Northern Touch
Aniizhinaabe, acrylic on canvas, Jordan Quequish
A Favourite Exhibition Returns to the AG
By Kat Lyzun
This one’s for the art lovers: one of the Thunder Bay Art Gallery’s most popular shows, the Northern Ontario Juried Exhibition, returns July 5 until September 13, featuring a wide variety of works from across the region.
This show holds a special place in the gallery’s history as one of its longest-running exhibitions, which is especially poignant as the gallery celebrates its 50th anniversary. Over the years it has grown as a unique opportunity for generations of northern Ontario artists to have their work displayed in a public gallery, and curator Penelope Smart says they are thrilled to share this year’s selected works with the community.
“[We] are just so proud to have this as part of our legacy. It is a really big deal both for the gallery and the artists. It’s cool to look back and see how big of an impact the show has had on artist activity and the evolution of art in the city,” Smart says. “It really reflects the need for and importance of having a professional platform in the format of a juried show for artists in the region.”
She adds that since the show is held every three years, it offers a great snapshot of what people are making, what kinds of material they’re working with, and what’s capturing their imagination at a point in time. Themes tend to emerge (this year birds are having a moment; herons in particular featured in many of the submissions) but visitors can expect to see a wide range of work from traditional media to digital expressions.
“This year it’s a record number of artists [100 artists and 123 pieces]. We had an incredible jury and submissions from every imaginable kind of media and spanning the whole region of northern Ontario,” Smart says. “For some artists it’s their first time in the show; for others who have a history with it, this is a show that is an important part of who they are as artists. We are just really excited for it.”
The jury panel includes three highly regarded artists with strong connections to northern Ontario: Dr. Susan Blight, an Anishinaabe interdisciplinary artist, place-based researcher, and co-founder of the Ogimaa Mikana artist collective, which works to reclaim the roads and landmarks of Anishinaabeg territory with Anishinaabemowin; Mary McPherson, an Anishinaabe artist and legal academic who works in charcoal and graphite to create immersive drawings as a form of community-based action against colonial state mechanisms; and Micah Dowbak (a.k.a. Mad Dog Jones) whose futurist works explore themes of dystopia, urbanism, and online culture and are rooted in digital media, crypto technology, and NFTs.
Opening reception for the Northern Ontario Juried Exhibition is July 5 at 2 pm. It’s free and open to all. For more information, visit theag.ca.
