Galleries in Thunder Bay: A Description for Tourists

Thunder Bay and the region have a rich arts community of painters, sculptors, potters, weavers, glassmakers, quilters, fabric artists and more. Many of these artists and galleries join forces for temporary shows, art auctions or studio and garden tours that occur more often in the summer. Checking websites, local papers and poster boards in coffee shops, shopping malls, libraries, and convenient stores will guide you to many local artistic activities.

      Unlike Grand Marais, the art community in Thunder Bay is spread throughout the city, often in odd locations, with more galleries located in Port Arthur (north end). In the early 1970s, shortly after Fort William (south end), and Port Arthur became Thunder Bay, political representatives of each township fought to have new institutions and box stores built on their end of the city. Unfortunately the compromises resulted in these being built in unusual places where there is little or no walk-by traffic. The result is that Thunder Bay is a “car town,” which is why we are always concern about parking. You need a car to see most of the galleries on this list. Most hotels and galleries will have an art map called “Hand Made in Thunder Bay.” The city and current crop of politicians can be credited with a clear plan to improve the cultural layout of the city. The development of Prince Arthur’s Landing, road improvement, art installations, and other ongoing beautification projects has really helped the city in the last few years.

Galleries of Art and Craft in Thunder Bay

     The most notable gallery in the city is the Thunder Bay Art Gallery (central). The TBAG (or teabag as it is referred to by the locals) is a contemporary public gallery with the largest permanent collection of art in the region. The exhibition space is the most accommodating in the city with three large showrooms. With a focus on Aboriginal art, the gallery has nearly 25 exhibitions a year, featuring local artists and artists of national significance in travelling exhibitions, with themes and art selected by professional curators. The TBAG is situated on the Confederation College campus. Unfortunately, the names of the roads leading to the gallery change often. Check your map. The gallery is most definitely worth the trip.

     Considered an alternative public gallery (non-profit/charitable), the Definitely Superior Artist Run Centre + Gallery is operated by mostly young and cutting edge artists with an emphasis on the experimental and the avant-garde with up to 50 shows a year. The DEFSUP gallery (referred to as the “deaf soup” gallery by locals) supports local, national, and international talent. Much of this centre’s funding comes from dramatic and original campaigns that inspire throngs of young people, with attendance in the thousands, taking over the north end core. The centre contributes dramatically to the growth of the arts community where developing artists, of any background, can experiment with any style and medium, including performance art, video instillations, multi-media, etc. Diversity is key to the function of this gallery centre. It is located on Park St, just up from the Casino, in the basement of the defunct Eaton’s building, the big block sized department store.
     In the heart of Prince Arthur’s Landing (formerly Marina Park) the newly built Baggage Building Arts Centre is intended to be “a workshop for new artistic creations” and “an incubator for creative people and organizations.” So, throughout the year the building will work as a venue for a variety of projects, classes, art shows, etc. There are monthly exhibits, with artists in residence and a gift gallery; the small commercial space located on the second floor displaying the work of local artists, jewelers, authors, and more.

     Before you cross the Kaministiquia River, on St. James St, heading towards Mount McKay, you will see a gallery in a short strip mall on your left. This is the Ahnisnabae Art Gallery. This gallery represents up to 30 different artists, many of the Ahnisnabae culture. Original works and all manner of reproductions, from professional silk-screens and serigraphs to posters are available, catering to a diverse budget. The work is bright, beautiful, entrancing and resonates with the cultural heritage of the First Nations people who live in the region. Roy Thomas was the founder of this gallery in 1997. He was a prominent artist in the community who passed away in 2004. The owner and operator, Louise Thomas, has kept her husband’s legacy alive with this commercial space. This is a must destination for anyone new to the area.

     The Habana Gallery, across from what used to be the Cumberland Theatre, and near to one of the entrances to Prince Arthur’s Landing, offers an eclectic mix of local artists’ work along with works of Cuban artists. Ayesha, the owner, is a young Cuban immigrant and artist. Ayesha continues to regularly bring unique and beautiful Cuban arts and crafts to Thunder Bay. The Cuban influence of rich colour and vibrancy is immediately felt when walking through the door. Local artists who show in the gallery have a unique space in which to show their work and contribute to the art scene. Ayesha offers classes, and beginning in May they will have evenings with live music. 

