This summer, I had the opportunity to be part of Along the River’s Edge, the annual juried exhibition at the Thousand Islands Arts Center in Clayton, New York.
The exhibition brought together work from 60 regional artists, representing a wide range of styles and mediums. For me, it was particularly meaningful to have two of my landscape paintings selected for the show and to see them hanging in this beautiful new gallery space in the heart of the Thousand Islands.
There is something special about showing work here. Much of my painting is inspired by the lakes, islands, shorelines and landscapes of this part of Canada and the Thousand Islands region. These are places I know well and return to again and again in my work, so having the paintings exhibited just across the river in Clayton felt very natural.
And then came some wonderful news.
During the exhibition, I received a note from Marina Loew, Curator and Director of Visitor Experience at the Arts Center, letting me know that my painting Newboro Lake, Leaving Elbow Channel had sold.
Selling a painting is always rewarding. Someone connected with a place and a moment that meant enough to me to paint it and decided they wanted to live with that painting themselves. That's one of the best parts of being an artist.
But the exhibition led to something else I wasn't expecting.
Following the show, I was invited to return to the Thousand Islands Arts Center in the summer of 2027 for a special exhibition focused on Canadian landscape painting.
The exhibition will celebrate the beauty and diversity of the Canadian landscape and the artistic connection that exists across both sides of the border. I've been asked to participate with a larger collection of my landscape work, giving me an opportunity to tell a broader story through the paintings.
For someone whose work is so closely connected to Ontario lakes, rivers, islands, cottages and the Canadian landscape, it feels like a particularly good fit.
It also gives me something exciting to work toward over the coming year.
I'll be spending time in the studio developing the collection and thinking about how the individual paintings can work together, not simply as separate landscapes, but as a body of work that captures my experience of these places.
For now, I'm grateful to the Thousand Islands Arts Center for including my work in Along the River’s Edge, thrilled that Newboro Lake, Leaving Elbow Channel found a new home, and very excited about what comes next.
Clayton, I'll see you again in 2027.
