WEDNESDAY,NOVEMBER6,2019 | THEGLOBEANDMAILO A
LIFE&ARTS TRAVEL | OPINION| PUZZLES | WEATHER
The holidays are around the
corner and I’d like a little relaxing
timeout before they’re in full
swing. Any destination ideas close
to the Greater Toronto Area?
An overnight or weekend trip to
Collingwood should do the trick.
That’s the ski town, right?
Yes, but Collingwood’s not just
for skiing.
Really? What’s the draw then?
How about cool restos, historic
residences, happening bars, in-
dependently owned shops, hik-
ing trails, art galleries and a main
street that is so pretty it looks
like a movie set? Seriously. It
even sounds like one: Discreet
speakers on lamp posts pipe in
music.
Wow. The only other Collingwood
association I have is the Elvis
Festival.
While the love affair with Mr.
Presley is a huge annual event
for Collingwood, this town of
about 22,000 is more sophisticat-
ed than you might think.
Sure you’re not overselling it?
Keep in mind I’m a big foodie.
Trust me. If you leave Toronto at
9 a.m., you’ll be pulling on to Hu-
rontario Street, the main drag, at
around 10:30, which is a perfect
time to head to Gibson and Com-
pany for a cappuccino. (Take
note: It doesn’t have a store
front, so follow the light-strung
pathway beside the Metra bou-
tique and you’re there). Its buzzy
vibe and glossy-white tiled walls
channel an NYC-Dean & DeLuca
feel. Treat yourself to a grilled
smoked cheddar and bacon mar-
malade sandwich or a vegan
chickpea smash toast. Both are
equally yummy.
Nice. I want more on the food
scene later. Now I want to hit the
street for a bit of shopping.
Where should I go?
Hurontario Street is the retail
therapy go-to. If you like home
decor, don’t miss Farrow Arcaro,
which is owned and run by an
award-winning interior designer.
Leuk is also noteworthy for
housewares, but the real draw
here is the overall edit: art, cloth-
ing, vintage finds, jewellery –
there’s even an onsite florist and
a small café.
Metra is a fashion source with
lots of Canadian content and the
best faux fur coats.
Tea drinkers will be over-the-
moon with the blends at Blue
Mountain Tea Company – the
herbal snooze-inducing Lalaland
is a sleep game-changer. And
whether you buy something or
not, make sure you visit Butter
Gallery for its colourful mix of lo-
cal artwork and famous “great
wall of smalls” – a gallery wall of
tiny paintings, many cheaper
than $200.So it’s a one-street kind of town
then?Notsofast.
Pine Street, one block over
and parallel to Hurontario, is al-
so not to be missed. In fact, if you
want to make like a local, espe-cially on game night, grab a table
at the Huron Club, a lively pub/
resto. Bent Taco’s mean margar-
itas and sublime tacos (go for the
braised brisket) mean there’s of-
ten a lineup to get in – it is well
worth the wait. And even the
most reluctant shopper will be
wowed by the Hive, a stylish bou-
tique that has original gift items
and plenty of Canadian-made
finds.
Simcoe Street is also worth a
stroll. A creative hotspot, it’s
home to numerous art galleries,
workshops and the Simcoe
Street Theatre, plus Low Down, a
hot new cocktail and ramen bar.All this talk of food makes me
want to do something a little
more active.Then you will love the Colling-
wood municipal trails. Spanning
34 kilometres from Collingwood
to Meaford, they are a network of
impeccably maintained paths
ideal for casual strolls, serious
hikes, running and cycling.
You should also check out
Harbourview Park – it has a
boardwalk with uninterrupted
views of the waterfront. And, as
you already know, Blue Moun-
tain is minutes away if you’re in
the mood for some downhill.