     The Algoma and Bay St. area has become a trendy hotspot for the locals. It may not quite look like it yet, but it’s as close to a town square as you will get in Thunder Bay, other than the Country Market on Saturday mornings. There are many little shops here that sell arts and crafts, along with a couple famous Finnish restaurants, along with coffee shops and unique boutiques. But the little shop with the longest tradition of supporting the greatest number of locally made arts and crafts is the Fireweed. It is PACKED! It’s small, but take your time upon entering and make sure you put your packsack down or you’re likely to break something – and pay for it. The quality of work is some of the best in Ontario. Uniqueness is the goal for the little shop, and the artists that show work here, do quite well, especially before Christmas. Chiefly known for its pottery, they also sell jewelry, fine art, fabric art, glass, locally produced books, CDs, and much more. There’s no end of small gifts.
     Gallery 33, across from a popular Thai restaurant, is a commercial art gallery displaying up to 50 local artists’ work. The place is very spacious, so each artist has lots of room to hang more than a sampling. The quality ranges from novice to professional. The gallery sells jewelry and books by local authors along with other items. The stairs to the basement leads to The Painted Turtle, an art supply shop where classes are offered. The Turtle is a favourite go-to place for local artists, and in the summer tourists stroll up from the waterfront to check out the galleries and restaurants bringing them to this new space.
     One block further inland, and just around the corner from the DEFSUP gallery, is Chenier Fine Arts. This little gallery is packed with art by established and emerging local artists, as well as 40 international artists. With nearly 250 works this space is a feast for the eyes. The variety of works includes modern abstracts to traditional landscapes and figurative works in all mediums. The owner, Debra Chenier has a long history within the community, continuing a relationship with art that began with her mother’s shop, which opened in 1964 and was the first fine art gallery in Northwestern Ontario. Chenier also offers high quality framing with an incredible variety of moldings from which to choose.

     The Kleewyk Stained Glass Studio is midway between the downtown cores on Simpson Street. Once a bustling street in the 1960s the city is now trying to retake this area’s history and create incentives for citizens to take a second look. On your first drive you can’t miss the dramatic and beautifully decorated studio shop. This is a professional working studio with a display room. The glass artist, Damon Dowbak, produces stained glass windows, abrasively etched glass, and kiln formed glass. The display room features a variety of works in glass and pottery, along with paintings, also created by Dowbak.

     Located in the Victoriaville Mall near the Courthouse and City Hall, The Lake Superior Art Gallery has an eclectic salesroom, divided in two, with the first featuring original art and reproductions, and the other, electric motorbikes. The show room for the art is the larger space. The owner, JP Fraser, a retired photo-editor is usually on hand with his lovely assistant, Tamara. Like Gallery 33, they cater to both novice and professional artists, also selling other crafts and books by local authors. There are five entrances to the mall that is essentially a section of Victoria Avenue with a large roof dropped over it. The main entrances are both on Victoria Avenue. Look for signage, as the entrance isn’t immediately apparent. 

Kinetic Installations at DEFSUP blend art, science, technology, and philosophy.

Madman, Ernest Daetwyler’s piece, Life Is But A Dream, is ominous and fragile. It looks like it could explode at any moment and take away all your dreams. As an alien object, with sensors and speakers mounted on metal spindles producing the sounds of children’s toys and other outbursts, one imagines Kirk and Spock could materialize with their tricorders to communicate with the sentient object in order to diffuse it and save Thunder Bay from a black hole. TOO LATE! Ha ha ha ha.

      But seriously, this alien piece does speak, with a critically negative attitude towards technology. “Technology” in our time has become THE magic word. We are in love with it. Nearly every glitzy television commercial slickly mentions the word “technology” to sell a product, including burgers, toys, chocolate and toilet paper. Every marketer is cozying up to the financial warmth of the electric node.  

