Two local mural artists are recreating masterpieces from the works of Frank (Franz) Johnston, an original member of the Group of Seven, on the Dorset Heritage Museum building.  

Mural artist Gerry Lantaigne, who created 12 of the 22 murals that are a part of Huntsville’s Group of Seven Outdoor Gallery, and Ingrid Zschogner went to work creating the murals last Saturday during the community’s annual Heritage Day celebration.

While Lantaigne brings back to life Johnston’s famous painting titled Northern Evening, depicting a lake frozen over and one man standing on a flat-bed working sleigh horses with evening light hitting the shores, Zschogner has been recreating The Moose Pond, portraying a fall scene of a pond surrounded by forest.

“Kerry Lock, with the Dorset Heritage Museum, originally approached me about doing the murals because they wanted to honour Frank Johnston and lighten up the outside of the building,” noted Lantaigne. “They really enjoyed what they saw in Huntsville and liked the work we were doing. The bottom line with creating murals is that it is a tourism draw, which is why we created the program in the first place. What’s unique about our project is that, unlike many other towns, we focus solely on the Group of Seven. It’s a standout on its own.”

Aside from having to fight against the elements, especially the hot and humid temperatures that Lantaigne says “cause the paint to dry almost before it’s one the canvas,” one of the most challenging aspects of the project has been making sure that the colours match the original print.

“You can get a lot of coverage on murals in a short amount of time. It’s really surprising, actually, how much work you can get done,” he said. “It’s about the process to get the end result you want. The biggest problem (July 16) has been finding the right blue. It took well over an hour. But it happens. I put in too much red and wasted 40 minutes. I call it fighting with the mural. Sometimes it takes three or four tries to get the right colour, but that is the most important part. These are masterpieces for a reason and it’s because the colours and composition work together. There’s no artistic licence here. We’re straight-out not creating things, we’re trying to recreate it, which is much more of a challenge.”

Lantaigne expected it would take between seven and 10 days to complete the murals, and during that time he and Zschogner have been working diligently.

“You’re on ladders and scaffolding and the working area is really restricted,” he said. “You’re climbing up and down and it can get very hot, so you’ve got to watch for sunstroke. But you just have to keep on it. This is the first time we’ve done Johnson work in connection with the gallery. Creating these murals is historic in the sense of research. I learn a lot. I teach myself more and more every time I do one. They (the Group of Seven) were masters. When you find the process they went through and used, it leads in to my own work as well.”

Johnston was an original member of the Group of Seven and only showed his works in the group’s first exhibit. He painted very differently than the others. He chose close-up views that often seemed crowded, and some of his other works showed more simple landscapes, with subtleties like clouds reflecting on water.

“He was an early member of the group,” said Lantaigne. “He painted in a similar style, but at some point Johnston backed away and resigned and his art works changed after that. He became more refined. In his earlier days he connected stylistically, which was a detriment to his own personal career and he moved on to his own. A lot of his work was more realistic than the group, but less abstract, I would say.”

From July 27 to Aug. 3, the Downtown Huntsville Business Improvement Area (BIA) is holding the second Add Your Brush Stroke Community Mural. Lantaigne will lead in recreating another Tom Thomson piece. He said he considers it an honour to work on murals that celebrate and acknowledge the Group of Seven.

“We’re connected here; this is where Thomson died,” he said. “It’s our heritage, especially with Muskoka being designated as an artist community. What I’d like to do is have the other towns in the region get on board and then we can create great weekend trips for people. A lot of people are not willing to travel as far as they used to with the price of gas and having the murals is one way to get people in, say from Toronto, to take a weekend trip here for the outdoor gallery tour.”

Kerry Lock, who sits on the Dorset Heritage Museum’s working committee, indicated that when her father Lorne Greenaway passed away in March, donations were made to the museum in his name and the mural work is being funded by those donations.

“We chose Franz Johnston because after he died in 1949, his widow came and lived here in the early 1950s and, at one time, owned the Dorset Hotel which is where the Fiery Grill is now,” explained Lock. “One of their sons, Paul Rodrick, was also an artist and he passed away in the 1980s. He owned a home in the area and frequently gave painting lessons. So there’s some history here with them. (The murals) help the community get more involved by kick-starting it. We’re really excited about it. It’s been exciting to watch it evolve.”