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Heritage  MattersRead more stories about Arts and creativity

CBC's Murdoch Mysteries

Quiet on the set

Shaftesbury is the company behind the hit television series Murdoch Mysteries and Frankie Drake Mysteries, both of which air on …View Quiet on the set

Doris McCarthy 1910-2010 (Photo: David Lee)

The cult of Doris

Living to 100 is only the latest feat in the life of the singular painter Doris McCarthy, who once cut off her finger for her …View The cult of Doris

Orchard Hill Farm dinner (Photo: Grayden Laing)

Back to the farm

My parents (Ken and Martha Laing) decided to forgo fossil fuels to protest the first Gulf War – driven by anticonsumerism, …View Back to the farm

Creation Twins, watercolour by author Rick Hill shows the Haudenosaunee concept of Creation.

Clay connection – Indigenous living and creativity

A couple of decades ago, I witnessed a friendly debate between a white historian and an Indigenous ethnologist. The well known …View Clay connection – Indigenous living and creativity

Living Room (detail), by Amanda McCavour, 2010-2011 (Photo: Agata Piskunowicz). Produced with the support of the Ontario Arts Council.

A stitch in time

My interest in textiles and embroidery started with an interest in drawing and, even more specifically, an interest in line. …View A stitch in time

Scene from Armide (Photo courtesy of Opera Atelier. Credit: Bruce Zinger)

Art in the face of adversity

Opera Atelier’s 30th anniversary in 2016 was a watershed season for the company. It marked our return to the Royal Opera House …View Art in the face of adversity

The Pioneer Cabin, painted by Homer Watson (1900). Reproduction courtesy of Homer Watson House & Gallery.

Homer Watson: Ontario’s pioneer artist

Homer Watson’s paintings and drawings captured the spirit of pioneer Ontario much as, in a later generation, the work of the …View Homer Watson: Ontario’s pioneer artist

Highway 11, near Hearst, by Todd Stewart

Highway 11, near Hearst

I feel the deepest connection with a place when I’m alone in it, surrounded by silence, the rest of the world far away. The …View Highway 11, near Hearst

Everything Old is New Again, October 7, 2013. (Photo: Kim Lovell)

One hundred years of entertainment

Birthdays are about celebration and, in the case of Toronto’s Elgin and Winter Garden theatres, a toast to 100 years of …View One hundred years of entertainment

The 1913 John McKenzie House

Partnering for conservation

The Ontario Heritage Trust has a number of conservation tools available to protect and preserve heritage throughout the …View Partnering for conservation

Larger centres such as Stratford, Cobourg and Carleton Place (shown here) included performance venues within their civic buildings

Treading the boards

Performance venues command an important presence in Ontario communities. They tell us about the aspirations of the people who …View Treading the boards

The Opening Act: Canadian Theatre History 1945-1953, by Susan McNicoll. Ronsdale Press, 2012.

Resources: Ontario’s theatrical heritage in the spotlight

... the shelf

The Opening Act: Canadian Theatre History 1945-1953, …View Resources: Ontario’s theatrical heritage in the spotlight

LC Simmons in grotesque makeup, c. 1910

Bringing vaudeville back into the limelight

The vaudeville era is one of the more remarkable chapters in the history of theatre and performance. Vaudeville was a dazzling …View Bringing vaudeville back into the limelight

Magnus Theatre 2002 (Photo: Thunder Bay City Archives)

Second run: A new life for an Ontario theatre

Since the early 1970s, Magnus Theatre in Thunder Bay has made a commitment to urban renewal and the reuse and repurposing of …View Second run: A new life for an Ontario theatre

Stratford’s Festival Theatre. (Photo: Erin Samuell)

From Stratford to Shaw: Transforming smalltown Ontario

It’s hard to imagine either Stratford or Niagara-on-the-Lake being where they are today without their world-renowned theatre …View From Stratford to Shaw: Transforming smalltown Ontario

The Elgin Theatre (Photo: John Allman)

Perspectives: The Elgin Theatre at 100

Looking back by Wayne Kelly

When theatre entrepreneur Marcus Loew brought Loew’s Theatrical …View Perspectives: The Elgin Theatre at 100

Robin Hood – featuring Karen Kain and Frank Augustyn – was the first Ross Petty Production at Toronto’s Elgin Theatre.

