700 museums to visit and explore this month

May is museum month and the Ontario Museum Association encourages people to visit the 700 museums, galleries, and heritage sites throughout the province. File Photo

May is museum month, and the Ontario Museum Association encourages people to visit the 700 museums, galleries, and heritage sites throughout the province. 

Museum officials say they’re ready to welcome local visitors and tourists with safe, in-person experiences, new exhibits, and programs.

A tapestry of wearable and useable art by the Porcupine Handweavers and Spinners Guild is on exhibition at the Timmins Museum.

The guild and the museum have existed for 45 years.

And, with this being museum month in Ontario, the museum’s Karen Bachmann said the show is a fitting way to celebrate.

“This show also highlights and puts into perspective that women’s art is not necessarily only just oil paintings, but very much textiles. And you can see some really wonderful creations from ladies in our community,” said Karen Bachmann, curator for the Timmins Museum.

She said Timmins is fortunate to have a museum that's funded by the municipality.

“We have a national exhibition centre that’s attached to our community museum. So our exhibits change anywhere between eight to twelve weeks sometimes a little bit sooner, sometimes a little bit longer depending on the show.

“In the past 45 years, we’ve brought around close to 800 travelling exhibitions,” said Bachmann.

The museum of northern history at Sir Harry Oakes Chateau in Kirkland Lake is not in the same position, it's owned by Ontario Heritage Trust, and not the town. 

To raise much-needed money to help with new programming and maintenance of the building, museum officials have launched an initiative this month called:  'art from your attic fundraiser.'

“We know a lot of people who are looking to downsize, or you know they have more art than they do wall space, so it became what can we do for our friends and also help out the museum and the museum auxiliary at the same time,” said curator Kaitlyn McKay, of the Museum of Northern History.

“So basically it’s going to be an auction online, but also for at least this year the artwork will actually be on display in the gallery for next month.”

McKay said the museum is the main location in town for photos and biographies of the people who built the community and that's why it's important it maintains a presence.

“And something we saw recently with our centennial in 2019 is people were really excited about looking at old pictures, and learning about the history and things like that. But one of the things we always point out is that if people don’t give us the information, it doesn’t pass on from generation to generation,” said McKay.

The Ontario Museum Association is in its 50th year, and officials say the power of museums brings about positive change in our communities. And, this month reminds us that museums can help strengthen the province after the global pandemic.