Muskoka memories in watercolour on display at North

ART LOVERS. Dan Goforth (left) and Kevin Dick talk to Auburn Gallery owner Teresa McLaughlin about Jean Bishop and her newly found paintings. The event was held on June 12 in Gravenhurst at North Restaurant to promote the late artists work. The art is for sale and will be on show at North Restaurant until June 27. Photo by Bev McMullen

GRAVENHURST - One of Muskoka’s most enduring artists is providing a nostalgic look into Muskoka’s past.
The Misty Water Coloured Memories exhibit, running until June 17 at North Fine Dining in Gravenhurst, features a wide range of previously unknown works by local painter Jean Bishop. An accomplished artist with skills in numerous art forms, the now deceased artist is probably best known for the medium on display at the exhibit — watercolours.
Teresa McLaughlin, curator of Gravenhurst’s Auburn Gallery, said that Bishop’s work has many local admirers and collectors.
“The rural quality of her paintings really speaks to kind of a bygone era of what Gravenhurst and Muskoka was in the ’60s and ’70s,” said McLaughlin.
“Her paintings are so charming and wonderful and it’s the immediacy of the work — they were just created on-site with what she saw and she captures it all beautifully and simply with the least amount of strokes. They’re very effective.”
Bishop was one of the founding members of Muskoka Arts & Crafts and one of her paintings, a watercolour portraying an early Muskoka farmhouse, was selected for the organization’s permanent collection. An en plein air painter, Bishop would travel to locations from Gravenhurst to Huntsville, set up and paint right there.
“You would go out and see her on the side of the road all over Muskoka with her palette and parka — didn’t matter if it was 30 below she’d be out there sketching, doing the work on-site,” McLaughlin said.
“This is what’s known as en plein air painting and she would often do them without any sketching, just directly sketching with a watercolour brush. So these are beautiful wet-on-wet watercolours.”
The Misty Water Coloured Memories exhibit came together when a member of Bishop’s family approached McLaughlin and asked if she would be interested in exhibiting her mother’s work.
Ann Burns, daughter of Jean Bishop, brought the exhibited collection forward hoping that there would be people in the area who would remember some of the paintings’ subjects.
“I wanted to show off her artwork and to find out the names of a lot of these paintings because my mother would go painting and I would go to school and I would never know where she’d go. I really do not know where a lot of these places are,” Burns said.
Bishop painted scenes from all over Muskoka and she seldom indicated what the subject of her work was.
As a result, the exhibitors are hoping that members of the public can help to identify many of the subject locations.
The paintings often depict parts of the region in the 1960s and 1970s, so in many cases they are of buildings and areas that look quite different today. Despite the difficulty, Burns is confident there are people in Muskoka who will be able to identify the locations.
“I’ve lived away from here for 20 some odd years, but I just believe there are still people who know my mother and would know her work,” said Burns.
To see Bishop’s work for yourself stop by North Fine Dining at 53 Muskoka Rd. North in Gravenhurst. The exhibit is available for viewing between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday until June 27.

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