The evolution of the panto

It is always entertaining to watch a troupe of actors sing, dance and throw their audiences into hysterics. This is something …View The evolution of the panto

From wall to wall and kiln to kiln, thousands of individual types, styles and techniques of artistic graffiti can be found at Evergreen Brick Works, dating back to the early 1980s (Photo: Michelle Scrivener)

Off the wall

Storytelling takes inspiration from many sources. Traditionally, museums weave a narrative from real objects: a vase, a coat, a …View Off the wall

The Pioneer Mill, 1880, by Homer Watson, oil on canvas, 86 x 127 cm, Royal Collection (Photo: Royal Collection Trust/© HM Queen Elizabeth II 2012)

The world according to Homer

The local newspaper writes: “In this new world, great painters are fewer than in older countries, but it may be said of Homer …View The world according to Homer

Petroglyphs Provincial Park

Archeological treasure in a provincial park

Reprinted with permission (Windspeaker, Volume 28, Issue 4, 2010)

North America’s largest collection of petroglyphs …View Archeological treasure in a provincial park

Post Romano Fool’s Paradise, 1948, by Doris McCarthy (1910-2010). Used with permission. Fool’s Paradise, McCarthy’s former home and studio, was donated to the Ontario Heritage Trust in 1998.

Painted Ontario

Paintings are valuable sources of information for anyone interested in exploring our heritage. We can use them to glimpse into …View Painted Ontario

A Treasury of Tom Thomson, by Joan Murray. Douglas & McIntyre, 2011

Resources: Painted Ontario

What's on the shelf

A Concise History of Canadian Painting, 3rd edition, by Dennis …View Resources: Painted Ontario

Life Regenerating, 1977, by Norval Morrisseau. Acrylic on canvas, 99.1 x 149.9 cm. Government of Ontario Art Collection, Archives of Ontario, 623855.

Collections for the people: The Government of Ontario Art Collection

Of outstanding national and provincial significance, the Government of Ontario Art Collection at the Archives of Ontario began …View Collections for the people: The Government of Ontario Art Collection

Tom Thomson, Canoe Lake, Mowat Lodge, 1914, oil on plywood, 21.4 x 26.7 cm. Collection of the Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound. Gift of the Ontario Heritage Trust and the Estate of Stewart and Letty Bennett, 1988.

Communities embracing our landscapes

Ontario has been home to Canadian artists of all disciplines. Since the mid-19th century, painters particularly have worked to …View Communities embracing our landscapes

A scene from Le Chien, a play by Jean Marc Dalpé, from Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario’s 1987-88 season. Used with permission.

Arts and culture in francophone Ontario

In the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, Ottawa was the centre of francophone cultural and literary life in Ontario. …View Arts and culture in francophone Ontario

Out front of Loew’s Yonge Street theatre in the 1920s (Photo: Toronto Transit Commission Archives)

Not just another opening

It’s Monday, December 15, 1913 and the city of Toronto is abuzz with excitement over the opening of a new theatre. Loew’s Yonge …View Not just another opening

Doris McCarthy at Fool’s Paradise, May 2005 (Photo: David Lee)

Doris McCarthy’s Fool’s Paradise will inspire future generations of artists

With the passing of Doris McCarthy on November 25, 2010, the country lost a revered and talented artist, best known for her …View Doris McCarthy’s Fool’s Paradise will inspire future generations of artists

Point Pelee, Canada’s southernmost point of land (© Ontario Tourism 2010)

Resources: Exploring Ontario’s southern peninsula

What's on the shelf

University of Toronto: An architectural tour, by Larry Wayne …View Resources: Exploring Ontario’s southern peninsula

The Sharon Temple’s barrel organ was built around 1830 by Richard Coates (Photo: Katherine Belrose)

The music of worship

Goethe said that “architecture is frozen music,” but why did he say this? Was it because Christian church interiors, with their …View The music of worship

Anglican Church at Magnetawan (1933) by A.J. Casson (National Gallery of Canada)

Art in the church and the church in art: Work of the Group of Seven

Talented and renowned artists have long been commissioned to decorate the interiors of places of worship, where they often turn …View Art in the church and the church in art: Work of the Group of Seven

Light of the World depicted in stained glass at the St. John the Evangelist in South Cayuga

Adventures in light and colour

Light is a fundamental aspect of all architecture, especially places of worship. Light has always been considered a …View Adventures in light and colour

The Winter Garden Theatre, George Pelekis

Raising the curtain: How the Winter Garden Theatre was rediscovered

In December 1913, Loew’s Yonge Street Theatre – the Canadian flagship of the mighty Loew’s empire – opened in Toronto. Two …View Raising the curtain: How the Winter Garden Theatre was rediscovered

This 1958 provincial plaque unveiling to commemorate Catharine Parr Traill was attended by Mrs. Anne Atwood and Miss Anne Traill, the author’s granddaughters. Also in attendance (shown here second from left) was the then-editor of the Peterborough Examiner – Robertson Davies – who, in time, became a literary giant in his own right.

Literary giants

Catharine Parr Traill is one of Canada’s literary luminaries. Her life story spans most of the 19th century, crossing oceans, …View Literary giants