Canada’s 150th anniversary is something to be proud of! To commemorate the occasion, what better way than one of the largest collaborative art pieces in the nation! With over 1000 people having input into the design of the mosaic, this mosaic truly represents Canada’s beauty. The design team took all written suggestions and put this together on a mock-up of this piece, which is 42” by 15’, now installed at the Cavendish Farms Wellness centre. The mosaic was painted by over 200 citizens of the community; the majority of who have no previous painting experience. An initiative of the former Town of Montague, and facilitated by David Trimble, this piece took just over three months to complete and was appropriately named “Impressions of Canada”.  

Kerri Wynne was an unforgettable Island treasure who grew up in Montague, PEI. The vibrant and colorful life that she lived was much like the Island itself – a combination of textures, colors, and identities woven together in one warm and welcoming embrace. Kerri Wynne believed butterflies are sacred and found great comfort in them. If you look closely at the design of these wings, you will see many elements that represent the life Kerri Wynne lived and the things she loved.

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This mural is a snapshot of the long tradition of catching lobster on this island. The work may have been hard and uncertain, with no guarantees of how big the catch would be, or if the weather and tides would work in the fishermen’s favor. But there place of work is hard to beat, for its beautiful surroundings.

About the Artist

Her muse is the landscape and sea of the Island where the richness of the colour of the island and the calm blue shores inspires her, to try to capture the essence of this land. “I get immense satisfaction from painting. In an age when noise and activity is difficult to escape, I try to paint “The Moment” with light being the only actor. Painting subjects, in a window of intimacy, with no hidden meaning, and no explanation. I paint, with just the chance, that the viewer may find, for however brief of time, a space where no noise or action is required.”

This mural spotlights family in the traditional way of everyday life here in PEI (or Canada) circa 1920. Every day the “chores” practiced by families kept them fed, warm, clean, and comfortable. Farming was not their hobby, it was survival and most homes, city, or country, had a garden of substantial size. Every member of the family participated in order to have food for the winter when food was scarce. This family is harvesting potatoes; they put enough away to eat during the winter and seed for the next crop; they give some to their neighbors who helped in the planting and harvesting and if there are enough left, they sell a few to the merchant. You, reading this plaque, have probably never thought about the work our forefathers performed in order to survive. 

About the Artist

There are many people who will stare intently at a painting but just pass by the actual scene without taking a second glance. Artists take the time to see what others do not and translate those sights to canvas. “I want people to really look at my creations, to take that second glance and say, ‘Why didn’t I see that before?’. Fishers in boats, shorelines, quilts hanging on a clothesline, barnyards, potato fields…these are the scenes and the ways of life which bekon me.” Lorraine instructs and has been painting for 13 years.

The concept of this wooden mural includes sawmill blades to convey the importance of the lumber industry in the development of the Town of Montague. First the attempted sawmill by David Higgins in the late 1700’s and then, nearly a century later, two separate operations owned by Phillip Beers and Donald Campbell in the mid 1800’s. Additional elements include the rolling architectural and wooden fields Montague is nestled within, and the waves of Montague’s waterfront. The art piece is a blend of donated scrap wood materials from the supportive and friendly community members of the Kings County region of PEI- coming together to make their town beautiful. 

About the Artist

As self taught wood artists, the use of waste materials began as a source of free wood to experiment with. However, the environmental aspect has become increasingly apparent as we have honed our skills. The supply of wood that is cast aside continues to overwhelm our studio space. We work with organic curves of the wood. Much traditional woodworking involves precise measurements, straight lines, and calculated planning. This is not our process. There is a magic of coincidence to our pieces. Our inventory of “garbage” wood always includes pieces of the perfectly required dimensions. Our designs create an interaction with our art as an everyday object. This interaction brings an environmental consciousness into everyday life which both artists and patrons experience. 

This mural is a snapshot of how hard and difficult the work was of being a fisherman. Catching tuna was usually the most difficult as it took the fisherman time and patience to land the fish in their small boats. Men would tie them together so they could help each other with the work which also gave stability to their small craft.

About the Artist

Her muse is the landscape and sea of the Island where the richness of the colour of the land and the calm of the blue shores inspires her, to try to capture the essence of the land. “I get an immense satisfaction from painting. In an age when noise and activity is difficult to escape, I try to paint ‘The Moment’ with light being the only actor. Painting subjects, in a window of intimacy, with no hidden meaning, and no explanation. I paint, with just the chance, that the viewer may find, for however brief a time, a space where no noise or action is required.”

