About Canadian Art Junkie:
I’m a Canadian and I’m a junkie for the visual arts.
The site has been online since 2011, featuring painting, photography, illustration and other visual arts from Canada, and from around the world.
The painting on this page, by Emily Carr, a favourite, is the quintessential example of art that many Canadians grew up with. Today, the selection goes well beyond Canada’s still-beloved Group of Seven.
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About Me: I’m a journalist, traveler and art & music lover. I grew up in Canada, trained in Chicago, lived/worked in the Toronto area and now live half-time in Collingwood, the beautiful centre of south Georgian Bay.
I have curated visual arts here on Canadian Art Junkie since 2011 and post occasionally to my personal blog Colder by the Lake. I am an accredited facilitator for Amherst Writers and Artists, and for the Writers Collective of Canada, which run not-for-profit writing workshops.
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*Re Emily Carr’s painting, originally titled Indian Church (above).
In May, 2018, the Art Gallery of Ontario, which holds the piece, re-hung the painting with a new name because the word “Indian” causes pain, the AGO said.
The new name Church at Yuquot Village references the British Columbia Indigenous community where the church was located.
A CBC piece about the name change is here.
Image credit: Emily Carr, Church In Yuquot Village, 1929. Oil on Canvas. Bequest of Charles S. Band, Toronto 1970, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Copyright Art Gallery of Ontario 2007
Hi! I have recently discovered your blog and really enjoyed your posts, so I’ve nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award!
I’ve added a link to your blog from my post: https://lilyandrose1126.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/nominated-for-the-versatile-blogger-award/
Thanks and congratulations!
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thanks boomerontario… will let you know if someone does want to represent my work. it’s all in the timing i’m feeling. thanks again.
Nancy and Michelle – One last thing. Do you guys both know about this show/competition for emerging artists?
http://www.theartistprojecttoronto.com/untapped-emerging-artists-competition/
hey boomerontario
damn. no gallery yet. have been looking and trying and hopin and prayin. but no go yet. obviously i’ve got very few paintings at this point (as you may have read on my site, my paintings take forever to do, and i’m only on my 5th now, which is probably the most detailed of them all!)…my wordpress site allowed me the chance to get my work out there to the public in the meantime… i’ve just realized thru a previous comment posted that you responded that all artists on your site must be represented by a gallery…. didn’t know until then. sorry.(i did have a gallery represented me a few years back, but no longer…) Anyway, i understand if you wish not to include my work because of that… either way, thanks for the wonderful site for artists!
nancy
Hey Nancy – Thanks for the response. I really like your art. It’s not that everybody must always be repped by a gallery, it’s just that right now, I’m focusing on artists who have exhibitions on, or who are front and centre at one of the main galleries. It’s a new-ish blog and it’s just the approach I’m taking for the moment. But stay in touch, will you. I’d love to hear what’s happening with your work.
thanks for taking the time!
anytime i find myself doing housework such as sweeping the floors or wiping the countertop i tell myself: ‘this is a painting, i’m creating a painting, this is painting, this is…’
i’ll let you know when i get my act together! michelle
http://michellecfecit.wordpress.com/
I like that sweeping mantra very much!
Hi Michelle – Man, it doesn’t look like you took a 10-year break! Interesting art. Right now, I’m focusing on artists who are on exhibit or who are represented by a gallery. Stay in touch, and let me know how things go for you.
let me know what you think once you get a chance to visit my blog.
thanks, michelle
http://michellecfecit.wordpress.com/
hi! wondering if you may like to include my work… i’m a toronto artist, used to be an illustrator, and finally found my niche in my work… thanks for your great website!
nancy easun
Hi Nancy – Thank you very much for contacting me (and for your support) I believe I saw your work at Art Toronto 2011? I’m not sure. But those fish paintings are beautifully unique. The images stay with you. And yes, those are exactly the types of work this blog is made to showcase. Who’s your gallery?
Your blog is inspiring. I used to paint before i moved to my boarding school in 8th grade and that school took my art from me(cuz it was all studies and no arts, also of bullying) but i found a new art, poetry. i started working on my paintings last year and i’m still stuck there where i was six years ago. I hope i can get more inspiration from your blog to paint and sketch.
Cheers and good luck 🙂
Hi Pakistani Boy – I really enjoyed your poetry and your blog when I went there for a visit. Thank you for all your comments and likes. You obviously have a lot of energy, and if painting is what you want to get back to, I’m betting you will do it some day.
Hi Jean – Thanks for your comments. You made me think about something I heard at the Art Toronto 2011 fair last weekend. A curator from the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art – where a big exhibit of Canadian art is launching next May – gave a talk about the art scene in Canada, and how she picked the artists who will be on show. After the talk, during the Q&A, somebody asked her which part of Canada that she visited impressed her most with contemporary. She said Calgary was one of the places. I don’t know much about the Calgary art scene, but maybe it’s beginning to grow? (BTW, those peameal sandwiches at St. Lawrence – scrumptious! Nice blog)
And Toronto has fabulous choice of reasonably priced art supplies –unlike Vancouver or Calgary.
Another ex-Toronto that lived in Toronto for over 20 yrs., (last 10 yrs. I biked regularily) and enjoyed some of the great art there. Then lived, cycled and enjoyed art in Metro Vancouver.
Now in Calgary. Jeez, it feels like a desert –art-wise abit. It’s in my blog of stuff in these 3 cities and more elsewhere since I wrote for Tourism Vancouver: http://insidevancouver.ca
I always enjoyed the Group of 7 and too bad that the late Ken Thompson decided to move his collection from the Bay store on Queen St….
Unfortunately I didn’t have time to get down to the retrofitted AGO this past September when I was cramming time with family & friends. But plan to. By the way, yes some of the ACAD grad. student art is fabulous.
Wow–beautiful painting! I have not familiarized myself with canadian artists, but have enjoyed looking at the works featured on your blog! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so happy people are becoming familiar with some of the great Canadian art. Thank you for your comments, and for visiting.
Hi Mazimages – Thanks for your support. And I bet there’s lots of people, me included, would love to see your work.
Great blog, lots of information, inspiration and a great place to catch up on the world of Canadian artists. I look forward to more postings and maybe someday I will have the courage to share my work 🙂
Thanks again. A piece about The Group of Seven currently on show in London is upcoming. Appreciate your interest!
Love this idea for blog…I’m from Toronto, living in NY since 1988. I love the Group of Seven.