Art in Our Region: What’s On This Month
Columnist Nicole Egan shares a look at spring exhibitions, openings, and creative spaces across Grey Bruce, from major galleries to local studios and emerging artists.
COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION
Spring has arrived in Grey Bruce, and with it comes a fresh wave of exhibitions, openings, and creative energy across our regional arts community.
From big institutional shows to intimate gallery experiences, this month is a reminder of how vital the arts are to our collective wellbeing — and how lucky we are to have such a rich ecosystem of makers, curators, and cultural spaces right here at home.
Tom Thomson Art Gallery: Forecast & Harold Klunder
The Tom anchors Owen Sound’s visual arts landscape with two compelling exhibitions.
Forecast (on until June 20) pairs Tom Thomson’s landscape studies with contemporary artists exploring climate, weather, and environmental change. It’s a thoughtful dialogue across time – how we see land, how we record it, and how it’s shifting beneath us.
Also on view is Harold Klunder: The Dance of Life (until April 18). Klunder’s work is a masterclass in colour, gesture, and emotional abstraction. Spanning more than seven decades, the exhibition traces paintings that are built, torn apart, rebuilt, and layered over years.
Together, the two shows invite visitors to consider their own seasons and cycles, and to simply slow down and look.
Grey Gallery: Marc Matei
Grey Gallery, a small but mighty independent gallery with a love for figurative work and works on paper, has just wrapped its Year of the Horse community exhibition.
Opening April 2 is a solo show by Owen Sound–based artist Marc Matei, featuring mixed-media figurative paintings.
The opening reception is Saturday, April 4 from 4–6pm, and everyone is welcome.
Owen Sound Classes & Creative Spaces
If you’re itching to make something yourself, Upwards Art Studio continues to champion contemporary, experimental, and process-driven work. Their mixed-media classes and open studio time make it a great spot for artists who want to push boundaries or try something new.
For those drawn to fine craft and functional art, Intersections Wood Collaborative showcases the region’s woodworking talent and offers workshops. Their showroom of turned pieces and sculptural work is a reminder of how much imagination lives in local makers’ hands.
Deep Water Gallery: Naked
In Wiarton, Deep Water Gallery’s annual juried exhibition Naked runs through April 25. The show asks what remains when we strip away performance and protection – an invitation to consider vulnerability not as weakness but as truth telling.
With 26 works by 24 mostly local artists, it’s a powerful, intimate exhibition. Bias alert: I have two pieces in the show (Things We Don’t Post and Ransom Poetry), both exploring the tension between what we reveal and what we conceal.
As a settler here, and as a neurodivergent human who has often felt like an outsider, I’m drawn to art that sparks conversations about community resilience.
If you’re interested in a deeper reflection on that theme, I’ve written a longer more personal piece here.
Southampton Arts Centre
Further south, the Southampton Arts Centre has a refreshed look and an ongoing commitment to showcasing local talent.
Two exhibitions run until April 25, Feast for the Eyes: Juried Youth Art Exhibit, featuring emerging artists aged 16–25 from Grey and Bruce. It’s a vibrant mix of mediums and perspectives from young artists at the start of their creative journeys.
SDSS Cover Exhibit, where Saugeen District Senior School students submit designs for Southampton’s annual art catalogue. All 15 submissions are on display in the Promenade Hallway.
Spring workshops are also underway, offering opportunities for artists of all levels to learn, experiment, and connect.
Durham Art Gallery
Rounding out the regional circuit, the Durham Art Gallery continues its mandate of presenting contemporary art that challenges and inspires.
Marginalia closes March 31, and the Gallery reopens April 11 with The System is Broken by Breanne Jeethan.
Jeethan’s work draws from her experience working in a hospital Emergency Department. The series captures abstracted scenes of the clinical workspace — fast-paced, emotionally charged environments shaped by trauma and urgency.
Moving between the ER and her studio, she uses the tension between the two spaces as fuel for her practice.
Durham’s current season brings together artists exploring identity, place, and the politics of representation — an important contribution to the cultural dialogue in our region.
Closing Thoughts
Our Grey Bruce arts community is vibrant, diverse, and deeply committed to creative expression. Whether you’re an artist, a collector, or simply someone who finds joy in looking, this month offers countless opportunities to engage, reflect, and be moved.
All photos and images submitted by the contributor.
Thank you to sponsors of The Owen Sound Current Writers’ Fund, who make these community contributions possible. Contributions from the community do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.
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