On Thursday I travelled to Toronto to see Roughing It In The Bush, an exhibition of Doris McCarthy's work in honour of her 100th birthday. I went by train, subway, rapid transit and bus with two friends in order to get to Scarborough, where the Doris McCarthy Gallery is located on the Scarborough campus of the University of Toronto. It was a long trip, slightly confusing at times, but thanks to the kindness of lady Torontonions on various occasions, we managed to get to our destination. The exhibition was well worth our travel time. As well as seeing several of her paintings, we saw displays of her sketchbooks, old photos of various painting trips and a variety of memorabilia. Then we travelled back by bus, rapid transit and subway and then walked ( in stifling heat ) to the main campus in the city where more fabulous work from her show was being exhibited. How inspiring and hope inducing it was to see work painted in her 70's and 80's and a wonderful piece completed when she was 95.
Although the city was sweltering , we were not yet finished and so we walked to The Robert's Gallery where the Canadian Society of Painters In Watercolour were having their 85th annual members juried show. I enjoyed seeing the exhibit very much both the contemporary paintings ( main floor ) and work by former members ( upstairs ), Doris McCarthy, A.J. Casson and Franklin Carmichael and others. I sat for quite a while in front of the Carmichael painting, ( my favourite Canadian watercolour artist) absorbing, studying, admiring and cooling down in the air conditioning, then went back downstairs again to admire the wonderful contemporary members' work a second time..... unbelievably fabulous!
On the train home we played our usual post exhibition game of "Which ones would you take home if you could?" and, as always, each of us had our own particular favourites.
An exhausting day in the heat, it certainly was, but an exhilerating one nonetheless!
No comments:
Post a Comment