GORE BAY—“I am really excited to have this show, it is quite an honour to have a solo show,” said artist Linda Williamson of her solo show, ‘Grounded,’ at the Gore Bay Museum. “The Gore Bay Museum is such a beautiful place. Nicole Weppler has done an excellent job with museum.”
“The Expositor reported on my last solo show, at the Sheguiandah Museum in 2021,” Ms. Williamson told The Expositor. “And the last time I had an exhibition at the Gore Bay Museum was in 2005, so it’s been 20 years.”
Ms. Williamson’s show ‘Grounded,’ “includes all landscape works,” she said. “There are 32 works of my art in this show.”
“In the last while I’ve been creating a lot of larger works, in this show I will have five paintings 30×40 in size,” said Ms. Williamson. “In the past I have occasionally done larger paintings.” When asked if it is harder to create larger paintings she quipped, “it means a lot more work.”
“Some of the paintings in this exhibition are of the Benjamin Islands, Killarney and some from around Manitoulin Island. There is a mix of the three areas represented,” said Ms. Williamson.
Ms. Williamson works mostly in oil on canvas, or mixed media. “I have a mixed media work, Fossil Hill, a painting looking towards Sheguiandah in the winter. It represents all the fossils on Manitoulin Island. It is done looking out east towards Sheguiandah.”
“About half of the paintings in this show are recent, with others a little older, but all the pictures are fairly new,” continued Ms. Williamson. “Some of the paintings I had at the 2021 show in Sheguiandah.
Ms. Williamson explained, “I’ve been collaborating with Shannon Farquhar who lives in Mindemoya and did a still life of the Northern Lights. Images from Killarney are all in this show as well.”
“I had a plein air art session at the dock at Providence Bay, with my painting focusing towards the south,” continued Ms. Williamson.
Ms. Williamson’s career has spanned 31 years, and full-time since 2007. She lives in Mindemoya on Big Lake where she operates Lynsart studio/gallery.
She describes herself as mainly a self-taught artist and credits her talent to her parents’ influence. “My mother, Blanche McDermid, was very creative in her youth and my (late) father Duncan McDermid was a true craftsman who built kitchen cabinets and furniture.”
A Northern Ontario Art Association (NOAA) curated artist, a number of the paintings contained in this exhibition were featured in the 2021 edition of that organization’s popular travelling show.
Ms. Williamsons work has been accepted in over 80 exhibitions, 35 juried group exhibitions, 49 non-juried exhibitions and has had four solo exhibitions. Her art can be viewed at Mutchmor Gallery in Providence Bay, the Sudbury Art Gallery sales and rental program, The Manitoulin Fine Arts Association website.
