Making Art History

 Dr. Anne Whitelaw teaches Canadian Art History at Concordia University in Montreal.





While she was here this week, she promptly snapped up a Napster to hang on her office wall.

Her choice? "Firebird".

In Huntsville she met up with Gerry Lantaigne, the brush behind the Group of Seven murals in Huntsville and Lake of Bays.  You can easily spend a few days tracking these murals in Dwight, Dorset, Baysville, Oxtongue Lake and Huntsville.

When we were chatting about Napster's work, the topic of the Group of Seven came up, following the mural discussion.

"Had Tom Thompson not died so young, and so tragically," Anne said (with only a hint of facetious whimsy) "it is quite possible his style might have matured to match Napster's freedom of abstract expression."

Napster Channels a Sea Dragon

We can't tell you a lot about the story, because that would be a 'spoiler', but Napster is currently negotiating a deal to help out a local author who has recently published his first YA Fiction novel, Alex Mortimer and the Beast of Wildeor.

It's a good, fun, fast-paced read, that gets around.  That said, a chunk of that getting around takes place right here in Muskoka, with connections to the S.S. Segwun.  You can read a review of it, from Good Reads.

Bryan Dearsley  gave Nancy a copy, which she read with enjoyment, and then left in the living room where Napster likes to spend his afternoons.
We were startled to discover that in one of his paintings, Napster had captured a likeness of the 'Beast' himself, the water dragon of Wildeor.
"Brillsome" was Bryan's comment.  We think the cat channels a lot - he has done some interesting work with various people and always reflects something that is important to them.

This print will be available soon as a postcard to help fundraise towards the publication of Bryan's sequel, The Tombs of Atlantis.