Forecast – January to June

January 24, 2026 - June 20, 2026

Tom Thomson, April in Algonquin, c. 1917. Oil on wood panel. Gift from George Thomson, brother of Tom Thomson, to the Grey County Historical and Art Society, 1964. Transferred to the Tom Thomson Art Gallery, 1967.

“There are four seasons in the world, but there are only two in my mind—painting and no-painting.” –Tom Thomson in a journal entry, March 18, 1917

During the final spring of his career, Tom Thomson created a remarkable series of sketches in Algonquin Park that served as a visual diary of the season unfolding. His friend and fellow artist, Mark Robinson, recalled that Thomson referred to these works as his “records,” documenting the daily shifts in weather and landscape—from fog drifting across the lake at dawn, to the sudden shimmer of sunlight on birch bark, or the slow deepening of twilight over pine-covered ridges. This attentiveness exemplified his approach to the early twentieth-century landscape: not as static scenery, but as a living system in flux, with plein-air sketches recording changes in light, temperature, and atmosphere.

Building from Thomson’s devotion to observing these elements, Forecast extends this focus into the present through the concept of bioclimatic attunement—our bodily and emotional responsiveness to the atmosphere and the subtle ways we sense and adapt to weather. In addition to Thomson’s work, a salon-style hanging of selections from the Gallery’s collection traces the progression of the seasons in step with the exhibition running dates. Visitors are invited to tune their perceptions to the rhythms of changing skies and light. Situating us within the present, we are also compelled to consider how our awareness of familiar weather patterns—and their disruption—has evolved in a changing climate.

Opening Reception: Saturday January 24, 2026 from 2:00pm to 4:00pm