McMichael Grounds Rehabilitation & Improvement Project
ENHANCING OUR GROUNDS:
Building on the McMichael’s Natural Legacy
One of the delights of the McMichael is the beautifully designed grounds and
walking trails which enable you to see the wonderful exhibition that nature
provides to the gallery’s visitors.
The close relationship of art and nature is the animating principle of the McMichael’s magic.
It inspired Mr. and Mrs. McMichael to settle on this property after the Second World War,
and to plant it with fir trees, which were then barely saplings. They saw the landscape as an
important context for presenting their art collection. The landscape framed their belief that
much of Canadian art, particularly the work of the Group of Seven, was inspired by the
land. These artists told the inextricable link that we as Canadians have for the land as a place
of contemplation, inspiration, repose and spiritual sustenance.
Certainly the landscape around the McMichael allows us to continue to tell this important story. The drive along the entrance roadway serves as a pastoral prelude to the works of art that our visitors find in the galleries. In the midst of all the urban development that surrounds the gallery, our entrance drive transports young and old to a calm reverie the better to appreciate the aesthetic and natural settings that comprise the gallery and grounds.
Over the past several months, the McMichael
completed a functional study for the entire McMichael
site. Within the context of the strategic overview and
site study, the next steps involve developing the grounds
to enhance program and exhibition capacity and to
increase visitor attendance. The grounds surrounding
and containing the McMichael site have been identified
in public surveys as an asset as important as the gallery
and its art collections and programs. The grounds are
used for a large number of public activities, including
educational programming, children’s art camps,
installations of works of art, public and staff parking,
weddings and special events, photo backgrounds, stages for commercial film productions and
backgrounds for artistic films, picnic grounds, and hiking on the trails by school groups, visitors
and local community residents.
The work that will be undertaken on the grounds will allow the McMichael to increase its outstanding outdoor exhibition capacity, ensure its sustainability, broaden its audience appeal, increase its stature as a tourist destination, stimulate economic development in the local, regional and provincial milieux, improve visitor amenities, and exhibit works of art in an outdoor gallery!
We were very fortunate this past spring to receive $4.2 million from the Province of Ontario and the federal government, through the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, to enhance the grounds in several significant ways and thereby continue to tell our story for the next generation.
After the announcement at the McMichael on March 12 by the Honourable John
Baird, Canada’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister, and the Honourable Brad Duguid,
Ontario Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, work began almost immediately to plan
several significant alterations to the grounds beginning at the Islington Avenue entrance
all the way to the front doors of the gallery building. The funds will enable us to increase
the plantings on the grounds, and to undertake much needed remedial work and
upgrading to the infrastructure on site.
To realize our plans, we have conceived a design that takes advantage of the natural setting and seeks to enhance it with improvements to the plantings along the roadway, in the wooded areas, and around the buildings.
In addition to improving the natural setting, the funds will permit us to enhance and showcase features on the grounds in new and improved ways. A path system will lead visitors through the landscape, allowing for pleasant strolls around and through the landscape, as much as possible taking full advantage of the natural features.
The expansion of our grounds will also enhance our capacity for outdoor works of art and ensure that we continue to maintain our standing as one of the Province of Ontario’s leading cultural, educational and tourism attractions. With this, the McMichael will continue to grow and serve generations of Canadians who come to find enjoyment and resonant truths in the close, symbiotic relationship between art and nature.
Last updated September 1, 2010