(Don’t fret if you forgot your
gear; there’s a Sporting Life at
the bottom of Hurontario).Good to know. What if I don’t
want to stray too far from town?You don’t have to. Collingwoodwas the first municipality in the
country to gain a Heritage Con-
servation District and offers a
self-guided Look Up Tour that
highlights the area’s architectu-
ral eye-candy and takes about an
hour to walk. Pick up a tour bro-
chure at the town’s information
centre and start your journey
downtown before heading into
the west end’s dreamy residen-
tial enclave, replete with corbels,
cornices and Corinthian co-
lumns.That reminds me of Niagara-on-
the-Lake – too bad there aren’t
any wineries here.Actually, there is one if you don’t
mind hopping back in the car.
The Roost is a hilltop vineyard in
Ravenna, which is a 15-minute
drive away. Take in the spectac-
ular views of Georgian Bay while
sipping a cold-climate marquette
or sparkling rosé.
On the way back, stop at Rav-
enna Country Market for a piece
of homemade pie or some of
their out-of-this-world butter
tarts (try the pecan). And when
you’re closer to town, check out
the Collingwood Brewery – they
have a tap room, tastings and a
retail outlet so you can take
some home with you.Sounds like I might even need
more than one day. Where should
I stay?You have to experience the Van-
derMarck. Not only is this bou-
tique hotel perfectly located on a
quiet residential corner just
steps from downtown, it’s also a
showstopper.
Built in 1912 by acclaimed To-
ronto architect Eden Smith, it’s
undergone a savvy restoration
that balances its historic prove-
nance with just the right amount
of contemporary dash. It is key-
code accessible (there’s no front
desk) and a true boutique abode:
There are just eight suites and
each one feels more like the
coolest city pied-a-terre than a
hotel room.
The design aesthetic – a clean
backdrop of bright white walls –
lets thoughtful details such as lo-
cal artwork, black-and-white
photography and mod furniture
shine. Amenities include a bar
fridge, microwave, and coffee
and tea station stocked with lo-
cal beans and brews.
Opt for a premium suite; they
feature a gas fireplace beneath a
Netflix-loaded flat screen TV so
you can spend a cozy night in re-
laxing and recharging ... some-
thing that everyone needs before
the holiday hoopla begins.Special to The Globe and MailHaveyourselfamerrylittlefallgetaway
Visitthehiprestaurants,shopsandtrailsCollingwoodhastoofferbeforeholidaymadnesskicksin
CHRISTYWRIGHT
HurontarioStreetisthebestplaceforretailtherapyinCollingwood,Ont.Buyatop-qualityfauxfurcoat
atMetraFashionHouse,above,orbrowseforhousewares,art,clothing,jewelleryandmoreatLeuk.C
reated in 2007 by Canadian
artists Janet Cardiff and
George Bures Miller, The
Killing Machineis not an artwork
that is going to hang discreetly
on a wall or sit quietly on a
plinth. Designed to be erected in
a large, darkened room, it fea-
tures an empty dentist’s chair
covered with a soft sheepskin
liner and outfitted with heavy
straps. The chair is overseen by
two drills that, at the touch of a
button, start swivelling and dart-
ing at its invisible occupant
while a disco ball rotates over-
head.
Grisly and unsettling, but also
darkly humorous in the way it
contrasts its robotic dance and
cheeky materials with its mur-
derous purpose, the work exists
in three versions. One is the art-
ist’s proof, which was shown at
the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2013
and the Vancouver Art Gallery in
2014, while a second version be-
longs to a private museum in
Munich and has been shown oc-
casionally in Germany. The third
version was donated to the Mu-
seum of Modern Art in New York
in 2009 by Julia Stoschek, a Ger-
man collector who specializes in
time-based art – and it has never
been seen since.
“The Killing Machinehad been
in crates for 10 years,” MoMA cu-
rator Hillary Reder said as she
led a recent press tour of Sur-
rounds: 11 Installations, an exhi-
bition that marks the first time
the prestigious museum has dis-
played Stoschek’s gift – as well as
the other pieces in the show.