      Daetwyler’s iconic piece makes a generic yet cold inference that technology can be equally dangerous as it is beneficial. Think of cars. The dream of freedom you obtain owning a car comes with a price. Glossing it over with gleaming cars flying down empty city streets and mountain roads can be dangerous.

     And glossing it over is an activity that disturbs many contemporary artists. As much as fine artists make personal and emotional statements, expressing an inner reality, many are also interested in throwing back the wizard’s curtain to expose the truth.

     As unfocused as Daetwyler’s criticicism may be, without specifics, he’s at least saying loudly, Look Out! It’s not a bad message and it doesn’t hurt to be made thoughtful and disturbed once in a while, especially when we’re in love with something as arcane as technology. 

     In Gallery One, Diane Landry’s, Flying School, also contrasts technology and fragility with an instillation of 24 umbrellas that rise and open, fall and close, automatically with varying noises of sighs and other sounds of effort or joy from the harmonicas at their base. Light cast through the umbrellas project light and shadow on the ceiling.

     Employing ordinary objects to perform in this manner is fun and imaginative. The playful and colourful contrast with the automatic and dead, like a defibrillator. Beautiful, hypnotic and subtlety annoying, this kinetic piece also speaks for itself, and stands on its own as a fun work. If you sit in front of it and reflect on how it makes you feel, that may be the message. How deep you want to go, and how challenging or hypnotic you want the work to be is up to you.

     Both Daetwyler’s work and Landry’s work rely on the more contemporary belief that art has a mission to reveal reality, taking on the philosophical role of bringing doubt to the discussion of the world we live in. Which is why Modern Art can be a bit of a downer, and sometimes a necessary one with intriguing results. When presented in an attractive and macabre manner where ugliness has it’s own dark beauty, the art can make one think, and make one reflect, about the art and life in general.

     So these artists, like many artists today, cozy up to the authority of other fields; psychology, philosophy, and science. Traditionally these fields were limited in the role of art, and the domain of philosophers and scientists. Artists reference these fields generally out of interest and often because there are legitimate crossovers of learning, and it's become the norm today mostly because its expected and the traditional roles of art just don’t seem to be as valid or exciting these days. 

     Although it shouldn’t be necessary to do so, many artists qualify their work and statements because artists can be terribly insecure about the validity of their work. At its worst this can become part of a con, where the artist has no desire to communicate anything or make you feel anything, but to sound impressive. The intent becomes one of trying to be an artist no matter what. In our egalitarian society this is just too easy to accomplish. "Anyone can be an artist", is a refrain often heard, and even spoken by art and museum directors.

    So, although both Landry's and Daetwyler's work are weak on specifics, and don't reveal typical artist skill sets, they both put an incredible amount of thought and work into their pieces, and the general feelings one gets from the work is worthwhile enough to ponder upon. If these pieces were put into a science centre they would be quite mysterious additions. And in a science centre, the crossover of science, philosophy and art might generate as much, if not more of a discussion. 

     Dr. Chaudhuri’s collection of 14 Contemporary Artists in Gallery Two is a contrast from the other two shows. Not relying on kinetics or interaction, most of these works are smaller and poetic, like a little anthology of the styles and ideas from a broad spectrum of artists in a variety of mediums. Here, variety is key.

     Credit must be given to Dr. Chaudhuri for having such an eclectic sensibility and interest in contemporary art. It is rare and welcome to see such pieces by prominent artists, which also help art students and interested parties get a taste of what exists in some of the contemporary hot spots in bigger cities where the following is bigger and more dedicated. 

Urban Infill: Art in the Core in it's 7th Year

     The Urban Infill: Art in the Core event runs from this Saturday to Tuesday. The gala “downtown wide” opening reception for the art show and launch for Urban Infill is this Saturday at 7pm at the Definitely Superior Galleries at 250 Park Avenue. 

