BY THOMAS FLYNN
From his rugged landscape paintings to his mysterious death, Tom Thomson has always left Canadians wanting more, and this summer, the Huntsville Festival of the Arts has more to give.
From mural tours and canoe painting to the musical, Tom Thomson’s Wake, HfA has projects celebrating Tom Thomson’s legacy all summer long. It’s a unique way to learn about Huntsville’s history while enjoying fantastic art and entertainment.
As the gateway to Algonquin Park, where Tom Thomson created most of his work, Huntsville would have been a frequent stop for the painter during his time there. Huntsville becomes more relevant to the journey of Tom Thomson when you consider the fact that a Huntsville local, Doctor McRuer, was the first to point Tom toward Algonquin Park. These facts, along with the potentially romantic relationship Tom had with Huntsville Local, Winnie Trainor, make Tom a big part of Huntsville’s local heritage.
To celebrate that heritage, local artist Gerry Lantaigne set out to recreate some of the most iconic works by Tom Thomson and the Group of 7 as a collection of murals. Guided tours of these Murals are available all summer long.
The project started as a way to make money when mural artists were replaced by printed banners in the advertising industry. As a young mural artist fresh out of work, Lantaigne went to the Town council with a proposal. At first, the project was shot down, but as Lantaigne was leaving his meeting with the council, “almost on the verge of tears,” Paul Meyers, a local business owner, came running up to him. Meyers told Lantaigne that while he could not fund the whole project, he could afford one mural. Meyers suggested that Lantaigne recreate one of Tom Thomson’s paintings, The Jack Pine, on the side of his store.
From that first mural, the number of paintings grew, and as they grew, Lantaigne, at the forefront of the project, continued to learn about Tom Thomson and the Group of 7. Following in the artists’ footsteps, Lantaigne started painting outdoors and taking trips into Algonquin Park, just as Tom and the Group of 7 had before him.
Murals continue to be made as Lantaigne puts his learning into practice.
He is not the only artist following in Tom’s footsteps. Jason Murphy of Shipyard Kitchen Party is a singer-songwriter and creator of Tom Thomson’s Wake. He says, “I noticed that as I was paddling for hours at a time, the rhythm of canoeing naturally lent itself to songwriting.” Many of the songs written for Tom Thomson’s Wake were conceptualized while Murphy explored Algonquin Park. Tom Thomson’s Wake is a folk musical about the life and death of the famous artist. The musical features three characters from Tom’s life: fellow artist A.Y. Jackson, canoe lake local Larry Dixon, and Winnie Trainor telling the story of Tom from their perspective.
Having a variety of perspectives, that are not Tom telling Tom’s story, keeps the mystery alive. “I thought it might be more fun to have a show that really gets across to people the many different views of this great person and in a way let the audience decide for themselves which version of Tom is their version,” adds Murphy.
“It is by far the greatest mystery that this country has ever had. To me, it’s not to be solved. It’s to be wondered over, discussed, and analyzed. And all it does is get us more interested in Tom Thomson’s paintings and subsequently the paintings of the Group of Seven,” says Roy MacGregor, author and someone who has studied the mysterious death of Thomson extensively.
By not concluding the story of Tom Thomson with a definite answer, the story stays alive, relevant, and ever-expanding; Tom’s relevance as a cultural symbol of both Huntsville and Canada endures alongside the story of his life and death.
As the story continues to evolve, the art is evolving with it. This summer, as a part of the Town’s Canada Day celebration, the HfA is inviting talented street graffiti artists to Rivermill Park to create murals in their distinct styles inspired by Tom’s work. To make the event even more connected to Tom Thomson, the murals are being painted on the sides of canoes. “It’s going to be really exciting to see how young people with an art medium that’s 100 years ahead of Tom Thompson’s original work are going to interpret it,” says Lantaigne when asked about this year’s Canoe Mural Project.
To join in on the ever-expanding story of Tom Thomson, come to Rivermill Park on Canada Day for the 2026 Canoe Mural Project: Street Art Edition, book a tour of the Group of 7 outdoor gallery, or buy your ticket for Tom Thomson’s Wake. To learn more about these events, go to https://www.huntsvillefestival.ca/.
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