En Plein Air Drive christened on McMichael Gallery grounds

Yorkregion.com
April 13, 2016
By Adam Martin-Robbins

The long, winding driveway that carries vehicles through the lush, forested grounds surrounding the McMichael Canadian Art Collection has been bestowed with a name meant to cement the connection between art and nature that the Kleinburg gallery is renowned for.

Upkar Arora, the McMichael’s outgoing board chair, revealed Tuesday, during a 50th anniversary season launch event that the strip of asphalt is being christened En Plein Air Drive.

It’s a phrase taken from the French meaning “open in full air” used in reference to those who paint outdoors, such as Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, whose celebrated landscape paintings are synonymous with the McMichael gallery.

“I interpret en plein air to mean in plain sight,” Arora said. “What we are truly celebrating is hidden in plain sight and that is ... the human spirit; the cumulative, collective human spirit that has brought us here to this point.”

In addition to the driveway dedication, Arora also announced a slate of activities and initiatives taking place during the coming months to mark McMichael’s 50th anniversary including:

• three “distinct yet complementary exhibitions,” dubbed 50/50/50, comprised of works spanning 50-year periods leading up to and following the gallery’s founding in the mid-1960s
• the 50th Anniversary Moonlight gala
• launching of the McMichael Collection wines with bottles bearing works by the Group of Seven
• a free, two-day public celebration July 9 and July 10 featuring art battles, an en plein air painting adventure, live music and tours