At Home in Bronte: Winter Edition is an outdoor art installation showcasing 50 professionally painted Muskoka chairs which are located through out Bronte Village as well as Bronte Heritage Waterfront Park.
“The painted Muskoka chairs have become a signature attraction for Bronte,” says BIA Executive Director, Maureen Healey. “With community members unable to gather to design and paint the chairs this spring due to COVID-19 restrictions, we turned to our artistic community to individually create stunning works of art.”
Six local artists with diverse backgrounds and unique artistic styles have blended together their visions of Bronte. One common thread is that each Muskoka chair has a hidden lighthouse icon waiting to be discovered.
This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase local artist while encouraging locals to safely get outside to walk, push and cycle to the park and surrounding district to stay healthy during these unprecedented times. Being stuck at home may be overwhelming for one’s physical and mental well-being, so it is important to find ways to get fresh air and move around.
To accommodate the winter art show and other park activities more paths will be plowed and public washrooms will be open and maintained.
The chair art installation is safely spaced out, free and available any time until March 2021.
Meet the artists
Leslie Phelan
Leslie Phelan is a Toronto-based mural artist and the lead-artist for the At Home in Bronte: Winter Edition art show. Leslie painted a total of 20 chairs for the exhibit! She is a former Oakville resident and has done previous mural work in Bronte.
In her chair series, the “Birds and Beasts of Bronte”, Leslie celebrates the local wildlife in the area. Her use of colour allows the animals to pop. If you observe the chairs closely, you can see that an arm on each chair has either a paw-print or something related to the animal.
Also, #funfact, the birds that Leslie painted are from photos taken by her photographer friend who is an avid birder that frequents Bronte.
Robert John Paterson
Robert John Paterson is a freelance illustrator from Toronto who painted 5 chairs for the At Home in Bronte art show. Through his art, Robert tells stories by communicating complex ideas with simplified shapes and colors.
In his chair series “Faces of Bronte,” Robert explores the evolution of Bronte, not only the physical landscape, but also the people growing together alongside it.
Robert takes inspiration from music and old movie posters, which help set the tone of his work.
Patrick Hunter
Patrick Hunter is a two-spirit, Ojibwe, Woodland artist from Red Lake, Ontario. He painted 5 chairs for the winter exhibit. Through his art, Patrick’s intent is to create awareness of Indigenous iconography.
In his chair series, Patrick tries to evoke the soul and spirit of the artwork – placing less emphasis on reality and more emphasis on the spiritual realm. Knowing that this was a public art show, Patrick hopes that when people are looking at his chairs, they would want to know more about the Woodland artistic style and its cultural roots.
His work is inspired by traditional Woodland artists as well as the Canadian Group of Seven.
Sarah Skrlj
Sarah Skrlj is a ‘Jill-of-all-trades’ artist from Toronto who painted 10 chairs for the winter exhibit. Sarah specializes in patterned and mural art, telling stores through patterns and use of colour.
Sarah’s chairs convey 3 themes that represent Bronte: the streets of Bronte, wildlife in the area, and the land and sea that make Bronte so unique and beautiful.
After doing art on the side for her whole life, Sarah decided it was truly her calling and went full-time this year. She states that no job is to big or small for her.
Rafia Shafiq
Rafia Shafiq is an Oakville craft artist who painted 5 chairs for the winter exhibit. She specializes in embroidery art that is a fusion of contemporary and traditional cultural styles.
For her chair series, Rafia took her experience with colorful designs to a large-scale paint project and was able to represent aspects of Bronte in a bold way. Rafia thoroughly depicts iconic parts of Bronte on the chairs, making them feel right at home in the exhibit.
She painted the chairs while also running her full-time craft business and taking care of her daughter with the help of her husband: incredible!
Shennel Thomas
Shennel Thomas is an abstract artist from Brampton, Ontario who painted 5 chairs for the art exhibit. Shennel art uses color to tell a story, share a feeling and create representation.
In her chair series, she uses a fluid art style to illustrate aspects of Bronte that stood out to her, namely elements like water, sunsets, nature and the iconic lighthouse.
Her fluid art technique allows colours to be swirled together to create a piece of art that both complements the other chairs in the exhibit while also standing out and telling a story of their own. Shennel’s chairs will be sure to catch the attention of the residents and visitors of Bronte.