Thread Connections is a mural that aims to bring the beauty of quilting patterns from the private into the public environment. The mural focuses on traditional patterns related to water and landscape, illustrating the connection between a community’s landscape, culture, and the way of life. The mural is displayed near the water’s edge to provide a backdrop of either land or sea to appreciate this unique relationship. 

About the Artist

Sandi Hartling is an interdisciplinary artist who received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2007. She lives and works in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island where she has received numerous grants from the PEI Council of Arts/PEI Arts Grants Program and is an active member of the local arts community. 

Wood sculpture installation of three life size musicians – a Mi’kmaq individual playing a ji’kmaqn, a fiddler representing the traditional instrument of Montague’s first European settlers, and a guitar player representing the modern era’s most popular instrument.​

Shell We Meat celebrates PEI’s world-renowned mussel industry, which has guaranteed the livelihood of thousands of Islanders over the years and is crucial to the province’s rural economy.

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This cresting wave of pixels is composed of 2,304 wooden blocks, individually cut, sanded and painted. The wood for the blocks and frame was entirely sourced from the collapsed community ice rink built in the late 1960’s in St. Georges, PEI. Water and its shades of blues and greens are such an important part of our island identity. A community ice rink is now transformed to art for the community. We want to thank the following people for helping to sand hundreds of blocks: Angela, Dennis, Heather, Jay, and Sandra

About the Artist

Heather and Lenny Gallant have been working with reclaimed wood since 2010. They began refinishing furniture, but their process has transformed, and they now use salvaged wood as raw materials for their new artwork and jewelry designs. They work with the natural beauty of their materials to create a unique and original aesthetic. Heather and Lenny work from their studio located in St. Georges, PEI. 

The mural depicts fishermen gathered at the dock discussing issues, as many men have done before them and since. Concerns like the size and price of their catch, politics, community news, how to give help where needed to their fellow fisherman and his family perhaps. Young boys look on, learning the trade from their elders, while old men look on, as they have heard it all before. 

About the Artist

Her muse is the landscape and sea of the Island where the richness of the colour of the island and the calm blue shores inspires her, to try to capture the essence of this land. “I get an immense satisfaction from painting. In an age when noise and activity is difficult to escape, I try to paint “The Moment” with light being the only actor. Painting subjects, in a window of intimacy, with no hidden meaning, and no explanation. I paint, with just the chance, that the viewer may find, for however brief of time, a space where no noise or action is required.”

Heading Home depicts Panmure Island and the fleet on their way home from a successful day​

1 Top Atlantic Cod Gadus morhua

(18” to 22”, 3 to 25lbs) Canadian cod was prized by Europeans since the 1500s. Once severely overfished an endangered, cod fishing has been regulated since the 70s and has responded well, but still needs monitoring. 

1 Bottom Snow Crab Chionecetes opilio

(5” wide body and 44” legspan) The second most valuable fishery export, mostly males are harvested, being more than twice the size of females. Both genders are reddish just after molting, turning greenish as their shells mature. 

2 Top Bluefin Tuna Thunnus thynnus

(Up to 10 feet, 1400 lbs) PEI tuna was born in the Gulf of Mexico and spends part of its year in the Brazilian waters. Bluefin is bought for sushi, not canned tuna (that’s mostly Albacore).

2 Bottom American Lobster Homarus americanus

(Up to 25” & 40 lbs) Lobsters vary in colour, usually mottled blacks, browns and greens with only traces of orange and red; they only turn red when cooked.  

3 Top Atlantic Mackerel Scomber scombrus

(12”, 1.6lbs) Mackerel swim in schools and can live as long as 20 years and grow up to 19 inches. They have lower levels of Mercury than some other seafoods. 

3 Bottom Sea Scallop Placopecten magellanicus

(Typically 4-5”, up to 8”) Inside their shell perimeter scallops have about 100 primitive eyes. They don’t have focused vision but see shadows of predators. Oversize abductor muscles (the meat we eat) let it rapidly open and close its shell, to actively swim. 

4 Top Spiny Dogfish Squalus acanthias

(33”, 6-10lbs) Spiny dogfish are small, true sharks in most temperate coastal waters around the world. It has more varied purposes than any other Canadian fish: its oils are used for industrial lubricants, lighting fuel, and vitamin A; it’s flesh is used for fertilizer, food and fish meal, and for the shark fin trade. Now threatened due to overfishing.

4 Bottom Atlantic Rock Crab Cancer irroratus

(5” wide body) Rock crab live in a wide range of depth from over the low tide line to as low as 2,600 feet deep including areas where lobster live. They live for six years before being marketable size. 

