The Collection

The Gallery’s collection contains about 4000 works of art including paintings, photographs, prints, sculpture and multi-media work by established Canadian and International Artists.

The collection began with an initial group of approximately 300 predominantly European paintings, prints and drawings acquired in 1885 as a teaching collection for art students to study and copy.

A few significant gifts were made to the Owens’ collection in the 1940s but it wasn’t until the late 1960s when art classes were moved from the Gallery to an adjacent building that the focus shifted towards actively developing the Gallery’s collection.

While the entire collection is not on permanent view, works from the collection are often on view in exhibitions. Check our current and upcoming exhibitions calendar to learn more.

Framed paintings and works on paper are hung salon-style on a deep blue wall. Rows of gold and decorative frames in various sizes are displayed from floor to ceiling.

A-Z of the Collection

An adult looks at a photograph of a group of people through a magnifying glass. The sepia photograph’s glossy surface is creased. Behind the photograph, there is a table with framed paintings resting on green and black quilted fabric.

Research

Jane Tisdale, Owens Art Gallery Conservator stands on a ladder while cleaning the back of a very large framed painting in the painting vault.

Conservation

Student Collection

Collection Highlights

In this black-and-white image, a football game takes place on a field that is also a tidal landscape with rock outcroppings and a tidal fence.

Collection Hightlight: Dan Steeves’ crossing a threshold

Looking at an artists desk, a beaded work in progress is surrounded by their tools, including jars of colourful beads, scissors, a pin cushion, and a smudge bowl.

Collection Hightlight: Mel Beaulieu’s Tools of the Maker

Within one large circle of seals, laying on their sides, four smaller semi-circles are filled with colourful, geometric patterns. Between the semi-circles, seen form above, two lines of caribou walk in either direction.

Collection Highlight: Prints by Jerry Evans

Densely embroidered textiles and fabrics are layered over top of one another. A white square with a pink tulip is stitched prominently in the centre. To its left, over a patchwork of red, green, and yellow floral motifs are the heads of a man and woman depicted in black and white comic-style, both peering to the right. Between the two is the word “AAHHHHHHH” and a cartoon figure of Wile E. Coyote playing electric guitar. To the right are embroidered soldiers. Around them is a printed toile folk scene of wine grape harvesting in cream and maroon. Embroidered Hungarian script on white fabric and a band of white lace, extend to the right, partially covered by sheer purple fabric with silver dragonflies.

Collection Hightlight: Anna Torma’s Carpet of Many Hands

An image is split down the middle by a black bar with arrows pointing left and right. On the left a photograph of a large building with beige siding and burgundy trim. Storefronts occupy the ground level, while central portion of the building steps up to a third story with a peaked roof and half-moon window. In the foreground is a bench and a street sign that reads, “Willow Lane”. On the right in the foreground of the painting a milk truck wheels around a corner. A young boy stands on the running board of a truck, balancing himself with one arm through the open passenger-side window, while holding a bottle of milk in his free hand. Buildings, including storefronts line the far side of the street.

Colville In Situ

Consider Alex Colville’s work in the here and now

A painting of a woman being embraced by a man is divided into three sections. One is brightly lit showing cracks in the canvas, the centre is coloured with hues of blue and the left shows naturalistic colours.

In the Conservation Lab: Romeo and Juliet

Nantume Violet stands, smiling next to Buluma Mordecai seated. They are outside, in front of a large tree on a sunny day.

Buluma Ochungo Mordecai (Class of ’62) by Nantume Violet

Online Article

A life-sized, rust-coloured wolf, a pair of steel split urns, and a low-lying bench are installed across the wide front steps leading to the entrance of a classically inspired stone building. Above the door, carved in stone, are the words "Owens Museum of Fine Arts, 1894".

Collection Highlight: John McEwen’s Salt/Marsh

Each section of an eight pointed star is made of red, yellow, orange and blue porcupine quills. Pink and white quills fill the remained of a circle on birchbark, within a woven exterior of sweetgrass.

Collection Highlight: Quillwork by Melissa Peter-Paul

A figure wearing red holds a feather with two foot prints up to the sky. On their sleeve three stylized figures contain the numbers, 2, 1, 5. Below, blue flowers grown from red soil. Footprints in between the roots continue up the figure's long dark hair. Behind the figure a blue circle is surrounded by bands of yellow and purple hues.

