The summer trip to the cabin, the family road trip, and the week camping — snapshots from these scenes populate our collective imagination and are often framed as quintessentially Canadian summer experiences. Vacations in Lake of the Woods and the Muskoka Lakes were essential to Walter Phillips’ sense of belonging in Canada and inspired many of the artworks he produced.
The works in this exhibition explore these idealized Canadian experiences while questioning the extent to which they reflect the inherited and perpetuated biases on which this country was founded. In it, you will see art depicting summer vacations, the Canadian wilderness, the nuclear family, and early-to-mid-20th century Winnipeg.
WAG@The Park presents a rotating series of exhibitions curated by WAG-Qaumajuq at The Pavilion at Assiniboine Park Conservancy (APC). Art is selected primarily from the APC collection, as well as from WAG-Qaumajuq’s vast holdings.
To plan your visit, check out wag.ca/visit