First Stop: Kleinburg, Ontario!

For the first destination of this blog I've decided to begin a bit north of Toronto, more specifically in Kleinburg. It's about a 40 - 50 minute drive from Toronto so if you wanted to have a nice little day trip it wouldn't be that much of a hassle. The reason I wanted to start with this city on my art tour is because not only is it a quaint village but it also has a popular museum with some of the most well known Canadian paintings around. If you don't know what (or who) I'm talking about then you probably didn't take any kind of art class ever because if you did then you would know I am of course talking about the Group of Seven.

The West Wind by Tom Thomson (http://events.uvic.ca/images/events/cal_42_event_83375.jpg)

For anyone who doesn't who the Group of Seven are they are basically some of the most famous painters in Canada, a couple of the more well known members being Tom Thomson and Emily Carr (although she was technically considered to the eighth member). They usually painted Canadian landscapes and things related to nature using a wide variety of colours giving them a more surrealistic feeling, much like the painting above by Tom Thomson.

The museum located here is called the McMichael Canadian Art Gallery and it includes over 6000 pieces of artwork including Group of Seven paintings as well as some Inuit, First Nations, and other contemporary pieces. They have a sculpture garden located in the back featuring carvings made by the Natives which is a beautiful part of the museum especially in the summer/fall seasons. Now would be a good time to plan a trip up here too since they will be opening a new exhibit starting on Sept. 29th running till January 6th that will be displaying solely the works of Tom Thomson including some pieces from his personal sketchbook. For more information I would recommend visiting their website:

http://www.mcmichael.com/

There is a lot of information here regarding their exhibitions (current and future) as well as events, artist workshops, and other kinds of family activities.

Welcome To My Blog!

Welcome all to my new blog where I will be exploring the creative side of Southern Ontario by visiting and talking about the many artistic areas this wonderful province has to offer. Above is a picture I took a few years ago downtown Toronto and I think it's a good representation of what you can expect from this blog - to discover the artistic aspects of Ontario that you just might not think to find, art really is everywhere!

Coming from an artistic town myself (I was born and raised in Guelph, ON) I grew up surrounded by the general arts and it has become a big part of my life - almost as much as travel and tourism. Therefore I've decided to merge the two and create this website that others may visit to also explore the great art, music, and theatre that's around and perhaps partake in one of the many different events I'm hoping to cover.

Expect to see posts on art museums, music + arts festivals, broadway shows, and new discoveries that I may find.

Hopefully you will enjoy!