In this guided tour, visitors will learn will learn about the colourful art of Norval Morrisseau. Also known as Copper Thunderbird, he rose to fame in the 1960s when he developed the unique painting style known then as the Woodland School. Today this art style is called Anishnaabe painting, a reference to the artist’s heritage. The Anishnaabe style, with its unique pictographic style has influenced many other Indigenous artists.

Inspired by an astute reading of the artist’s oeuvre by Ian Dejardin, McMichael Executive Director, this tour invites viewers to explore the groundbreaking painting technique of Tom Thomson, the ultimate Canadian modernist landscape painter. Based on exhibition stills, the tour will present several of the artist’s large canvas and en plain air oil sketches that reveal the artistic brilliance of Thomson who, through bold experimentation, was able to achieve powerful artistic maturity during his tragically short career.

This docent-led tour leads visitors through the Canadian art pantheon in Conversations exhibition, which features diverse works carefully curated from the Gallery’s extensive permanent collection. Designed to convey something of the collection’s current breadth and taking particular pleasure in placing apparently disparate works in creative conversation with one another. Conversations will explore works from The Group of Seven, Emily Carr, David Milne, Pudlo Pudlat, Rebecca Belmore, Edward Burtynsky, Gershon Iskowitz, and many others.

In this guided tour, visitors will experience two exhibitions that explore the rapidly changing human relationship to the natural world. In The Uses of Enchantment, visitors will discover how contemporary artists use the strategy of enchantment to explore our current experience of climate change, species and habitat loss, and environmental degradation. Sandra Meigs: Sublime Rage guides the viewer though Meigs’ series of vibrant and penetrating gouache studies which reflect the artist’s concerns regarding climate change and species loss.