I have always loved viewing large-scaled sculptures and especially outdoor sculpture gardens where works are blended in with their natural surroundings. My husband Rich and I always look for sculpture collections on our travels.
In the past, we visited the
Haliburton Sculpture Forest,
which is a unique outdoor sculpture gallery set in 1.5km of wooded trails near
the village of Haliburton.
It features
40+ sculptures by Canadian, Indigenous and International artists plus 6 benches
and 3 huts.
The works are made from a
wide range of materials including granite, bronze, steel, cement, wood, and
glass.
Some highlights included a colourful
feather made of acrylic panels supported by a steel spine titled
Redwing Frond
by Darlene Bolahood, a red and white beaded stiletto called
Fire and Ice: A
Really Big Shoe by Charles O’Neil and the seed head of a mature dandelion plant
titled “
I See a Wish”, created by art students of Innisdale Secondary School in
Barrie.
About an hour and a half north-west of Haliburton in
Burk’s Falls is a weird and wonderful collection of gigantic concrete “
Screaming Heads” created by retired high school art teacher Peter Camani. Consisting mostly of face-like sculptures with wide open mouths, but also dragons, dinosaurs, towers and other structures made of stone, the works are spread across 310 acres of rolling terrain with ponds and forest trails. The screaming heads symbolize nature’s protest against environmental destruction.
As part of our trip to Detroit in 2024, we spent a few days in
Windsor, Ontario and followed the
Riverside Trail to view the works in
Windsor Sculpture Park. Between 30-35 sculptures are positioned along the south shore of the Detroit River (in one of the few areas where Canada is south of the United States), with the scenic views of the water and the Detroit skyline as a stunning backdrop.
We have also toured the
sculpture garden at 13th Street Winery in
St. Catherines where large-scaled sculptures are scattered across an expansive grassy field next to the winery. There was much thought put into the placement of some of the works including the metal wolves running through tall grass which is titled
“The Hunt” by
Ken Hall, and multiple of works by
Floyd Elzinga who is known for his nature-inspired metalwork sculptures. My favourites were
“Prayer Seed”, an enormous thistle seed made from farming equipment parts and
“Unzip the Earth” where clever placement of concrete teeth with a metal handle to create the image of a giant zipper that seems to be opening up the ground that it is laid upon.
This year, we took two short road trips that included visits to two more magnificent outdoor sculpture galleries. The first was a visit to Prince Edward County where we stopped in Picton and Bloomfield. The
Oneo Gallery in Bloomfield, located on the property of
Huff Estates Winery, has a large outdoor gallery that is quite similar to 13th Gallery. It even has versions of Elzinga’s Prayer Seed and Unzip the Earth, and Ken Hall’s The Hunt. While the sculpture gallery in St. Catherines is mostly an open field, the space in Bloomfield is much more landscaped with trees and shrubs, wild grasses, sage and lavender fields, flower beds and even a pond area. The outdoor sculptures are rotated regularly with new works installed every spring.
The 3-acre sculpture garden opened in 2011 and displays over 60 large-scaled sculptures by Canadian and American artists, made from materials including glass, bronze, steel, granite, wood, fiberglass and resin. While the Oneo Art Gallery and Huff Estates Winery have opening hours of 10am-5pm in the summer, the outdoor sculpture garden is available to visit daily from dawn to dusk. We came to visit early in the morning before the buildings opened and managed to beat both the crowds and the heat, having the entire area to ourselves.
The
Oneo Gallery was founded in 2003 and has a reputation for exhibiting and selling both contemporary and historical works of art. A smaller room displays paintings by The Group of Seven, Emily Carr, David Milne and more while the main space offers contemporary paintings, sculptures and other pieces. The contemporary works rotate regularly and include artists such as Gilles and Marc, whose iconic Dogman and Rabbitwoman sculptures are found around the world including Toronto. Rotating art exhibitions and other art events are also held regularly at the gallery as well as at pop-up locations in the area.
After touring the art gallery and sculpture garden, we went to walked across to
Huff Estates Winery for a quick wine tasting and a pizza lunch El fresco on their covered outdoor patio. Huff Estates has won multiple awards over the year including a 2021 Gold medal for the “Cuvée Peter Huff”, a sparkling white wine named after in honour of the deceased son of estate owners Lanny and Catherine Huff. Surrounding the grounds of the winery are more sculptures including a tuktuk from Thailand and more outdoor pieces from Oneo Gallery.
The second outdoor sculpture gallery came during our stay in the
Blue Mountain/Collingwood area. We visited the
Singhampton Sculpture Forest which is located on the large, forested property that is the home and art studio of the artists
Marion Bartlett and her husband Rick Bino. Marion creates large and small-scaled whimsical sculptures out of wood, concrete, clay and metal while Rich is a carver who makes functional wood pieces such as bowls and charcuterie boards. Based on that description, it seems like most if not all the works in the sculpture garden probably are Marion’s works. Walking up the driveway towards their house and the start of the sculpture walk, we encountered a row of wooden posts, each with a different carved face and sporting a different hat. One of the posts was positioned between two tree branches that seemed like arms from far away. Closer to the house, we saw painted chairs with rubber rain boots covering the legs, painted walking sticks and various sculptures and installations including one where a dog is chasing a boy up a ladder.
Traversing deeper into the forest, we came across benches with sculptures on them, more faces carved into tree trunks, figures made from wire hanging from trees, and larger, more complex sculptures and installations. Many of the works were named and had thoughtful quotes and poems associated with them. Posted on a tree next to a metallic businessman holding a brief case is the text “Everyone has baggage. Sometimes we need to help others carry theirs”. An intricate installation titled “The Room” consists of a painted door depicting two women that leads to an open-air tearoom loosely delineated by the frames of walls. Inside is a table covered with a lace tablecloth with a tea set on top, two chairs, an open frame with curtains representing a window and a stained-glass work hanging from a beam. Interestingly, when you look at the back of the door, the two women are painted from behind. We followed the main path and then took each of 3 “side paths” in order to view all the unique and quirky sculptures.
At the end of the outdoor tour, we were invited to enter the artist studio to see the works there. We saw examples of Rick’s carvings including a beautiful chess board, on which he had individually crafted all the men. There were many charming pieces on display including items for sale. It was interesting to see some clay figures that had not been painted yet so that we could take in the entire process of creation. In one corner were several porcelain representations of the artists’ family members. This was a wonderful discovery so close to Collingwood that we had not known about before this year.
There are so many fun and eclectic locations to view sculptures around Ontario. I would love to find more!
