A Message from The McMichael Board of Trustees Chair Andrew W. Dunn
Dear Friends of the McMichael,
The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is the home of the art of Canada, and we welcome you here with all the warmth of the season.
The rolling hills around us, covered in snow, set the perfect context for a new small seasonal exhibition gathering choice works from our permanent collection for the ultimate artistic winter-themed experience. It’s the perfect prelude to the exhibition David Milne: Modern Painting, which includes a number of the artist’s most famous winter scenes painted in Canada and New York State. Our Milne exhibition is stunning, and it remains on view until January 13 – a perfect outing with family and friends over the holidays. Before or after you wander through the galleries inside, take the time to walk along our new path connecting the gallery to the cemetery, past the Tom Thomson shack across a beautiful walking bridge. Thank you to Penny and Jack Fenwick for their generous sponsorship of this wonderful project.
Many of you have observed the frequency with which we are changing our exhibitions. There is just so much we want to share! Literally every month, we are rehanging at least one and generally two or three of our galleries, to show a new exhibition or to bring out different works from our vaults. We want to see you all regularly, so you don’t miss a thing.
Sarah Milroy, our Chief Curator, has assembled a mosaic of thematically-connected exhibitions for the coming year, as she did with Diane Bos, Stephen Andrews and David Milne this fall and early winter, exhibitions coordinated to coincide with the centenary of the Armistice. Throughout the year to come, in addition to our rotating display of our permanent collection, we will be focusing on different regions within Canada, beginning with a trio of Quebec artists, Rita Letendre, Françoise Sullivan, and Marie-Claire Blais, opening in February and March. Two leading exhibitions of art from the Arctic region will be on view in the summer months — drawings by Cape Dorset artist Itee Pootoogook and documentary photographs of the DEW line by Louie Palu — concurrent with a show of the work of the much beloved Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis. Come spend some time with us and see all that Canada has to offer.
The McMichael is an agency of the province of Ontario, but as many of you know, the province funds about a third of our annual operating budget. The remainder of our funding comes from our members, our sponsors, and donations from our friends. We rely on this additional funding for special exhibitions, acquisitions of works of art, and improvements to the gallery and its grounds. Please consider us in your year-end giving.
Our executive director, Ian A.C. Dejardin, has begun his treatment for oropharyngeal cancer and the prognosis is good. Neither the cancer, nor its treatment, have proven a match for Ian’s irrepressible sense of humour and positive attitude. We wish him the best as his treatment continues.
From all of us at the McMichael to all of you, your families, and your friends, we wish you the best of the season and hope to see you throughout this season and 2019, as we continue our journey in showing the works of so many great artists who demonstrate the depth and the breadth of the art of Canada.
Sincerely,
Andrew W. Dunn, FCPA, FCA
Chairman, McMichael Canadian Art Collection