COVID-19 Closure: Sorry, We’re Closed

by Shelby Smith

 

Due to the recently announced COVID-19 shutdown, the Lake of the Woods Museum and Douglas Family Art Centre are once again closed to the public.  With the current Stay at Home order lasting for 4 weeks, this means that The Muse will not be reopening until May at the earliest.  

Here’s what that means for our operations in the meantime:

 

Exhibitions

Unfortunately this shutdown means that we will not have our Maud Lewis exhibition on display when we reopen.  The Maud Lewis exhibition will be packed up and on the way to its next venue, the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta where the exhibition is set to open May 15th.  

Though our time with Maud Lewis was short, we are grateful for the opportunity presented to us by the McMichael Gallery to display Maud’s artwork in Kenora.  A huge thank you goes out to our sponsors, volunteers, board, staff, and everyone who came out to see the show while they could.  The exhibition seemed to spark joy in all who came to see it, and as a staff we would often remark how no one seemed to leave the show without a smile on their face!

Although Maud will be gone when we reopen, we do have some exciting upcoming exhibitions this spring that we look forward to sharing with the community! 

 

Events & Programming

All classes and programs, with the exception of the Maud Lewis guided tours, will be rescheduled once we reopen.  

 

Gift Shop

We will be opening our gift shops for curb-side pick-up only and we will be featuring select items on our social media and website.  Orders should be paid for in advance by credit card over the phone. To make an order or if you have any questions, please call 807-467-2201 (Art Centre) or 807-467-2105 (Museum).

 

Our staff continues to work behind the scenes, and we will be producing content on our website and social media accounts to keep you entertained over the coming weeks.  If you haven’t had a chance yet, check out the virtual exhibition of Art in the Time of Corona, featuring permanent and seasonal artists from the area.  

This week is also the Archives Association of Ontario‘s Archives Awareness Week, so we implore you to check out our collection of Research Stories!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We look forward to seeing you again soon!

 

Did you know?

The Burley Mine was a single shaft gold mine that was sunk into a very small rock outcrop on the lake.  To stabilize the entrance the owners built cribbing around the rock.  The small, perfectly square island remains there to this day.