the natural world provides us with more than lumber and water and food –  it provides us with beauty and inspiration, and will continue to bring artists to new heights and new achievements.

Algonquin Park has remained a cornerstone in the Canadian tradition of landscape and wildlife art, and with the establishment of the Algonquin Art Centre in the very heart of the Park, the future of artists in Algonquin will be as significant as its past.

Artists in Algonquin Park – Past and Present (Part One)

By: Joel Irwin

"The Red Maple" by A.Y Jackson

I ) The Past

In May of 1912, two men arrived in Algonquin Provincial Park by train with fishing rods, camping gear, and paint boxes in hand. They took up residence at Camp Mowat on Canoe Lake and began to vigorously sketch the surrounding landscape. One man was Harry B. Jackson, a Toronto artist and graphic designer, and the other was a young and ambitious outdoorsman who would later become Canada’s most famous painter – his name was Tom Thomson.

These artists traveled 220 km on the Grand Trunk Railway from Toronto, where they both worked at Grip Limited, a leading commercial design firm. Among Thomson’s coworkers were J.E.H. Macdonald, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, Frank Johnston and Franklin Carmichael,  all of whom would later be members of the Group of Seven painters. Although designers by trade, these young men were artists by heart and all entertained notions of developing a school of art that would awaken a new Canadian consciousness and identity.

Their subject–– the vast and unknown North country, which had haunted the early Canadian imagination as a place of mystery and danger. Stories abounded about people freezing, drowning, or going mad in the Northern wilderness. The fatal end of arctic explorer John Franklin, who was said to have eaten his own boots out of starvation, became the stuff of popular legend. Artists too had died while traveling into the North – landscape painter Neil Mckechnie drowned at 27 on the Mattagami River. The Canadian North was at the time a mythic landscape, and its dangers and mysteries fascinated the Toronto painters, who believed they could discover there not only new subjects, but new artistic styles.

The Algonquin School of Painters

Algonquin Provincial Park,  a protected wilderness just north of Toronto would provide the ideal location for the painters to realize their aspirations.  The Toronto artists began to follow Thomson into the Park to sketch and paint its granite outcrops, windblown pines, and its various lakes and rivers. Joining them was A.Y. Jackson, a talented Quebec artist, and Lawren Harris, a wealthy  and educated painter, both of whom brought to the group an intellectual and spiritual interest in art that would add an air of legitimacy and depth to the burgeoning school. Their years in Algonquin were prolific ones, and the landscape would inspire some of Canada’s most famous paintings, such as Thomson’s “Jack Pine” and A.Y. Jackson’s “Red Maple.” Algonquin Park had become a cradle for a new art movement, and its artists became known in the media as the “Algonquin School of Painters.”

"The Jack Pine" by Tom Thomson

The Algonquin School exhibited their works at various galleries and art shows, and although their experimental styles met with much criticism, they gradually garnered public support, and many of their works were purchased by the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery. Their works promoted the idea of an art form native to the Canadian landscape—an idea of particular appeal for Canada at the time, as it was still in the early stages of developing a distinct, cultural identity. These painters’ adventurous trips into the wilderness represented a new kind of artist, who embodied the adventurous spirit of the nation—bold, daring, and inspired by the Canadian frontier. They reflected too a desire for a world outside modern, industrial society, a world untouched by the “machine” as Thomson would call it.

The rise of the industrial age was the force behind a number of art movements in Europe, the most famous being “modernism”, where artists challenged traditional, conservative aesthetics to create new, individualistic expressions of the world. The Algonquin School was not untouched by these movements, since almost every member had trained or studied art in Europe. A.Y. Jackson described post- impressionist painters Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cézanne as gods, and J.E.H.

"The Scream" by Edvard Munch

Macdonald, the de facto leader of the Algonquin school, praised the mystical qualities of Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch: “He aims to paint the soul of things,” Macdonald would say, “the inner feeling rather than the outward form….” Macdonald saw in Munch’s landscapes not representations of things, but expressions of mental states – an idea of significant influence for Macdonald and his peers, especially Lawren Harris, whose interest in spiritualism and theosophy would begin to influence his compositions.

