Tom Thomson Art Gallery Exhibitions

How is your fire? | February 4 - May 27, 2023

How is your fire? is the English translation of an Indigenous greeting. The question is an intimate one that seeks introspection about the fire burning within us, while also alluding to broader questions surrounding our collective relationship with fire. Each of the artists featured in this exhibition; Lisa Hirmer, Emelie Robertson, Don Russell, and Peter Schuler, approach this question through their individual practices, repositioning fire as a regenerative and transformational force that connects us with each other and our environment through its profound physical and spiritual power.

Opening reception: Saturday February 4, 2023 from 12:00pm to 2:00pm

Artist talk: Saturday February 4, 2023 from 11:00am to 12:00pm

Image Credit: Lisa Hirmer, borrowed matter is always in movement (toward new containers) (detail), 2022. Courtesy of the artist.

 Growth Rings – Part Two | January 28 - June 3, 2023

Growth Rings is a two-part series that places Tom Thomson's woodland sketches in conversation with a cross section of works by his contemporaries and artists of subsequent generations, revealing how conceptions of nature are heavily rooted in historical, cultural, and personal worldviews.

Image Credit: Tom Thomson, Early Spring (detail), 1916 c. Oil on wood panel. Bequest of Thomas James Gibson [nephew of Tom Thomson], on perpetual loan from the Ontario Heritage Trust, an agency of the Government of Canada.

 So to Speak | February 4 - May 27, 2023

So to Speak is an exhibition of text-based works from the Gallery’s Collection that conveys the power and versatility of the written word. Since the 1960s artists have increasingly incorporated language into their practices as an evocative communication tool to confront social and political issues and touch on personal and universal experiences. The works presented in this exhibition by Stephen Andrews, April Hickox, Micah Lexier, Kris Rosar, and Dennis Tourbin, embrace this post-modern approach to art making and in doing so, transform text into unique provocations that address documentation practices, technology, the media, and memory.

Image Credit: Dennis Tourbin, Canoe Lake (detail), 1983. Acrylic on canvas. Gift from Nadia Laham, 1998.