     The DEFSUP gallery is a good place to start your tour of Port Arthur, and hit the venues offering live music, dance performances, a drag queen show, live window displays, along with art featured in retail locations, including paintings, drawings, ceramics, wearable art, photography, and sculpture. This is work by members of the DEFSUP gallery, Lakehead University Visual Art student graduates, Confederation College film and multi-media students, and the Die Active Youth Collective. With an additional space provided by the former RBC Bank, and other locations, there is an extra 10,000 square feet to display work. Work from the Anishinabee Art Gallery will be displayed, along with shows at Gallery 33, The Picture Store, and the Painted Turtle.

     If you’re not sure where to start you can take advantage of the map and/or the high energy “Performative Tour Guides.” 

     An event like this infuses people and hope into the north core, an area that still suffers from ugliness and frightens some residents away. With great restaurants and a couple more opening up, along with new retail experiences and new prospects envisioned by city planners and politicians, it’s very likely that businesses and landlords will do more to help beautify the north core further.

     The DEFSUP gallery’s commitment to infusing the arts into the community performs a primary function of art, that of beautification. As experimental, egalitarian, and short term as it might seem, this event has resulted in a majority of the empty spaces it used in the past to “become vibrant commercial shops and galleries.” So, as the title of the event suggests, Urban Infill, does in fact fill in the spaces.

     On a spiritual and emotional level, events like these bring a needed alternative vibrancy to the city. It used to be, especially in Europe, that the average literate citizen, businessperson and politician, intuitively understood the benefits of mixing art and business.

     Once artists did too, during the days when galleries didn’t exist. They were employed for their ability to beautify, and focused less on the emotional and introspective. Today our contemporary artists, whose goals are very different from artists of the past, often claim business and marketing an anathema to their goals, but they too are discovering the value of investing themselves and their art into the community. Quid pro quo; and we all benefit.

Printmaker, Brian Holden at the Baggage Building

Brian Holden is looking forward to his placement at the Baggage Building at Prince Arthur’s Landing in the month of April. He excited about big sinks, lots of light, and lots of floor space in which he will be working and interacting with the public who can come in and try their hand at printmaking. Working as a printmaker in Thunder Bay for nearly thirty years, and twenty years as an arts educator for children and adults, Brian has extensive experience. So, if you’ve never heard of such processes as intaglio, dry point, and monotype, Brian will have materials, samples, and even tutorials on his laptop available for your learning pleasure. He will also have his wonderful work on display.

For a workshop in Dryden this weekend, and others Brian has done in the past, funding comes from two programs; Northern Arts and Artist in Education, branches of the Ontario Arts Council. For the latter, teachers choose artists and workshops they wish to have in their school. Brian has also worked extensively with CAHEP (Community Arts & Heritage Education Project). With major funding cutbacks to the school system by previous provincial governments this funding is very valuable to Northern communities, and helps keep worthwhile artists like Brian in our area.

To suggest that artists would leave if they didn’t get funding, sounds like an insult to the area, but what most artists know is that a bigger city will have the infrastructure and population to support them as artists. But Brian is bound to the land more than most of us artists. “I like my trees and I like my rocks. They just don’t want to leave me. And of course the landscape of the region that I live in, keeps motivating and inspiring me. I keep thinking I’ll get sick of it, but it hasn’t happened. This is something inbred. It’s a calling.”

Years ago, Brian was producing the most beautiful and delicate little graphite drawings, much like the work of Renaissance artist, Albrecht Durer. Brian shows equal passion for the printmaking processes in which he immerses himself, learning as much as he can with materials that are as environmentally friendly as possible.

With a New Works project grant from the OAC, Brian is researching how plant and animal species at risk in the region are readapting, relocating or disappearing altogether as a result of climate change. With information obtained from the MNR and soon from members of the Field Naturalist Association, Brian will head into the bush to make his own observations. He wants to raise awareness of the changing diversity in the region, along with the challenges of studying these changes, both due to Global Warming. Brian is delving into themes of conservancy, environmentalism, and science based knowledge in order to create a series of beautiful new miniature works.

