Art in Public Places

Join us at the Orillia Youth Centre on December 15 for a special Youth Holiday Art Market! This festive event will feature a wide range of handmade arts and crafts created by local young artists. It's the perfect opportunity to support our talented youth while finding unique, one-of-a-kind gifts for the holidays. Bring your friends and family to explore the creativity of Orillia’s next generation of artists, enjoy the festive atmosphere, and get a head start on your holiday shopping. Don't miss out—come celebrate the season with art and creativity!

The City of Orillia’s new exhibit entitled 'Renewal' is now open, featuring ten original works by local artists.

Defined as resuming something after a state of interruption, the word “renewal” seemed an inspiring theme following over two years of global interruption and isolation. Below are the final works selected by jury, representing a compilation of artist renderings related to renewal, rebirth, rejuvenation, and transformation.  The artists and their work are listed in the order that they appear in the exhibit, from left to right, top to bottom.

For background information on the original call, click on the green box below. 

Stack Gallery Call to Artists: Renewal

The theme for the Stack Gallery's second exhibit is ‘Mechanics of Life’, and challenged artists to ponder both the mechanical and physical purposes of the site, both past and present. Artists were invited to draw on their own creativity to glean what ‘Mechanics of Life’ means to them through visual expression. 

The following pieces were select by jury and are featured in the exhibit. 

Click here to see the exhibit online

The theme for the Stack Gallery's inaugural exhibit was "From Foundry to Future," and challenged artists to explore the site’s evolution from an industrial centre to state-of-the-art sport and recreation facility in their work. It featured the work of the following local artists:

• Terry Dyball
• Prudence Tudhope Smith
• Jimi McKee
• Barbara Schmidt 
• Peter Fyfe

The exhibit was filmed and is available below.

Filming and editing was kindly done by OMAH staff and volunteers. @orilliamuseum

Click the link below to learn more about the Art in Public Places Committee and their role in integrating art into the fabric of Orillia. 

Art in Public Places Committee Brochure

In 2022, the Art in Public Places Committee (APPC) led two calls for visual artists, muralists, and visual arts teams to create original works of art for seven sites across the City (map below).

The theme "Crossroads, connections and intersections" draws on the City’s strategic location along the shores of Lakes Couchiching and Simcoe, at the heart of the four communities of Oro-Medonte, Ramara, Severn and Rama First Nation, connected via the Trent-Severn Waterway, Highways 11 and 12, and the Trans-Canada Trail to anywhere you want to go in Canada and beyond. These crossroads, connections, and intersections breathe life into the Orillia area and are bring together visitors and residents and are the very reason Orillia has been a gathering place for Indigenous peoples for more than 5000 years.

The collection includes the following artists, works and locations to be installed by June 2023. 

By James (Jimi) McKee

The piece entitled The Steering Drive for the Mariposa Belle is a creative use and display of the City’s industrial past, connecting visitors to Stephen Leacock and his fictional story of the sinking of the steamboat bearing the same name in Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town. For more on Leacock and his connection to Orillia, visit www.leacockmuseum.ca

The Steering Drive for the Mariposa Belle is one of six sculptures by the artist, Jimi McKee, made of Dorr Oliver Long patterns. The patterns were used to cast molten metal at the Dorr-Oliver-Long Factory; one of the leading suppliers of a variety of mining equipment within North America. The factory was located at 174 West Street South, across the street from the work's home at the Orillia Recreation Centre entre. For more on the factory, watch this video compiled by the Orillia Heritage Centre.

The Artist

McKee is Canadian artist born in 1943 in Toronto to John George McKee and Mary Margaret Gough. John George immigrated from Ireland 1907 to Toronto where we worked for the T. Eaton Co. for over 50 years. Mary Margaret was an illustrator, pianist, model, and one of the first women in Canada to fly her own sea plane. Jimi and his brother William were born on 125 Dunvegan Road in Forest Hill and attended Saint Michael's College.

McKee has been involved in the art field since 1959. He works in various media on two-dimensional and three-dimensional work including paint, metal, wood, and various other media he comes across such as the Dorr-Oliver-Long patterns. For more on McKee, visit his website.

J.B. Tudhope Memorial Park Butterfly Garden 

Papillio Planta by Robert Doan

The piece, entitled “Papillio Planta” by Robert Doan, was installed in J.B. Tudhope Memorial Park Habitat Garden following an open Call to Artists in 2020 by the City of Orillia and Art in Public Places Committee and endorsed by Council on October 26, 2020. 

The Call challenged local artist to create a dynamic piece of artwork that captures the essence of the pollinator garden. Doan’s proposal was selected for the strength and compelling nature of the literal and figurative imagery within the design.

Inspired by the Call to Artists to create his own plant for the garden, the artist brings together six butterflies in flight to form a bloom.

Similar to a real plant, Doan gave the piece a Latin botanical name: Papillio, meaning butterfly, and Planta, meaning plant. It stands approximately 7ft tall in the garden and is made of cold rolled steel. The material was chosen as it will weather over time to produce the natural orange-brown patina that will help it blend into its natural surroundings.

The Artist

Robert Doan is a local sculptor who has combined his education and skill as a welder, jeweller, and visual artist to create compelling works of art for private and public commissions. He works with metal to create custom decorative pieces for commercial enterprises and residential properties. He has done work for Hawk Ridge Golf & Country Club, the CIBC in Mississauga, and Protea Health Centre in Barrie.

Doan studied Material art & Design at the Ontario College of Art and Design and graduated from the welding course at Humber College. He also studied Jewellery and Metals at Georgian College - Barrie Campus and was awarded medals of academic and studio excellence. Mr. Doan taught welding at Georgian College when the Orillia Campus first opened in the 1980s.

Site drawings  

Inspired: The Road to Gold