[URBAN NOTE] "Why you need to take a day trip to the McMichael Gallery"

[rfmcdonald]

Sonya Davidson's article at the Toronto Guardian, with beautiful photos, makes me want to go up north.

I have a new found appreciation for Canadian artists. Not to say I didn’t appreciate it before but with the latest Lawren Harris exhibition “The Idea of North” now on at the Art Gallery of Ontario, it’s brought back the urge to rediscover the artists, like the Group of Seven, once again. I embarrassingly cannot remember the last time I had visited the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and having chatted with a few others, it appears that I’m not the only one. Located in Kleinburg just on the outskirts of Toronto, there’s really no excuse. It’s also McMichael’s 50th anniversary. So, when Ford Canada invited an intimate group of media to their Art of Fusion event in Kleinburg recently, how could I resist? It was time for me to hit the road for a day of rediscovery.

The day started with the unveiling of the 2017 Ford Fusion Energi Platinum – a plug-in hybrid that marries a gas engine, electric motor, and a chargeable lithium-ion battery – together offers incredible gas savings and the company tells us it’s considered the smartest Fusion yet. While we anticipated a full pitch on all the bells and whistles they simply gave us the top line features and then just handed over the keys and said, “have fun and safe drive! We’ll see you at the lunch stop.” The best way to discover what something can do is experience it, right?

The GPS lead us past the Cheltenham Badlands to the beautiful and picture-worthy stop in Belfountain. As we drove through the quaint little town (blink and you’d miss it) and into the Conservation area, we were inspired. We all went exploring throughout the park and while we were all snapping photos with our phones and cameras, we also knew that we needed to absorb this scenic park with our own eyes. We lingered longer than we should have but hey, us city folks crave this kind of peace of mind. Why haven’t I been here? Note to self, there’s so much to explore in our province.

“Okay, you should probably get moving on to the next stop,” a woman said to my driving mate, Jenn as we were comparing images we had just taken. Did you go on the swing bridge? Did you see the fishermen? Do you think they are on Tinder? Jenn asks me with a smile and I don’t think she’s kidding.

When we arrived at the McMichael Gallery, I had forgotten that this too was a conservation area. We had a guided tour around the grounds and walked past large sculptures. We visited the cemetery where most of the Group of Seven were laid to rest and we were tested on our knowledge. We had visited Tom Thomson’s studio – transplanted from it’s original home in Riverdale. By the way, many people assume that Thomson was part of the Group of Seven. Although he was a highly influential artist, Thomson had passed away in a mysteriously on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park before the group was formed.