McMichael
Canadian Art Collection is an art gallery that shows exclusively Canadian
artwork made by Canadian artists, with a permanent collection of more than
6,500 pieces created by Tom Thompson, the Group of Seven, First Nations, and
other artists who impacted Canadian art.
Visiting McMichael, one gets to observe many different forms of art,
from painting and sculpture, to film and textiles. A lovely gallery in of itself, a nice way to
bring attention to Canadian artists, however very strict in a way that draws
away from the beauty of the art; as a tactile person by nature, the lack of
interactive pieces tends to dampen the experience for me, and tends to draw my
attention away from the art as I can’t connect to the pieces in a way more
suitable for others like me.
David
Bolduc’s painting “Bakiff” was one of
the pieces that managed to catch my eye and hold my attention. An acrylic painting on canvas finished in
1980, “Bakiff” towers above guests,
relatively simple at first glance with a brown background and smears of primary
colours, but closer inspection shows many smaller details, such as the darker
clouding and the drip marks that carve their way through the brown painting,
like the artist had sprayed some water on the piece and watched it run and
dry. The bright lines on top look very
much three-dimensional, which, unfortunately, makes me want to run my fingers
over it just to feel the brush strokes and raised lines.
“Chinese Dragons in the Milky Way” by
Paterson Ewen, a stained planed plywood finished in 1997 is one of the first
pieces that you see when you walk into the collections. Another large piece, “Chinese Dragons in the Milky Way” seems very much an example of
interpretive art, and still holds the earthy charm that comes with wood,
despite the staining, giving it a natural feel.
The colours are quite muted, but it complements that natural aura, and
it’s once again another piece that I would love to run my hands over to feel
the grooves and bumps that comes from working with wood.
“Windswept, Lake of the Woods” is an oil
on board painting created by Frank Johnson in 1921. The magic of oil paint, in my opinion, is the
why it can dry in three-dimensional plates, which Johnson’s painting does
beautifully. It truly captures the look
of a squall blowing in over a lake, and the ruggedness of the paint strokes
really gives it a stormy personality.
This, however, is yet another example of a piece that would feel
wonderful if the observer were able to touch the brush strokes.
While
art is something to be observed and admired, I feel like it cannot truly be
experienced until one is able to interact with it on a more personal level, to
draw yourself into the piece by feeling the way the artist felt through the
brush strokes and the raised details hard to catch with the naked eye. McMichael Canadian Art Collection is a
beautiful gallery, with a lot of history and meaning behind it and the land it
rests on, however I feel that the lack of interactive pieces really hinders an
otherwise great place to visit. The art
is lovely, well-made, and well-loved, but it’s missing a huge aspect that would
really take it to another level all-together – something that stops everyone
from being able to enjoy our history and culture.
