Public Artwork

This Thing

Micah Lexier, This Thing, 1991
Location:
Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, 840 First Avenue West, Owen Sound, ON, N4K 4K4, Canada
Artwork creator(s): 
Lexier, Micah
Text author(s): 
Jackson, A.Y.
Installation year: 
1991
Remarks on location: 

Phrase mounted on the top edge of the gallery’s roof (East side)

Description: 

Lettering on the edge of the roof

Text of the artwork: 

I feel this thing is of too great an importance to miss.

Text theme: 
Debate in favor of the creation of the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery
Artwork theme: 

Tribute to the history of the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery

History: 

Public commission (Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound). Acquired in Spring 1991. Permanent installation at the site since. Part of the permanent collection of the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound.

Dimensions:

Width: 
12.2m
Note(s): 

The text is a quote from A.Y. Jackson, from a local Owen Sound newspaper published in 1953. The article presented the debate in favour of the creation of the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery. Jackson's words refer to the importance that this institution would have.

 

One of the gallery’s signature pieces, the work remains installed on the roof of the building, is in good condition and continually garners response.

 

Nov 6, 1953: John Corfe wrote an article in the Sun Times about A.Y. Jackson who was in Owen Sound to open the new Gallery of Fine Arts and who gave a speech to the Owen Sound and District Artists’ Association. John Corfe also wrote of the hope to fulfil the dream of building the Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery in Owen Sound.

Owner(s): 
Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery
Document(s): 

A Project for Surrey and Other Site-Specific Works

Davidson, Liane, Helga Pakasaar (1994).  A Project for Surrey and Other Site-Specific Works. Surrey : Surrey Art Gallery, p. 47