Collection Highlight: Prayers for Our Lost Children by Loretta Gould

A portrait of a dark skinned person with short hair poses with their arms crossed. They wear metal rimmed glasses, and a cream collared sweater over a shirt and brown tie.

Collection Highlight: Portrait of Felix Orville Goodman

In the foreground, an old woman sits, resting her head on her cane next to a tree stump with new shoots sprouting from around it. In the distance children dance in a circle in a field at the edge of a town.

Collection Highlight: Temps Passé by William Blair Bruce

From the vault

A dessert plate with gilded scolloped edges and a raspberry motif.
Air Compressor and Turbine, by Murray Favro
Bright green foliage of various shades and hues fills much of the foreground of this painting. On the left is a cluster of yellow flowers, while to the right we look into an area of deep blue and shadowy black, flecked with purple. The image is painted in loose, visible brush strokes.
A cut-out print of neon-coloured oranges is held inside a clear plastic bag against a white background. The oranges are simply drawn and the bag is fastened with a produce twist tie. Handwriting across the top of the print reads "Bagged Day glo Oranges 67".
A wooden mahogany chest sits in a bright room on rounded spherical legs. The sides of the chest are decorated with carved swirling, circular designs. Large carved letters in a horizontal line across the bottom of the chest that read “MARGERY A WARD HAYES”
A person with a blank expression looks straight ahead, behind them is a flat yellow-green background. They are wearing a pink t-shirt and have chin-length blonde hair.
From a high vantage point, we look past rooftops out to a vast body of water and a sliver of rocky beach. A wooden dock extends into the water and at the end of the dock is a small white building. A number of boats are moored at the dock. One small boat with a number of figures appears to be leaving the harbour. The sky overhead is clear and bright.
A large leafy head of green cabbage and stalks of corn are set beside each other on a table. The vegetables are brightly lit, with a deep brown backdrop behind them.
A weathered driftwood tree with roots lies horizontally across a sandy beach. Behind the tree is a vast body of water. The dark sky above is painted in streaks of purple, pink, and blue. A small silver-grey moon appears in the upper left corner.
Two suns, one yellow and one red, shine in the sky above two figures paddling a canoe. The two paddlers are purple. The figures, two suns, and canoe are outlined in black and sit within a white rectangle.
A dog lays on the landing of a darkened staircase. The dog faces away from the viewer. Its head is raised and it is looking down the stairs. A bright light shines up the stairs from below, casting the dog and landing in shadow.
A young child smiles as they dance with eyes closed in the centre of this black and white photograph. The child is wearing a short sleeved plaid dress that billows up while they twirl. Behind them, an adult sits with a child at a table by a window.
A silver tear drop shaped spatula with a dark wooden handle rests on a grey background. There is a diamond shape surrounded by more small circular cutouts.
In the centre of this circular painting, a woman sits on rocky outcrop beside a tall leafy plant. She is wearing a flowing purple dress. Behind her is an expanse of ocean and a turquoise sky dotted with stars. The woman extends her arm to drop leaves into a smoking fire at her feet. The painting is displayed in an ornate, square gold frame.
A young girl in a collared tea-length dress stands in the centre of the composition. She faces forward, stepping out towards the viewer. The image is drawn in sketchy, gestural marks. The paper is yellowed.
In this dark, black-and-white image we look across from one side of a broken bridge to the other. In the distance, a line of telephone poles stretches across the horizon.
Five rectangles of roughly folded fabric are displayed in a horizontal line. From left to right the fabric overlaps from burgundy, beige, white and then black. The rectangles range in size, the ones on the outer edge the smallest, and the one in the centre, the largest. All of the rectangles are physically joined together by a tied strand of fabric.
Ships docked at a harbour are painted with visible brush strokes in shades of brown and beige. The wide sky above is overcast and described in a mix of light blue, creamy peach and soft yellow. Pink clouds are dotted overtop. Along the horizon, the sky is a bright turquoise blue.
Ships docked at a harbour are painted with visible brush strokes in shades of brown and beige. The wide sky above is overcast and described in a mix of light blue, creamy peach and soft yellow. Pink clouds are dotted overtop. Along the horizon, the sky is a bright turquoise blue.
A mother holds her baby on her lap, her gaze cast downward and her face is in three quarter profile. She sits slumped in a chair with a high wooden back. Her greyish brown hair is tied back in a low updo. Her baby wears a mint green sweater and looks towards us.