5 Top American Eel Anguilla rostrata

(Females to 41”, males to 24”) Although they look like snakes, eels are true fishes. They spawn in the open sea and the young return to freshwater rivers to grow up for several years. 

5 Bottom Atlantic Halibut Hippoglossus hippoglossus

(60”, 200lbs) Halibut looks like a giant flounder and is found in the Atlantic from Virginia to the Arctic Circle. They are popular as a commercial catch as well as a game fish. 

6 Top Herring Clupea harengus

(8-10”) Herring are among the most abundant fish in the seas and swim in large schools swimming with their mouths open to feed on phytoplankton and zooplankton. They are exported fish, smoked, marinated, pickled, or canned as sardines their roe is sold to Japan. 

6 Bottom American Oyster Crassotrea virginica

(upto 10”) The American oyster is found from the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. They spend most of their lives in a fixed location. Oyster’s are born male and then about half change to become female. 

We use raw materials gathered from the earth like minerals, quartz and feldspar to create everyday functional pottery. Using these natural elements to represent layers of history was the premise behind this installation, each layer represents one decade of marking 150 years since the Fathers of Confederation met in 1864. The layers focus on historical events primarily relating to PEI and the Town of Montague, but also of worldly significance. In the same way that fossils and hieroglyphics communicate events of mankind, this mural tells the story of growth and development of Islanders and of PEI. More than 350 individual pieces in this work have gone through a 10-day process with kiln firings reaching temperatures of almost 2300 degrees F. 

About the Artist

Both careers soldiers in the Canadian Army, Cindy and Daryl met while on tour in Canada’s Arctic in 1992 and have been inseparable ever since. Their careers have given them the unique experience of living on all 3 of our nation’s coasts.  Upon retirement from the military, Cindy and Darrell decided to settle on PEI because it was Cindy’s father’s birthplace. To keep themselves busy they turned their pottery hobbies into a full-time enterprise called “Right Off the Batt Pottery.” In 2014 their name changed to “Island Stoneware”. With clay as their passion, they have successfully transitioned from a regiment pass to a very creative future. 

Three Rivers Fish is a large, accessible, interactive sculpture. The aim of this project is to highlight the importance of marine life to the Three Rivers area. The fish were built on site.

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The Empress, a three masted schooner, was the largest ship built at the George Wightman shipyard in Montague that remained in service in Montague. The mural was based on a photograph taken in 1905

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By the end of the “Golden Age of Sail” Canada was the top shipbuilding nation in the world. During that same time, Prince Edward Island was the top shipbuilding province in Canada. Almost every river on PEI had one shipyard, sometimes more. The Island abounded in quality lumber ideal for building ships and for trade. The Empress, a three masted schooner, was the largest ship built at the George Wightman shipyard in Montague that remained in service in Montague. The mural was based on a photograph taken in 1905 with a glass negative and supplied by the PEI Archives. Colour reproductions of this mural are available at Artisans on Main.

About the Artist

Island artist A. Michael Schumate has been a commercial illustrator and graphic designer for over forty years. He was also a Professor of Graphic Design for twenty-five years at the St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ontario. His illustration work has been used all over the world through The Image Bank. Michael has painted many murals on PEI for such clients as the PEI Department of Tourism, Co-op Island Food Centres and McDonalds Restaurants. Michael has also painted the historical mural that is on the side of the Old General Store in Murray River.

Moonshine has a long tradition on PEl, and Montague is no exception.

Thomas Vincent Grant (1876 – 1966) set up his medical practice in Cardigan, before moving to Vernon River and finally Montague. The family house, on Fraser St., served as their residence and medical office for 50 years. Thomas served as a coroner for Kings County, he was elected as a member of both the PEI Legislative Assembly and Federal House of Commons, and was appointed to the Senate of Canada​

Thomas Fuller (1823 – 1898) trained as an architect in Bath, England. He completed a wide range of impressive projects in England Antigua & the Antilles Islands, before immigrating to Canada. Once in Canada, Thomas designed several buildings and churches before he was commissioned to design the Parliament House in Ottawa. Thomas remained as Canada’s Chief Dominion Architect from 1881 to 1897.

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A colour representation made from parts of black and white pictures taken of Montague around 100 years ago and memories of many older residents of the Town, including the artists mother, Helen Gosbee​

Made from recycled copper roofing. The recycled component is a reminder of our environment, of how we as a people, who have devoured our resources, need to embrace what we have and act as stewards of our resources.

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