In 1977, Ontario couple Jim and Sue Waddington set off to discover and document the actual sites that inspired painters like Tom Thomson and their colleague artists.
They have spent the last 39 years on a journey of discovery — tracking down clues, deciphering old sketches and letters, exploring hidden inlets, and even using Google Street View.
Their results are found in their book In the Footsteps of the Group of Seven.
The couple will be at in Sudbury on Aug. 9 from 5 – 7 p.m. at the Art Gallery of Sudbury for a special presentation and book signing.
Canada's most iconic artists the Group of Seven (which actually included more than seven artists) canoed and camped in the Northern Ontario wilderness and parts of the rest of Canada, sketching and painting the sometimes stark beauty of rocky outcrops, placid lakes, and ragged treelines.
Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley interpreted the landscape in what was then a new and modern mode.
Jim and Sue particularly like to search for sites that can only be reached by canoe and on foot.
The talk will compare photographs of some of the 600 painting sites they have found with the corresponding artwork. They will discuss how they find the painting sites and what they have learned about the painters.
Originally published in hard cover, the soft cover edition of In the Footsteps of the Group of Seven has been co-published by Art Gallery of Sudbury/ Galerie d’art de Sudbury and Goose Lane Editions (June 2016).
Proceeds from sales of the book support the Art Gallery of Sudbury.
Admission by donation. Pre-purchase a copy of the soft edition of In the Footsteps of the Group of Seven ($29) by visiting www.artsudbury.org.