Framed paintings are hung salon-style in a high walled gallery. In the centre, a plaster Venus de Milo stands between two plaster busts. In the centre of the gallery painting smocks are draped over stools next to paintings on easels.
A painted portrait of a mother and daughter. The child sits on a stone feature at her mother’s hip holding a small basket of fruit with her mother's arm around her. The child wears a white dress tied at the waist with a blue sash, while her mother wears a white lace shirt, long red taffeta skirt and silky-green shawl draped over her shoulders.
A person dressed in a white robe leans back on a low wooden chair playing a flute. Beside them is a low wall and column beyond which we can see lush tropical foliage. Leaning on the wall a person looks in from the outside. They hold a yellow flower and lay their head on their arm listening to the flute player.
A circular silver medallion is attached to a silver chain. Silver ovals circle the outer edge of the medallion and connect to a small orange oval stone is set in the middle of the medallion with thin lines. Below the silver design is a smooth orange stone with hints of yellow and red.
Thickly textured paint covers the surface and oozes over the edges of this oval-shaped painting. The background is a muted dusty rose. The word "OK" is repeated across the surface in three horizontal rows. The letters are rendered in turquoise and roughly outlined in coral.
Four large vertical rectangular windows shine light into a barren architectural space. Two figures stand only visible as silhouettes on a tall platform that wraps around the space below the windows. Text in the bottom left corner on the mat board surrounding the photograph reads "Mt. Hamilton Hospital".
A portrait of Mao Tse-tung shaking hands with a younger Asian man in a grey suit. The man clasps Mao’s right hand in both of his own and smiles. Above their heads two large light fixtures shine downward, casting dark shadows on the deep red backdrop behind them.
A white casserole dish decorated with an embossed floral design sits inside an open microwave oven. The interior of the microwave is illuminated with a yellow and orange glow that radiates from the oven's light in the upper left.
A life-sized, rust-coloured wolf, a pair of steel split urns, and a low-lying bench are installed across the wide front steps leading to the entrance of a classically inspired stone building. Above the door, carved in stone, are the words "Owens Museum of Fine Arts, 1894".
A photograph shows three tall metal objects jutting sharply up from the ground towards a pale grey sky. The metal is rusted and angular. People working amongst the shapes look tiny in comparison. In the foreground, there is a rusted sheet of metal laying flat on the ground, staining it a ruddy copper colour. Far off in the distance there is a thin strip of green grass on the horizon line.
A river flows over large rocks and into a waterfall that fills the frame. Autumn trees and simple houses surround the waterfall. In the bottom left corner there is a small figure leaning against a thin fence, looking out over the river.
Stripes of uniform size and varying colour run horizontally along the bottom two thirds of a weaving. The top third is a block of off-white, broken up by three thin pink stripes and one thin black stripe.
Ten circular areas of colour are roughly painted on an unprimed canvas. The colours are arranged in a loose grid of three colours across and four colours down. Colours include various greens, purple, pink, orange, white, and grey-brown.
A man with long dark hair and a moustache sits on a decoratively embroidered chair beside a standing woman in a floor length pale pink dress. He holds one of her hands in both of his while gazing up at her as she looks away from him. At her hip there is a table covered in green velvet fabric, on top of which there is a small book and the woman holds a place in the book with her finger.
This landscape scene shows Hopewell Rocks at sunset. Tall rock formations painted in warm browns and grey tower over a sandy beach dotted with large tide pools. Dark green trees and vegetation grow on top of the rocks. A purple horizon line separates the sky from the ocean, which are both cast in soft yellow, orange and blue tones.
A black and white print depicts a vest. With an x-ray-like quality we can see all the details of the garment including its pockets, buttons and lined texture of the fabric.
Five rough pencil rubbings in a horizontal line each show the outline of the same human body. The drawn line of the first pencil rubbing is loose, revealing little of the silhouette. Moving towards the right, the lines of each subsequent drawing become tighter and denser, showing the body's details more clearly.
A slim metal pipe is held diagonally above a small rectangular base by a wire attachment. At the top of the pipe is the silhouette of a figure whose arm is raised in a curving motion as if swimming. The figure's legs appear to wrap around the pipe.