Mining in Art

With the effect that mining has had on the creation of Northern Ontario communities, the influence of mining has seeped into art. This both counted for local artists who grew up immersed in the sights of mining towns and those visiting the region, taking in the scenes for the first time. There is a common theme in the Canadian art movement of capturing the distinctively Canadian landscape. Northern Ontario mining towns fit into encapsulating that diverse scenery, especially as one of the elements intrinsic to Canadian life and the Canadian economy.

Famous artists like those of the Group of Seven have captured landscapes in Northern Ontario, including the iconic structures of mining like headframes. In their attempts to show the Canadian landscape, Franklin Carmichael and A.Y. Jackson captured Northern Ontario mining in two different tones. Franklin Carmichael’s painting, A Northern Silver Mine (1930), of Cobalt, Ontario romanticizes the hard-rocking mining industry and the natural riches being extracted in a way that leaves out any environmental concerns.(1) A.Y. Jackson’s Ontario Mining Town, Cobalt (1933) in contrast, captures Cobalt as a quieter town after the town’s silver mining boom.(2) Though still romanticizing mining towns in some way, Jackson is capturing a more realistic view of the town to the community.