NEW EXHIBITION AT THE GNO: LE HOMECOMING
Nothing says Northern Ontario like a bear skin rug, an anti-mosquito suit, and of course, a good old fashioned snowmobile. The GNO, Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario, is presenting our beloved city of Sudbury with its newest exhibition titled le homecoming!
Running from March 17th-May 5th, we had the opportunity to attend this exhibition’s opening reception where we were blown away by the intricate detail, amazing textiles, and the rural Northern Ontario feel that artist Jenna Dawn Maclellan worked so hard to create.
This exhibition pays tribute to Jenna’s return home (hence the name, le homecoming!) after spending much of her time in Montreal, and incorporates a series of different textiles which illustrates the spirited way that Jenna “defends” herself against nature.
This exhibition is interactive, playful, and hits home with us Northerners; it inspires you to take a critical look around and enables you to instantly recognize the many different objects used daily in Northern Ontario lifestyle. Jenna encourages her audience to get involved with her art pieces; we had the opportunity to sit by her campfire creation and roast hot dogs, route around in her beautifully filled picnic basket, and sit aboard her life size snowmobile, which had skates as the engine!
These Northern Ontario icons were knit and sewn by the artist herself (impressive!) as she is a part of a family tradition of knitters, tracing back to both her mother and grandmother. Jenna has been incorporating textiles into her artwork for many years now, blowing the minds of everyone who comes to view her creations. Jenna puts a refreshing spin on visual art, and having never attended an exhibition featuring a series of textiles before, we can honestly say that we will be back for the next one!
Throughout her career, Jenna’s work has been showcased at the Musée des Maîtres et Artisans du Québec, la Maison culture Côte-des-Neiges, le MAI, Diagonale, the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Toronto Free Gallery, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, the Casa de la Cultura de Holguin in Cuba, the Museo Textil d’Oaxaca in Mexico, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago, and La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse.
If you’d like to check out more photos from her current exhibition, check out #lehomecoming on Instagram or head on over to the GNO at 174 Elgin Street in our downtown core.
Whether you’re an expert artist or a simple art lover, the Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario welcomes you to come by and check out some rad pieces!
Mackenzie Dempster
Mackenzie is a Communications student, coffee addict, and a major bookworm. The love of her life is her son, Fynn, and during her free time Mackenzie likes to dive into paranormal romance novels as she is a sucker for the strange and unusual.
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