While checking out the Huronia Museum’s exquisite Group of Seven collection, don’t be surprised to see Tigger, Lucky and Jasper doing their best to ensure cadmium lemon, burnt sienna and viridian splashes hit their canvases.
That’s because the warm and welcoming Midland museum will host a paint with your dog event Saturday in support of the OSPCA’s Midland and District Animal Centre.
Hosted by local First Nations' artist Paul Whittam, the afternoon workshop will combine an opportunity to learn more about Indigenous culture as well as a storytelling experience and, of course, the chance to paint with your dog.
Museum executive director Nahanni Born says this marks the first time they’ve tried something like this and notes it’s a perfect activity for those who not only adore their pets, but also enjoy art, history and culture.
"We know a lot of people with dogs and we know all the dogs that come through here so it seems like a natural fit," Born explains.
The workshop begins at 1 p.m. sharp as the dogs get ready to paint with a little help from their human friends.
To make it work and turn one's best friend into the next 'Puplo' Picasso, the canvas first gets some healthy dollops of paint and is then placed in a plastic storage bag. From there, the dogs perform their magic while savouring whipped cream and Cheez Whiz flavours.
Et voilà, a painting emerges from behind the encased canvas that could one day adorn the living-room wall.
After that, the budding artists will get some outdoor time for fun and frolic with their creative contemporaries in the nearby Huron-Ouendat Village.
Upon everyone’s return to the museum, it’s the humans turn to set the background for the story they will tell with their own painting skills to accompany their pooch’s pièce de résistance.
“Hopefully by this time, they’ve had their playtime and will have settled down,” says Whittam, who led a previous museum workshop where participants painted a feather that became part of a collaborative work.
And in keeping with the canine theme, Whittam says he might tell the traditional story that explains something interesting about our canine companions.
All participants must complete the questionnaire before registration is complete and understand that this museum activity “for all the good doggos who feel like they can behave themselves in a group setting.”
Space is very limited for this workshop, so Born says those interested should complete registration as quickly as possible since spots are reserved on a first-come, first-serve basis.
For more information about Saturday’s festivities, call (705) 526-2844 or email [email protected].
And as a dog-friendly facility, Born says staff regularly get to know visiting canines as well as those passing through adjacent Little Lake Park.
She jokes: “I don’t think there’s a new dog in this park that we don’t know.”