Brian is also a longtime member of the Lakehead Visual Arts Club. The group is having their 60 Anniversary Showcase show for the entire month of April at their old haunt, the Baggage Building. Events put on by the LVA are listed on a calendar that can be downloaded from this link, www.thunderbay.ca/artscentre. There is also a gala on Saturday, the 6^th of April. Brian can be reached through his website at www.brianholden.ca.

Lakehead University Student Art Show at the TBAG

Students of the Lakehead University Fine Arts program are showing their talents at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery till the end of this month, beginning with what will be a packed opening tomorrow night at 7:30pm. Your trek through the snow will be worthwhile as the Annual Juried and Major Exhibition features competent and deftly created works of art. What also makes this show outstanding is the humour, much of it daring to make a point, with strong imagery reflecting a keen interest in wanting to change our ways and opinions, one major function of art.

This exhibition features dozens of artists working in a variety of styles, hitting on various themes. A few students used cows as a means of making statements, so cow puns could be used to describe this udderly great show, however it’s best to get your kicks by seeing the work rather than reading about it. Unfortunately there are so many young artists, they can’t all be covered, although they are all worthy.

There are more than a few very good portrait works reflecting the artists desire to be thoughtful towards the person depicted, and as a means of making a statement.  Brittany Kennedy in her portraits seeks to bring recognition and honour to the working class by depicting people we are likely to know in the community. Vicki Lundmark’s painting, His Shirt, brilliantly suggests loss and emotional upheaval with unusual and striking imagery, and again makes a statement using a grinning female skeleton as she dresses herself with flesh. Vanessa Herbert distorts her face in images as a means of searching for identity. Michelle C. Kivi cleverly uses paint on her sculptural piece to split a face so it plays with your eyes as you walk back and forth in front of it. Kristin Jorgenson painted a wonderful little portrait of Charlie, capturing his age and weather-beaten face with fine detail. Kathleen Murray pulls off a stunning self-portrait that she should enter into the Kingston Prize competition.

The sculptures are likely to generate the most discussion. Gayle Buzzi’s ceramic fox really does look neglected and needs a home. Katie Lemieux’s rabbit, titled, Rabbid, is unnervingly human. Lassel Pohjalainen put a lot of work into the large wood sculpture, Got the Whole World, complete with a ball that turns slowly in the giant wooden hand. Danielle Montgomery’s, Original Cheeseburger, will make you laugh, and might turn children into vegetarians. And even more cows are depicted when they walk the plank in Danielle’s, Industrial Cows. Katie Lemieux contributes to the related cow themes with an untitled ceramic work where breasts and udders are exchanged. This piece is begging for a title.

There are lots of little surprises too. Piper Vezina’s, Cloud Scape, is a very lovely little landscape making one wish winter would go away. Samantha Armstrong goes for the gothic and references, The Nightmare, by Henri Fuseli, in her small and spooky digital drawing. Bigger surprises are the variety of clever abstract and surreal pieces interspersed throughout the show that have more cerebral goals with personal and aesthetic statements.

What is wonderful about this show is the exciting possibilities that these students present as contributors to the arts communities in which they will eventually take part. One can hope that many of them will find Thunder Bay worthy of contribution.

Fun at Gallery Openings

[MY APOLOGIES!! The opening of the Student Show at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery is next week, Friday the 15th, not tomorrow night as I wrote earlier.]

Years ago, an established Canadian artist displayed his large canvases at the Thunder Bay Art gallery. At the show’s opening, a seven year-old boy yelled across the crowded room, “This guy isn’t a very good painter, is he Dad?” Many cringed, some smiled. A man in a cream coat suddenly hunched and made for the doorway into the adjacent gallery. Upset his father was attempting to temporarily disown him, the boy quickly followed, yelling, “DAD! HEY DAD!”

Many parents don’t bring their kids to openings at galleries as children can express unfiltered opinions, like having a giggle fest in front of a nude painting, sitting on the art, or ripping a protruding element from an installation piece. But it can be endearing to see honest expression, a quality we adults have muted in order to be socially acceptable.

