Archive » Arts and Entertainment

Town of Orangeville’s art collection grows with Grice addition

November 23, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Orangeville’s Town Hall is getting some new bling to add to the ambiance inside.

Local art gallery owner Kay MacGregor’s son Andy contacted the town in July in an effort to donate a work of art to the municipality. The piece is an original oil painting of the town hall building and streetscape done by local artist Mark Grice that MacGregor purchased during an auction at Theatre Orangeville’s Victoria Christmas Gala in 2016. 

And that’s the painting she donated to the municipality to be hung at Town Hall.

MacGregor herself started painting as a child, influenced by her mother artist Doris Willis Speer’s love of art.

MacGregor, who opened the Willis Gallery on Broadway in the 1980s, works mostly in oil and is known for her landscapes, wildlife, and portraits. She has done workshops with Laurie McGaw, Canada’s foremost portrait artist and illustrator, the renowned Richard Nevitt, as well as John Anderson, and Sharon Wadsworth-Smith. 

The Willis Gallery is Orangeville’s first gallery showcasing the original work of local artists. MacGregor also had a studio at the Alton Mill and now paints from her private studio at home in East Garafraxa.

Municipal staff will work with MacGregor to receive the artwork and hang the painting on the main level at Town Hall.

Readers Comments (0)