Circle Arts celebrates 42 years in 2011. The
Circle Arts story began in 1969 when Gale Jensen - a professor
of Social Sciences at the University of Michigan - persuaded six students
of the Ontario College of Art (OCA) to build an art gallery and studio
on land he owned in Tobermory, Ontario.
The group stayed in the small
town on the picturesque Bruce Peninsula for the summer, producing
oil paintings, watercolours, wood block prints, sculptures, silk
screens, textiles, jewelry and pottery. They returned to Toronto
to finish their studies at the end of the summer, then moved to
Tobermory permanently the following spring.
The Circle Arts story encompasses elements of its
times and locales. It is the story of youthful enthusiasm and artistic
maturity, local involvement and global markets, sound business sense
and high creativity. More than anything else, it is the story of
a commitment to Canadian art, and to those who produce and support
it. The Owners ...
In
January 2006, Glenda Burrell and Simon White joined Arlene Kennedy
as the new owners of Circle Arts. Together they share a passion
for the unique nature of the Bruce Penninsula and the artists that
are also inspired by its diverse and dynamic character.
Glenda Burrell is a former drama teacher and arts department
head. Arlene Kennedy was the Director of the McIntosh
Gallery at The University of Western Ontario from 1989 to 2008.
Simon White is a web designer and a former theatre set
designer and production manager.
Circle
Arts at #14 Bay Street, Tobermory,
has five distinctive gallery spaces. In the lower gallery, you will
find glassware, woodwork, one of a kind jewellery, ceramics, textiles,
prints and fabric art.
In four upper galleries you will find sculptural works, paintings,
photographs, hand-pulled prints and one of a kind furniture creations.
Circle
Arts 