Most artists are genuine, sensitive and endearing and many artists aren’t about being quiet, modest, or socially acceptable. They can be characters, rebels, and miscreants, full of opinion about everything.  Some are outright hostile and weird, but it’s hard to tell if it’s an act. Even so, the stranger the artist, the better the story you have to tell later after the encounter.

A gallery opening is a great place to encounter artists, to learn what the art is about, and how people react to it. It’s also a place to meet people, and to share opinions. Artists aren’t shy about sharing their opinions, so why bother restraining oneself. Let opinion fly, hopefully without yelling.

And if you want to make an impression, the opening of a show is the best time to buy a work of art. When red dots appear on the tags, everyone gets happy, and the buzz continues for days after, sometimes months, even years for those involved. Red dots won’t appear on artwork tags at public galleries, but the work is most often for sale if one asks. Should you buy a work of art, or sell one, please brag about it. It does all us artists good. There’s no buzz if nobody knows about it.

Galleries in Victoria had a great turnout when a number of them held their openings the same night. Downtown restaurants and coffee shops benefited as well. An event called Art Zoom in Thunder Bay, begun by artist Linda Dell, had great turnouts for the three years that they ran, but its timing, during cold winter nights and competition for attention with a truck parade of lights, didn’t help. The amount of work involved in organizing the event was too much for the limited funding, and for Linda who did the bulk of the work. However, it would be great to have another Art Zoom some time in the summer or fall.

In Thunder Bay, there are a number of gallery openings coming up that are highly recommended. Tomorrow night, 40 artists of the Lakehead Visual Ats group and the Water Colour Society, are showing their work at a large opening at Gallery 33 from 7 to 9pm at 33 Cumberland St.

Also, the Thunder Bay Art gallery has an opening at 7:30, NEXT WEEK, Friday, March 15, of Major Studio shows for its fourth year students and a juried show for other students. The place will be packed, and it will be great to see who might become contributors to our local art scene.

Creative Energy at the Waterfront

The Baggage Building Arts Centre is off to a good start in the last few months aiming to be “a workshop for new artistic creations” and “an incubator for creative people and organizations.” There are monthly exhibits with artists in residence and a gift gallery. This commercial space, located on the second floor, displays the work of local artists, jewelers, authors, and more.

Currently, exhibiting a show called “A Superior Experience,” the walls of the centre and gift shop are covered with a variety of artists’ work, with about 36 artists displayed. The works are very colourful and represent a good spread of styles, mostly beautiful landscapes and a few surprises. In one corner of the gift shop is a section that features a new artist every month.

For the month of March, accomplished portrait and figurative artist, Anna Jane, will display her drawings and paintings. Anna is a relatively recent graduate of the Lakehead University Fine Arts program. For her young age she is very accomplished and continues to develop an individual professional style. She draws and paints in intricate detail with dramatic and endearing beauty, leaning towards hyperrealism and hinting at the kind of animal and plant symbolism found in the works of the 19^th Century Pre-Raphaelites.

It’s clear that Anna loves to play with strong shadows and sharp contrasts. She employs a surreal approach with long swirls of bright colour that stream and splash from the bodies of her subjects, making her work fun and playful, yet asking to be read more deeply.  

A short walk from the Arts Centre, is Gallery 33, across from the excellent Thai Kitchen. This is a commercial art gallery displaying up to 50 local artists’ work. The place is very spacious, so each artist has lots of room to hang more than a sampling. The quality ranges from novice to professional. A large amount of wall space is donated to aspiring students of art. The gallery sells jewelry and books by local authors along with other items. The stairs to the basement leads to The Painted Turtle.

Hannah, the owner of Gallery 33 is looking to complete renovations started when the gallery was called Local Colour. The floor needs some character as it is unfinished. For this, Hannah is asking for donations of pennies as she plans to use them as the decorative material for tiles that she will make for the flooring. She hasn’t figured out entirely the method for doing so, as it could be an expensive endeavour, but the result could be amazing, along with being a historical nod to the year we got rid of the penny. Hannah could be undertaking the most impressive flooring venture in Thunder Bay. So bring in your pennies for the big penny jar and penny bucket.