Tom Thomson

Tom Thomson was the only artist in the Algonquin school who did not train or study in Europe. His intense love for the Canadian North set him apart from the other members of the group. His art production was tied to the seasons, as he would spend the winter living in a shack outside a Toronto studio, waiting impatiently for the ice to break so he could return to his beloved Algonquin and paint its spring, summer, and fall.

Tom Thomson

Thomson shared with Algonquin Park something that no other artist could share.  It was his inspiration, his muse, and he would spend as much time there as was possible. It was in Algonquin where Thomson developed his signature style. Mixing principles of graphic design with a bold application of colour, Thomson achieved something wholly new. Snow, trees, and water became the central elements of his work, which he would accentuate through quick and controlled brush strokes.

The Algonquin landscape offered Thomson infinite possibilities of design, its wilderness consisting of spaces crisscrossed with verticals and diagonals—patterns which undoubtedly appealed to the young painter’s imagination. Thomson had found his muse and was quick to share it with his fellow Toronto artists, who would, in turn, help Thomson refine his style by teaching him the finer points of composition and colour. In this way, Thomson was acquainted with the larger ideas and art movements in Europe. A.Y. Jackson would later say in his biography that Thomson  “would tell me about canoe trips, wildlife, fishing, things about which I knew nothing… . In turn,

Thomson fishing

I would talk to him about Europe, the art schools, famous paintings I had seen and the Impressionist school which I admired.” This it seems was the basis of Thomson’s art education. As he led the Toronto artists into more remote parts of Algonquin, they would lead him to more refined realizations of his art. Thomson then was both the best student and the most successful practitioner of the Algonquin School of painters.

The Mystery of Tom Thomson

On July 16^th, 1917, the body of Tom Thomson was found floating in Canoe lake, Algonquin Park.  Although the official cause was declared death by drowning, speculations of foul play began to circulate among the CanoeLake community. Speculations soon turned into rumours, and rumours into steadfast convictions. Who killed Tom Thomson has obsessed Canadians for decades, and his death has become one of Canada’s great mysteries, being the subject of films, novels,

Thomson cairn - Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park

songs, and even the “Tom Thomson Murder Mystery” board game. The whereabouts of his body has also become a mystery. Although he was originally buried in a small graveyard on Canoe Lake, his body was believed to have been exhumed and moved to Owen Sound for burial, although some recent scholars have challenged this claim and argue that his body still lies in an unmarked grave on Canoe Lake. Whatever the truth, the mystery of Tom Thomson has fascinated Canadians for over a century. Some have even claimed to have seen his ghost, paddling quietly through the mist – a clear sign of his enduring presence in Algonquin Park.

Sources: Ross King, “Defiant Spirits”; Roy MacGregor, “Northern Light: The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson”; Joan Murray, “Tom Thomson: The Last Spring”; Ottelyn Addison, “Tom Thomson: The Algonquin Years”; A.Y. Jackson, “A Painter’s Country”

Canadian Master painters are joining a worldwide effort to raise awareness of forest sustainability and conservation by participating in a special art exhibition at the Algonquin Art Centre. The exhibition has been created as part of the United Nation’s 2011 “International Year of Forests”—a global campaign to educate people on the importance of forests for human and ecological sustainability—and has attracted some of Canada’s most famous wilderness and wildlife artists, including Robert Bateman, Claudio D’Angelo, and Michael Dumas.

