Arts and Entertainment

George McCart and Joanne Lomas join forces for ‘In Harmony’ art show

May 21, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

There is still time to catch the “In Harmony” show featuring woodworker George McCart and artist Joanne Lomas. These two friends have brought together their individual talents to demonstrate the harmony of nature to the Headwaters Arts Gallery at the Alton Mill Arts Centre in Alton. The show is on until May 24.

The Citizen interviewed each of these artists independently this week.

Currently based in Collingwood, Lomas’ background is in the Dufferin County area, where she said, “I have been living in the Dufferin region all my life and am a member of Headwaters Arts for years. I had a studio there for a long time.”

For the theme, “In Harmony,” coming back to her artistic roots, Lomas commented, “The pairing of the paintings and the wood work well together.”

Having always done art since she was very young, in 2010, Lomas enrolled at Georgian College as a mature student to earn her Bachelor of Arts.

Along with her family, they love to go camping and sailing, saying, “We’ve been sailing for 20 years. When you are sailing, you are part of the water.”

Recently, they sold the boat and bought an RV to travel across Canada. That has been rewarding as well.

Passionate about being in nature, Lomas enjoys painting en plein air, like the Group of Seven painters whom she admires so much and who have influenced her as an artist, along with Emily Carr and others. She extends her learning by watching YouTube videos and attending workshops.

Also, since 2010, preferring the style of abstract painting over strict realism, Lomas has learned to appreciate the freedom of the personal reflection that abstract painting encourages.

“It comes from yourself,” she said.

For the last few years, Lomas has been part of the #The100DayProject, an online group of people committing to themselves and, in tandem with others globally, to work on a single project for 100 consecutive days.

“This was something I never did in college,” she explained.

Lomas is a member of Southern Ontario Visual Artists, Headwaters Arts, South Simcoe Arts Council and Blue Mountain Foundation for the Arts. To budding artists, she advises visiting galleries and learning from workshops and YouTube videos. Once and as long as they are confident about their work, “just believe in it. Just do it.”

Partner for the space and time of the “In Harmony” exhibition, George McCart, living in Creemore, is the husband of Joanne Lomas’ best friend. He has brought his beautiful collection of wood-and-epoxy pieces to the art show as a new way to market his work.

“I do quite a few of the markets,” he said. “Two-day markets where I sit with my pieces to sell them for the two days and take everything home when it closes. So, this is very different for me.”

McCart does well in the two-day markets, and he has high hopes for the Headwaters Arts event as well. He recently became a member of Headwaters Arts, primarily in the short term to participate in this show, and he is very impressed with the Alton Mill and looks forward to returning.

“The artists who have studios there are very welcoming,” he said. “It is a place when people visit there, they always want to come back.”

McCart told the Citizen about his life as a youngster, every summer on the family farm, where they raise some cattle, working with his grandfather, learning how to repair and make things, how to appreciate working with wood and the importance of doing a job well.

“Our grandkids are growing up on the farm, some joining 4H,” he said.

He enjoys working full-time for a company that sells building materials and, at one time, served as its vice president.

Although working with wood has been McCart’s focus as an artist, he developed a fascination for using epoxy. Taking advantage of the time Covid restrictions allowed, he learned on his own how to make epoxy. Blending the separate elements together to achieve the very hard translucent product, he went on, learning how to also colour it.

The combination of these skills allows McCart to create stunning pieces with wood and epoxy. This knowledge gives him the freedom to understand how to layer the epoxy, a defined amount at a time, taking the time for the full effect with each piece as he wants.

“It is a long process making each piece,” he noted.

Through his exposure at the markets, he gets commissions to make his guitar clocks, each one different and other imaginative pieces. He could make anything with this combination of materials, and what he does make is his alone, quite unique.

“As a hobby,” he remarked. “I can do what I like.”

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