Kinetic, conceptual, demate-
rialized or just plain big, contem-
porary installation work can be
difficult to collect and to show.
The MoMA’s newly expanded
53rd Street headquarters are pur-
posefully designed to get more
of the collection out of crates, in-
creasing the number of works
that can be shown by about 75
per cent. At the top of the build-
ing, in the expansive temporary
exhibition space that occupies
the entire sixth floor and repre-
sents the museum’s largest suite
of contiguous galleries, Sur-
rounds makes space for large-
scale immersion, devoting a
room to each ambitious installa-
tion.
The exhibition covers the past
20 years in installation art, and
includes an international group
of artists both mid-career and
veteran. It begins spectacularly
with Pillar of Inquiry/Supple
Column, a floor-to-ceiling trunk
of multicoloured acrylic fibres
created by the 85-year-old U.S.
artist Sheila Hicks, who is well
known for her oversized work
with textiles. Here, the column
of knobbly threads, soft yet to-wering, engages powerfully with
the big architectural space just as
MoMA unveils its new building.
Next door, the scale of the en-
counter changes completely in
Indian photographer Dayanita
Singh’sMuseum of Chance, which
invites the viewer to sit among
her dreams and memories, intri-
guingly mounted as a dense in-
stallation of black-and-white
photos in wooden screens.
Meanwhile, the Japanese ar-
chitect Sou Fujimoto plays with
scale and space in a whimsical
way inArchitecture is Everywhere.
He creates a series of irresistibly
minuscule worlds with his tiny
models of landscapes and struc-
tures made from unusual materi-
als, including stackable potatochips, the fake grass from sushi
packaging and a ridged house-
hold sponge.
Sarah Sze also works with ev-
eryday materials to create her ki-
netic sculptureTriple Point (Pen-
dulum), which represented the
U.S. at the 2013 Venice Biennale.
Across a large circle formed by
rows of anonymous junk, includ-
ing wires, boards, papers, Styro-
foam cups and plastic bottles, a
pendulum swings provocatively,
threatening to knock over the
whole precarious display.
Sze’s work flirts with the dis-
appearance of the art object it-
self, and the exhibition also in-
cludes the fleeting medium of
performance: Jennifer Allora and
Guillermo Calzadilla, collabora-tors who live and work in Puerto
Rico, are presentingFault Lines,a
2013 piece in which two boy so-
pranos sing insults drawn from
literary sources as they pose on
large, low platforms of carved
and polished rock. It’s an exer-
cise that is supposed to say
something about contemporary
discourse, but seems mainly to
prove, as it juxtaposes the high
voices of the boys with the harsh
beauty of the rocks, that you can
aestheticize anything.
That’s one way to engage an
art audience. Another is to let
them wander through your in-
stallation with their dirty shoes
and grubby fingers. Perhaps the
most high-concept piece here ul-
timately creates the most
ephemeral art: To makeWork of
Days, a piece originally con-
ceived in 1998, the Brazilian art-
ist Rivane Neuenschwander
mounts sheets of adhesive vinyl
in her studio and then transports
them to the gallery, creating a
bare white room that is rapidly
smudging and darkening with
more dust and dirt as the mu-
seum’s visitors experience the
show.
Cardiff and Miller, on the oth-
er hand, implicate the viewer
more emphatically in their dark
process:The Killing Machineonly
begins its five-minutedanse ma-
cabrewhen the intrepid visitor
approaches, notices a yellow
sticky note that says PRESS and
duly hits the button.Hard-to-showartisunboxedandondisplayatMoMA
Surrounds:11InstallationsincludesSarahSze’sTriplePoint(Pendulum),
akineticsculpturethatrepresentedtheUnitedStatesattheVenice
Biennalein2013.DENIS DOORLY/MUSEUM OF MODERN ARTKATE
TAYLOR
VISUAL ARTSNEWS |