With a population of more than 422,000, London is a fast-paced, ever growing city, but it wasn't always this way.
A new art exhibit opening at Museum London is transporting the curious back to see what the city looked like 80 years ago. It is one of three new exhibitions being offered at the downtown museum free of charge this summer.
Called 'Thrill! Arthur A. Gleason’s Aerial Photography', the look back at London of yesteryear showcases 25 pictures of city landmarks, all of which were shot by Gleason from a plane flying between 500 and 300 feet between the 1940s and 1960s. Among the black and white prints that have been blown up four feet wide are photos of the former Kellogg's factory in the east-end, the Covent Garden Market downtown, and Western University.
"Living at ground level, we aren’t always able to grasp the ways our agricultural and urban landscapes have changed over the past century," Andrew Kear, the museum's senior curator and head of collections, exhibitions, and programs, said in a statement. "Satellite images of the earth are everywhere today, and so accessible our world can seem smaller than it is. Gleason’s aerial photography gives us a different perspective from which to step back and see ourselves."
While viewing the photos, patrons will be able to scan QR codes to see what each location looks like in the present day.
The other two new exhibits to the museum are “Rhyme or Reason: The Art of Patrick Landsley and Margot Ariss” and “Margaux Williamson: Interiors”.
Landsely and Ariss are influential southwestern Ontario artists who use textured paintings and hand-built l ceramics. The exhibit captures the pair's passion for nature and poetry with Landsley's paintings of wild areas near his St. Thomas home, and Ariss' works including self written compositions.
Toronto based artist Margaux Williamson's works are touring from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and are the first solo retrospective for the contemporary painter. Painted prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, Williamson's paintings express new curiosity and wonder toward everyday spaces and objects.
“Margaux Williamson’s art taps into something, a certain mood that is deeply resonant these days," said Kear. "Each of her paintings—whether of a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, or hangout spot—is a little world, alone and autonomous somehow. They are quiet, strange, and sometimes unsettling scenes. But they are also accessible and, after more than two years of pandemic living, profoundly familiar.”
The exhibit will only be at Museum London until September 18, while "Rhyme and Reason" can be viewed until October 9.
The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It has extended hours on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
