Timmins art exhibition features 30 years of artwork from 3 siblings

Northern Ontario is home to many artists who have showcased their work across the region. Now, the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre is now home to a new and unique showcase by three siblings.

Siblings Rick, Bill and Emilie Klimo have been painting together for decades and come from a family of twelve brothers and sisters.

The three told CTV News that a passion for art was always in the air in their home.

“We came from an environment that was fairly creative between both my parents, they were creative people,” said Rick.

“So, it was natural to draw and sketch, and when we were kids, in the early 60s, you’d go downstairs and find porch paint and all of a sudden be making a masterpiece.”

The siblings all have their own careers outside of art.

These three siblings have created pieces together for decades and this is their third exhibition showing all of their works in one place.

The current exhibit pieces together around 30 years of work with more than 80 paintings depicting their experience living in the north and appreciating its beauty.

“We’ve gone our different paths because we’re siblings, but we always mixed well together doing the artwork,” said Bill.

“Now, we’ve all amalgamated into town, after our parents’ passing and that fruiting is what you see today on the wall.”

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Many of the pieces for the exhibit were pulled from people’s private collections, the Timmins Museum’s curator said she wanted to tie them all together into a retrospective exhibition, from the artists’ early works to the pieces they made specially for this showcase.

“It shows you how they developed their craft,” said Karen Bachmann, the curator.

“They’re all self-taught artists, so they are not –they don’t have formal training, but it’s really interesting to see how they let their eyes and their hands describe northern Ontario.”

“We were always enamoured with what our parents would tell us about the forests … this was never a hobby for the three of us,” said Bill.

“This was not a hobby, this was a passion.”

The exhibition called ‘Past to Present: The Journey’ will run until April 23, with some pieces available for purchase.

For more information on this and future exhibitions, visit the museum’s Facebook page.