THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Art Gallery has two new exhibitions titled “Woodland Pop!” which is made up of multiple artists and me, Voyageur: In search of Frances Anne Hopkins by Toronto artist Naomi Harris both of which opened on June 24.
"Woodland POP!" is a group exhibition that presents new expressions of the woodland art style along with traditional indigenous art and it is also Penelope Smart's first exhibition in her role as a Curator at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
Included in this Exhibition is the Gallery's first commissioned digital animation NFT, which can be seen in a full 360-degree view.
The piece is called Bakwene Makwa which translates to a Smokey bear in Ojibwe and was created by artists Quinn Hopkins and Blake Angecomb.
Hopkins credits spending time with his grandmother near Batchawana Bay and surrounded by influential woodland artists that inspired him to become one himself.
"Recently I found out that I am Bear Clan in ceremony which was lost in my family’s history, so that was a really powerful moment for me,” he said.
“So when coming up with this piece I was drawn to the bear, and then thinking of past world events in the past few years, wildfires have been sort of ravaging the landscape and I really wanted to create a piece that sort of talked about that. "
Artist Shelby Gagnon, who painted the Woodland Pop Mural which is titled "Matriarchal flow", says it represents the impactful women in her life such as her ancestors, grandmothers, mother, and sisters along with the connection to the water.
"The inspiration well was the exhibition woodland pop which is like looking at woodland style along with pop, for me, it’s like looking at colours, I really love vibrant and full of life colour. So it was inspired by that but also looking at water," she said.
"That everyone has their own stories and their own lived experiences they have their own dreams and visions on how we interpret this life that we live in and I think that's the beautiful thing about art, is you get to live in the minds of the artist.”
The Summer exhibitions for “Woodland Pop!” and "I, Voyageur" run from June 24 until September 25 at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
