http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1075756&auth=The+Sun+Times
http://www.tomthomson.org/index.php
Gallery now hosting website theorizing on Thomson's death
*******Launch Wednesday*********
Posted By The Sun Times
Posted 19 hours ago
It happened almost 91 years ago, but there’s still an aura of mystery surrounding Tom Thomson’s death.
And the Owen Sound art gallery named in his memory is now the home of a new website project devoted to that mystery, as well as to the man himself.
Death on a Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy is the name of the project. It was created by York University graduate student Gregory Klages and it will be kicked off on Wednesday night with a live tour of the project.
Admission is free for the event, which begins at 7 p.m. at the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery.
Thomson died at Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park in the summer of 1917. The official story is that he drowned accidentally, but many people suspected right from the start he was murdered. Creative works have long theorized what happened to the Leith-raised painter, including a fact-based novel written by best-selling author Roy MacGregor.
“Thomson’s death poses some unresolved questions that have vexed researchers for decades,” says a news release announcing the project.
“This new website, created with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage, enables visitors to read primary documents and conduct their own investigation, and read theories proposed by others to discover who, or what, was responsible for Tom Thomson’s death.
“The website includes transcriptions of correspondence between Thomson and his friends, family and patrons, newspaper reports about his trips, art reviews, images of Thomson’s paintings, information about logging and tourism in Algonquin Park, as well as a selection of other types of documents. The Tom Thomson Art Gallery recently provided half a dozen digital images of paintings and photographs from the permanent collection for use in the newly launched web-based teaching aid.” Death on a Painted Lake is part of a larger project called The Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History. It was created by scholars and educators from across the country. Comprehensive teaching plans have been developed around the site material and are available to teachers who are interested in connecting Thomson’s story to curriculum in senior elementary and secondary schools.
Wednesday’s launch is also supported in part by the Owen Sound tourism department.
