as I walk Toronto

Prints by Canadian artist David Blackwood at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Blackwood (1941-2022) was born and raised in Newfoundland.  This retrospective exhibit features more than eighty of his prints and drawings.  Most of the prints are etchings.  In a couple of cases, a series of prints shows the development of a finished piece.  The images are very much Newfoundland and Labrador with sailing ships and large icebergs playing a big role.  There are lots of people in boats!

below: “Passing Under the Rostellan”, 2013, etching and aquaprint.  The final copies had a reddish sky.

below:  “Wedding on Deer Island”, 2020, etching, aquatint & watercolour.

below: “The Flora Nickerson in the Labrador Sea”.  The Flora S. Nickerson was a schooner owned by the Blackwood family.  David Blackwood’s father and grandfather were mariners as were many other ancestors.  This boat appears in many of Blackwood’s prints – a boat that he sailed on many times as a child.

below: “The Great Peace of Brian and Martin Winsor”, 1985

below: If you look closely at the bottom portion of the above image, I think that you get a better look at the two Winsor men (and their rifles)…..

below: …But if you check the details at the top of the print, you find a small empty boat – presumably belonging to the men.   There is certainly a story being told here!

This fascinating exhibit is still on (as I type this) and will continue until 26 July 2026.