May 23 – August 25, 2019
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 23 at 7 pm
Artists: Sonny Assu, Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch, Bob Boyer, Edward Burtynsky, A. J. Casson, Bonnie Devine, Lawren Harris, Robert Houle, Isuma, A. Y. Jackson, Sarah Anne Johnson, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, Daphne Odjig, Kelly Richardson, Don Russell, Frank Shebageget, Tom Thomson, Peter von Tiesenhausen, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
Anchored by the Art Gallery of Guelph’s major Tom Thomson canvas of the same title, the exhibition The Drive situates the work of Thomson, the Group of Seven, and their peers in relation to diverse Indigenous and Canadian artists in order to highlight the complexity of the representation of landscape – particularly as it relates to the land and the history of resource development.
Thomson’s The Drive (1916-17) is considered to be among the artist’s most significant paintings, featuring the logging industry in Algonquin Park, a common subject for the artist and one often overshadowed by his paintings of seemingly untouched landscapes such as The Jack Pine (1916) and The West Wind (1917). Based on a sketch produced in the summer of 1916 when Thomson was employed as a fire ranger in the park, the canvas depicts a massive flow of timber emerging from a dam at Grand Lake near Achray in Canada’s oldest provincial park. Figures atop the dam guide logs through a narrow gap in the structure, carrying the harvest towards the Ottawa River. Logging dams were a favourite fishing site for Thomson as seen in the renowned photograph of the artist fishing at the foot of Tea Lake Dam taken by Lawren Harris in 1914.
The painting captures the intensity of logging in a park that had already been widely clear cut in Thomson’s day. The industry was the primary shaper of the landscape Thomson painted and made famous, defining this landscape as postindustrial, not the untouched wilderness it is so often described as. The work also offers the lens through which other works of art such as Algoma and Lake Superior paintings by Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson’s depictions of mining settlements, and agricultural scenes and views made accessible by rail by J.E.H. MacDonald, are considered and contextualized within the exhibition. Complemented by the work of Indigenous and Canadian artists including Sonny Assu, Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch, Bob Boyer, Edward Burtynsky, Bonnie Devine, Robert Houle, Isuma, Sarah Anne Johnson, Daphne Odjig, Kelly Richardson, Don Russell, Frank Shebageget, Peter von Tiesenhausen, and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, the exhibition documents the effects of colonization and changing relationships to the land through creative interventions that advance ecological sustainability and environmental justice.
Curated by Shauna McCabe and Brian Meehan, this circulating exhibition is organized by the Art Gallery of Guelph with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage, Canada Council for the Arts, and Ontario Arts Council, and in conjunction with Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Museum London, and Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
Image detail: Tom Thomson, The Drive, 1916–17, oil on canvas, 120 x 137.5 cm. Purchased by the Ontario Agricultural College with funds raised by students, faculty and staff, 1926, University of Guelph Collection at the Art Gallery of Guelph
Curators’ Tour
With Shauna McCabe and Brian Meehan
Saturday, June 15, 2019 | 2 – 3 pm | Free
No registration required
Join us for a tour of The Drive with curators Shauna McCabe (Executive Director, Art Gallery of Guelph) and Brian Meehan (Executive Director, Museum London and former Director, Tom Thomson Art Gallery) highlighting the work of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven in relation to that of contemporary Indigenous and Canadian artists. The walk-through will explore changing issues and ideas related to landscape in Canada.
Featured artists: Tom Thomson and Group of Seven members A.Y. Jackson, A.J. Casson, Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald, with contemporary artists Sonny Assu, Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch, Bob Boyer, Edward Burtynsky, Bonnie Devine, Robert Houle, Isuma, Sarah Anne Johnson, Daphne Odjig, Kelly Richardson, Don Russell, Frank Shebageget, Peter von Tiesenhausen, and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.
Plein air workshop with Eileen MacArthur
Saturday, June 29, 2019 | 10 am – 1 pm
Rain date: Sunday, June 30, 2019 | 10 am – 1 pm
Sculpture Park at the Art Gallery of Guelph
Adults (18+) | Fee: $30 | Pay online or in-person
Inspired by The Drive, artist Eileen MacArthur will guide participants through techniques used by Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven to depict landscapes across Canada. Exploring the interplay of art and nature within the Sculpture Park, the workshop will address selecting a compelling subject and working from direct observation, the use of colour to capture light and shadow, mark-making, and composition.
The workshop will begin at 10 am with a guided tour of The Drive, followed by a demonstration and drawing session “en plein air.” In the event of rain, the workshop will be held on Sunday, June 30 at 10 am. Adult participants of all expertise and skill levels are welcome. Registration is $30 and may be completed online or in-person at the gallery. Participants should bring a sketchbook. Drawing materials will be provided by the AGG; participants are encouraged to bring anything further that they wish to try, such as watercolour paints and pencils, and acrylic and oil paints.
Listening: Soil
With Christina Kingsbury, Arthur Churchyard, Carol Tyler, and Katie Ewald
Wednesday, August 14, 2019 | 6:30 – 8:30 pm | Free
ReMediate installation site at Eastview Community Park (Map)
In 2014, artist Christina Kingsbury initiated ReMediate, a site-specific installation on the former Eastview Landfill site in Guelph, Ontario. Made of handmade paper embedded with local native seeds, Kingsbury’s 2,000 square foot quilt has decomposed on the site, yielding a pollinator garden – the reconstitution of lands ravaged by more than 4 million tonnes of waste between 1961 and 2003. Since 2014, seeds have germinated and a shifting ecology of plant, insect, human and animal species continue to converse with this initial gesture.
The Listening: Soil event brings artist Christina Kingsbury together with farmer and agricultural planner Arthur Churchyard, Elder Carol Tyler, and dancer Katie Ewald at ReMediate – individuals whose work, in different ways, involves listening to and reading the land. Together, they will create a conversation that honours different ways of being in and with this place, to see what can be read in how the land is responding.
Closing Party: Curators’ Tour & Reception
Saturday, August 24, 2019 | 5 pm | Free
All welcome | Refreshments & cash bar available
Celebrate the final weekend of The Drive with a reception and tour with curators Shauna McCabe and Brian Meehan on Saturday, August 24 at 5 pm. The exhibition, including works by Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven from the AGG’s permanent collections, will travel to the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Confederation Centre Art Gallery, and Museum London over the course of the next two years.
