Anna Brownell Jameson was an Irish art historian, artist and writer. In 1837, after a long winter in Toronto, she travelled by schooner, bateaux and Voyageur canoe to Mackinac Island, east to Manitowaning for the annual gift giving, then south again to Toronto via Killarney and Penetanguishene. She documented her travels in a popular book, Winter Studies and Summer Rambles, and in a series of drawings and watercolours. Considered one of the first ‘tourists’ to the area, as well as an authority on early Upper Canada, Jameson’s work was influential, her texts providing Europeans in the mid-1800s some of their first introductions to northern Ontario.
4elements’ Jameson Canoe Trek followed part of Jameson’s route, leading participants on a 7-day paddle excursion, from Algoma Mills to Manitoulin Island, exploring the ecological, cultural and historical stories of the North Channel using creative arts approaches.
Guided by Chris Taggart, a professional paddle guide and Sophie Edwards a visual artist and academic researching Jameson, artists and researchers from Canada and France experienced the land and waterways of the North Channel through the eyes of Anna Jameson.