For many artists, drawing is an important component of their creativity. Drawing Conclusions presented 25 pieces by Canada's most prominent contemporary artists and approximately 70 drawings by members of the Group of Seven, demonstrating the importance of freehand drawing in the training of artists throughout of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This exhibition provided a rare opportunity to view drawings that are seldom exhibited due to their sensitivity to light.

Although admired as one of Canada’s literary giants, very little is known of Reaney’s visual art practice. The Iconography of the Imagination: The Art of James Reaney introduced Reaney as an artist and provided an overview of his artistic production from the 1940s to the mid-1990s, and examined his art in relation to his writings. Reaney states that art has been a “constant” in his life, and much like his writing grew out of a desire to “keep a record” (Jean McKay, “What on earth are you doing, Sir?” ArtScape, Issue 5, June 2006, 10).

Miller Brittain’s life as an artist is defined partly by the large and diverse body of drawings and paintings that trace a course of self examination, interpret the life and people around him, and probe his spiritual and emotional landscapes. Brittain (1912-1968) was a figurative artist at a time when landscape painting of the Group of Seven and their followers held sway in Canadian art.

This exhibition featured works on paper by members of the Group of Seven who, in addition to their well-known paintings of uninhabited landscapes, also depicted scenes from local communities. Works by Lawren S. Harris, Franklin Carmichael, A.Y. Jackson and A.J. Casson representing Toronto; Cobalt, Ontario; Gaspé, Quebec, and other communities were displayed alongside information related to the artists’ experiences in working with their subjects.

Stones, Bones and Stitches is an exhibition of Inuit works from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection’s permanent collection based on a new publication by Tundra Books written by McMichael curators Shelley Falconer and Shawna White.

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection was the premiere and only Canadian art gallery to host The Art of Robert Bateman. A native of Toronto, Robert Bateman is a name familiar to most, if not all, Canadians. Although best known around the world as a wildlife artist, Bateman’s art also encompasses other subjects – landscapes, portraits, and still lifes – each created with a careful and knowledgeable attention to the principles of composition and design. His genius lies in his ability to distil complexity into elegant simplicity thereby creating art that is accessible and enjoyable at many levels.

Newfoundland-based, nationally acclaimed realist painter Mary Pratt is renowned for her beautiful, sensuous still life paintings, Two of these paintings, Glassy Apples and Peach Compote, provided the inspiration for two editions of Japanese woodblock prints developed by Pratt in collaboration with Japanese master printmaker Masato Arikushi of Vancouver. These prints were the primary focus of Mary Pratt: Allusions.

Art and Society included more than forty works from the collection of the National Gallery of Canada – including paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture – looks at three generations of Canadian artists and their visions of the role of art in shaping society.

James Houston, known as Saumik or “the left-handed one” in the Inuit language of Inuktitut, was the leading proponent in establishing printmaking in Kinngait. Houston approached his friend and fellow artist Osuitok Ipeelee during the now legendary conversation they had about the reproduction of a single graphic. After Houston demonstrated the printing technique with ink, a newly carved tusk, and tissue, Ipeelee agreed that there were indeed many interesting possibilities to be found in this new medium. The group became larger as the most talented and enthusiastic printmakers joined and the first catalogued collection was released in 1959. Noted Kinngait artists Parr, Niviaksiak, Pudlo Pudlat, Pitseolak Ashoona, Napatchie Pootoogook, Lucy Qinnuayuak, Mangitak Kellypalik, the renowned Kenojuak Ashevak, and many others all made important contributions.

This landmark exhibition was a retrospective of the oeuvre of Takao Tanabe, internationally renowned Vancouver Island artist, winner of the Governor General’s Award, and in 1993, recipient of the Order of British Columbia. The exhibition surveyed Tanabe’s work from the 1950s through to the early years of this century.

This exhibition showcased some of the best-known prints from Kinngait (Cape Dorset) with a focus on selected works by Kenojuak Ashevak, Pudlo Pudlat, Parr, Pitaloosie Saila, Pauta Saila, Kananginak Pootoogook, Sheojuk Etidlooie, Kingmeata Etidlooie, Pitseolak Ashoona, Lucy Qinnuayuak, Kiakshuk, Tudlik, and many other artists.

Norval Morrisseau, also called Copper Thunderbird, rose to fame in the 1960s when he developed the unique painting style known as the Woodland School. Today this art style is called Anishnaabe painting, a reference to the artist’s heritage, and the unique pictographic style influenced many other First Nations artists. This exhibition included rarely-seen or never before displayed pieces.

During the 1950s, the term “contemporary Inuit sculpture” was used to distinguish new work from that produced during the Prehistoric and Contact eras. Today, however, the use of this term to cover a fifty-year period has made it something of a misnomer. This exhibition focused on sculpture created over the past decade and looks at what is really “contemporary” within Inuit sculpture.

This retrospective of Edwin Holgate’s work was the first since the artist’s death in 1977. The exhibition explored many aspects of this versatile artist’s production, including early works from his Montreal and Paris training, portraits of his Montreal circle of friends and family, paintings in oil and watercolour, his work as a war artist, and prints from his trip to the Skeena River region of British Columbia.

To many people, the Alaska Highway is simply a long line that connects two dots on a map. To others it is an essential transportation route, linking towns, cities and communities across northern Canada. To others, it is an engineering marvel − a symbol of a history of cooperation between two great nations. To the thousands of people that built it, however, the Alaska Highway was known simply as “The Road.”

The exhibition presented thirty paintings and sculptures, including painted compositions on canvas, paper, deerskin drums, and cedar, as well as sculptures in both cedar and aluminum, by Haida artist guud san glans, Robert Davidson.

Artist's Statement: "Since I was a young boy I have been fascinated with photographs, especially historical photographs of First Nations people. I also wondered if my ancestors had photographed their world or was it just white men who made the images. I had many questions about what had taken place and with so few answers I set out to answer them myself. Along the way I met the popular American photographer Edward S. Curtis and his photographs of First Nations people and as my photographic practice matured, his work was always somewhere in the background. I was intrigued by the contrast between his view of First Nations people and the world I experienced as an urban-Iroquois, two very different yet related dancing grounds.

In 1995, award-winning Toronto photographer Myron Zabol began a five-year project to record, through the eyes of his camera, the lives and traditions of the Haudenosaunee, the Six Nations Iroquois, at the end of the twentieth century. This exhibition featured fifty black-and-white photographs that created a “portrait” of the complex values and beliefs of the Haudenosaunee people as expressed through their clothing and other means.

The Festive North focused on celebration, showcasing images of traditional and contemporary Inuit games, drum dancing, throat singing, community gatherings and feasts, quite simply all things celebratory in Inuit Art. Traditionally, the great gatherings and celebrations centred on sharing and one of the most important things shared were the games. Games played an important role in the traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle; ensuring survival they helped to improve strength, dexterity, endurance and pain resistance.

This unique touring exhibition celebrated the Canadiana collection of Peter Winkworth. Winkworth,was a Canadian-born collector who, until his death on August 20, 2005, resided in Britain, and he had a driving passion for early Canadian art and the preservation of Canada's heritage. He began building his collection some forty-five years ago during which time he amassed one of the largest private collections of Canadiana. The quality and range of the collection attests to his expertise and careful research in selecting art, books and historical documents that provide a valuable record of Canada over a period of four centuries.