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2011 The “International Year of Forests”  and invited governments and various regional and international organizations to participate by putting together conferences and activities related to forest management and conservation. The response was overwhelming, with events such as Tree Planting Day in China, World Water Day in Bulgaria, along with a number of conferences from the Congo to Norway being organized for the campaign.
The Algonquin Art Centre’s 2011 exhibition, also called “The International Year of Forests” is joining a long list of special events from all over the world, but their event is of an extraordinary nature. “Of course, a number of people and organizations participate in forest management in a number of different ways,” explains Doug Irwin, owner and operator  of the Algonquin Art Centre, “but few are aware of the important roles that artists play in conservation efforts. As a gallery which features mainly wilderness and wildlife artists, we’re very much aware of how dedicated our artists are to environmental issues, and how they use their skills as artists to raise funds and promote awareness of some of the key environmental issues that face us today.”Doug then lists a number of projects initiated by artists, such as Robert Bateman’s “Get to Know Program”, which is designed to bring youth closer to the environment through art and writing contests, and Kelly Dodge’s AFC flag expedition to the Galapagos Islands, where she studied, documented, and painted the endangered species. “Canadian artists are very much dedicated to environmental issues,” says Doug, “and our 2011 exhibition will show this to the thousands of guests who will visit our gallery this summer.”
The 2011 exhibition will feature original works by Canada’s leading wilderness and wildlife artists which focus on Canadian forests and their threats; the show will also profile artists’ environmental projects and explain how Park visitors can get involved. In addition to this, the gallery is recognizing the environmental achievements of the Friends of Algonquin–a non-profit organization that has played a major role in the education and interpretation of Algonquin Park — by donating a percentage of theme-related art sales to their organization.

“Our gallery has a vested interest in forest conservation,” says Doug, “because it’s located in the very middle of a provincial park which has inspired and continues to inspire some of our most famous artists.”  Doug then explains that the very existence of Algonquin Park, as well as most of Canada’s national parks, is a testament to Canada’s commitment to environmental conservation, since the Park was originally established to protect its wildlife and forests from various threats. “If it wasn’t for the conservation efforts that led to the establishment of Algonquin Park,” says Doug, “then Canada could have lost some of its most important art movements, movements that include Tom Thomson’s excursions into the Park interior, or the formation of the Algonquin school of artists (which included artists who would later form the Group of Seven), or Robert Bateman’s art projects in our national parks.”
From the perspective of the Algonquin Art Centre, Canada’s ecological efforts have not only served to maintain valuable resources, but have preserved an invaluable part of Canada’s cultural heritage and identity. “Our 2011 show is designed to show visitors that forests provide not only lumber and water and food, but provide a profound and compelling subject matter for art and culture; they provide beauty and inspiration and, as a result,  have played a key role in our nation’s heritage. That is what we, as a wilderness and wildlife gallery, represent to our visitors and patrons, and that is what we’ll bring to the United Nation’s International Year of Forests celebration.”
The International Year of the Forest exhibit will be on display from June 1^st to October 15^th at the Algonquin Art Centre in Algonquin Provincial Park.

By: Tony Bianco

The art of painting and the art of alchemy are kindred spirits, as they are both concerned with changing, deconstructing, and re-creating matter to produce something more valuable.  From the ancient Egyptians to sixteenth-century European scientists, the search for a way to turn lead into gold intrigued western culture until the birth of modern chemistry.
Our lives are often filled with the mundane and common things of this world; the dreary lead of day to day.  It’s been said that life bears down and wearies the soul, whereas art reminds us that we have one.
This is the business I find myself in.  It is a strange business, and many find no particular need for it, really.  We all know you can’t turn lead into gold. And yet, there are moments or seasons in life when we all recognize the transcendent, the spiritual, or the speaking of the soul.  Common day-to-day occurrences will suddenly become deep, meaningful experiences.  As an artist, my concern is with documenting and reminding us of those transitional moments.Gold was used by the Byzantine painters to illustrate holy subjects.  It was used by the Egyptians in their art to prepare for the afterlife.  There is along history of alluding to the spiritual by including the precious metal in our art.More recently, artists like Gustav Klimt and Damien Hirst have found gold to be a powerful metaphor in their work.And so I found myself in good company when I began to experiment with gold in my paintings.  In an effort to make my work more spiritual, it seemed a natural progression.  In a way, it’s like adding a new color to my palette, a color that symbolizes purity, value, and higher things.  When I include it in a painting, I am always trying to say more than merely the subject itself.  I’m seeking the valuable and spiritual essence of the thing,and gold helps me to do that.
The process itself is simple and complex, much like art and life.  Thin hammered wafers of gold leaf are attached to the surface using special adhesives.  The leaf is extremely thin; my breath alone can send it fluttering hopelessly across the studio.  Often, static electricity is used to position the leaf, a charge being produced by running a brush through my hair.  The “charged “ brush will magically lift and hold the fragile leaf until it is transferred to the painting.  The leaf is burnished, and the painting begins.  Often I distress the work, rubbing back and glazing over the surface to create something timeless and ethereal.  The gold goes through many stages of becoming lost and found again, until the final state of the painting appears.  A rich luminosity is often the result, as the metal reflects light like a mirror, through the layers of translucent oil.  An effect like stained glass is the result, something that can’t be obtained any other way in traditional painting techniques.
Like the alchemists and artists before me, I am constantly seeking ways to convert the common into the miraculous.  That is the reason for all art.  It is a daunting task, but it is also a rewarding and, I believe, a worthwhile one.

