Since 2013, Oxtongue Lake for Arts and Culture (OLAC) has celebrated how a small community can play a significant role in Canadian art history. Significantly, Tom Thomson, A.Y. Jackson, and Lawren Harris visited and painted in the Oxtongue Lake and Oxtongue River area before Thomson’s death in 1917. In 1957, the youngest member of the Group of Seven, A.J. Casson, retired from teaching and spent many vacations at the Blue Spruce Resort, painting local scenes. Indeed, inspired by meeting Casson as a young girl in 1968, community member Janine Marson went on to become a talented and respected artist, as well as play an important role in OLAC.
While the Casson connection to Oxtongue Lake was known around the Blue Spruce, it became better known in 2012, when retired documentary producer Bob Hilscher shared plans for a film about the Group of Seven’s work in Oxtongue Lake. Bob had found
connections with Thomson and the Group’s paintings in the area, and evidence of a staggering body of work by Casson painted around Oxtongue Lake. As Bob says:
“There is probably an image of Oxtongue Lake or the Oxtongue River in every major gallery in Canada.”
At the same time, inspired by Group of Seven murals in Huntsville, the Oxtongue Lake Community Centre Committee worked to have a mural located in Oxtongue Lake. With brushstrokes added by community members, the large-scale reproduction of Casson’s Oxtongue River (Ragged Falls) was completed by artists Gerry Lantaigne and Janine Marson at the community centre and mounted on the centre’s exterior wall in November 2012.
After these events, 12 community members came together to work towards promoting the local connection with A.J. Casson and the Group of Seven. Now known as OLAC, the volunteer group established three main goals:
- Leverage the fame of Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, and A.J. Casson and their connections to Oxtongue Lake to attract and retain visitors to Oxtongue Lake;
- Use the imagery and stories of Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, and A.J. Casson to strengthen and highlight our commitment to the protection and preservation of the natural environment and its importance to our community; and
- Enhance community spirit.
OLAC has since secured funding and partnerships to complete projects like this book;
an outdoor exhibit at the community centre; several interpretive plaques around the lake; an A.J. Casson–themed hike was developed for the Hike Haliburton Festival; hosting two successful “Artist’s Day” festivals; facilitating the creation of a mural featuring Lawren Harris, displayed at Algonquin Outfitters; and donated a Swift canoe
for a raffle supporting the Huntsville Hospital Foundation and Dorset Health Hub. OLAC is a terrific example of how community spirit, hard work, a little luck, and co-operative partnerships can make great things happen.