Monthly Archives: February 2012

Group of Seven Outdoor Gallery

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Yesterday I was in the District of Muskoka, affectionately known as ‘Muskoka’, located in Central Ontario, about 2 hours north of Toronto.  With almost 1600 lakes, numerous picturesque towns and villages and many lakeside vacation spots, Muskoka is an ideal ‘cottage country’ and tourist destination.  Not to mention – extremely beautiful.  Muskoka also includes the western border of Algonquin Provincial Park.  We stopped in the town of Baysville and had lunch at Miss Nelles, a café and antique shop that is in a charming building originally built in 1872.  

After parking the car and having a look around, I noticed on the side of the building a mural of The Pines by the Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris. 

              

I soon discovered that this mural (painted by Gerry Lantaigne) is part of the Muskoka Group of Seven Outdoor Gallery; a self-directed tour that is located throughout Huntsville, Lake of Bays and Algonquin Park.  The ~100 murals painted by some of Canada’s top mural artists whose mandate was to re-create the masterpieces, as close as possible to the originals painted by Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven.  Gerry Lantaigne, founder and artistic director of this outdoor gallery, writes, “These murals represent our natural landscape, and so fittingly help us tell a story about ourselves.  Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven were spurred on by the ideals of Algonquin Park and the Canadian northland, this group of friends ventured into the wilderness as voyageurs with their canvas and paints, and discovered their expression for their Canadian ideals in art.  The works in the collection are an homage to these painters, and the goals they achieved.”  There are 5 murals in Baysville so this summer I plan on returning to Muskoka to try to view the 95 other! 

 All images via Modmissy

George Nelson Turbine Clock

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It has been a while since I have written.  One word – VIRUS!!  But I am up and running and stronger than before. Big thanks to my big brother.  This past weekend I finally did a drop-off of articles for donation to my local Value Village.  This stuff had been rattling around in my car trunk for weeks.  One of the items I donated was a chunky wood (pine) 1980’s era wall clock.  Definitely not my style.  So since I was there I just had to take a walk through ‘V. V. Boutique’ to see what possibilities lay inside and as usual I headed directly to the furniture section.  Over the years I have seen some interesting items (retro lamps, pink Saarinen tulip table, Hudson Bay blankets, and crazy art work) so as luck would have it, there under a pile of stuff I spotted a George Nelson clock.  The same George Nelson I wrote about in Marshmallow Sofa posted June 7th.  https://modmissy.com/2011/06/page/2/.  Upon closer inspection I realized that this was not an original George Nelson clock but a reproduction – but with a price tag of $6.99 I thought what the heck and bought it. 

       

George Nelson designed the Turbine Clock in 1957 which “embodied the joie de vivre of the 1950’s”.  Made of brass and aluminum, with a unique wedge-shaped hour hand, a simple minute hand and 12 ‘blades’ (or petals) marking the hour, the clock truly looks like a turbine . 

          

A landmark of modern design, the Vitra Design Museum has introduced a re-edition of this unique timekeeper.   Manufactured with great attention to original detail the Vitra George Nelson Turbine Clock can be purchased for $572.  After further research I discovered that Kirch & Co. is also selling the George Nelson Pinewood Wall Clock.  This reproduction version uses pinewood for the petals in an espresso finish just like the one I bought.  The ticket price – $130.  The high vs. low scenario.  I thought it rather interesting; I donated one clock and purchased another.