By: Joel Irwin and Katarina Tarrant

Canadian landscape painting has been one of our nation’s more recognized contributions to the “mainstream” tastes in art, a contribution characterized by the uniqueness of the Canadian wild attracting a new artistic temperament. This, however, was not always the case; near the end of the 19^th century, art critics and buyers preferred European landscapes, believing the Canadian wilderness to be too rustic and irregular a subject matter for art. The wilderness was certainly irregular: the Canadian Shield, the oldest exposed bedrock in the world and a dominant force in Canada’s ecological development, created diverse land formations over time, formations rich in colour, texture, and shape: the lakes, rivers, rocky cliffs, deep waters, and pine-clad hills made up a uniquely Canadian landscape, and to paint it was to discover not only new subjects, but new styles.
Algonquin Park was to be a key setting for such discoveries. Undiscouraged by the general opinion of the Canadian wild as unpaintable, the newly formed Toronto Arts Student League began to organize sketching trips into the Park in 1902 to explore its rich landscape, among whom was J.E.H. Macdonald, a future member of one of Canada’s most famous groups of artists–the Group of Seven. The Group of Seven was united by a common passion and goal: to pursue a new artistic expression of the Canadian wilderness. In doing so, they experimented with different styles to capture the spirit of their pristine subjects, and by combining elements from the French impressionists and Scandinavian landscape artists, they created new and vivid renderings of the northern forests.

Since the Group’s discovery of the great potential of landscape art in Algonquin Park, contemporary artists have continued to explore further its depths by experimenting with different elements of composition and drawing from different traditions. One of these artists is Don Cavin, an artist from Sutton, Ontario, whose works emphasize shape, pattern and design by employing a deeply valued and geometric interpretation of the Algonquin landscape; his colours remain distinct with little to no blending, creating strong contrasts that highlight the natural designs – a technique reminiscent of Paul Cezanne’s colour blocking, in which sharp colour contrasts create the effect of mass and dimension.
Another landscape style of particular originality is that of Rod Prouse, whose paintings portray a fresh and innovative vision of landscapes; his works combine staccato and bold brushstrokes, strong colour contrasts, and distinct patterning, all within a balanced composition. His experimentation with design and colour has achieved a unique, contemporary rendering of the Algonquin forest.
Of all the fresh visions of the Canadian landscape, however, one artist stands alone in creating something remarkably new: Tony Bianco, an established landscape painter in Canada, whose works have been featured not only in galleries and museums across Canada and the United States, but on the Canadian Toonie, has begun experimenting with gold and silver leaf in his landscape oils, and has achieved a luminosity far beyond the capability of any palette. His new works convey a rich, reflective quality, creating a halo-like aura around the trees. The luminous effects carry an almost spiritual significance, reminiscent of the gold halos in medieval, religious iconography, or the romanticized auras of a Gustav Klimt painting, but in Tony’s work, we find something completely new: his gold tones move beyond the spiritual and the romantic and become a liberated expression of the natural world, a fresh and original landscape style.
Although many years have elapsed since J.E.H. Macdonald traveled to Algonquin to paint its irregular landscapes, the passion and aims which drew him there continue to draw artists today, and continue to inspire bold and groundbreaking artistic styles. The artists here named are but few of the many, but their efforts convey an irrefutable truth:
Canadian landscapes demand the very best of our artists, and compel them to explore bold, new expressions in art.