Glen Williams Ontario
Glen Williams Ontario Artists Colony: One of Southern Ontario's Best-Kept Secrets I usually have an ear to the ground when it comes to great cultural escapes, but somehow this little artists' colony escaped my notice until now. Glen Williams Ontario is a tiny village just north of Georgetown, a 45 minute drive west of Toronto. If you like art, crafts, antiques, and well-preserved heritage buildings, then you’re going to love this place. Throw in some charming rural scenery and a few tasty, cosy country places to eat, and you’re all set for a perfect girls' day out or a great romantic weekend retreat. Here are the main attractions of Glen Williams Ontario: Williams Mill Visual Arts Centre At the Williams Mill Visual Arts Centre you’ll find the studios of more than 30 working artists. On Fridays and Saturdays you can speak directly to the artists, watch them at work and learn about the artistic process first-hand. The on-site art gallery features representative work from all of the artists, so if you’re looking for one-of-a-kind gifts, here’s your chance to find something that is sure to impress. The artists include jewellers, wood carvers, sculptors, potters, glassblowers, a quilter, a book illustrator, a clothing designer, painters, and a print-maker. One of the most unusual workshops is The Red Pig Studio, run by Carmen Hickson, who makes amazing, funky art out of recycled objects like tin cans, wooden boxes and old glass. Another professional artist with a sense of humour and delight is Tara Marsh, who creates joyful goblets and window sculptures of exquisite glass. I love her fish creations!
The Halton Wood Carvers also make their home here. This is a dedicated group of artists at all stages of development. In their bright studio you’ll find cheery figurative art – carved folk figures, lifelike birds, and other completed pieces along with works-in-progress. Jo Walterson’s studio features, among other works, her paintings of Georgian Bay, which remind me a bit of the windswept tree paintings of Tom Thomson. The centre is housed in a group of three renovated 19th century buildings. In their past lives, these buildings served as sawmill, woolen mill, hosiery factory, flour mill, power plant and apple-processing factory. It’s been said that nearly every family in Glen Williams Ontario had a member working at one of these mills at some point. Maybe that’s why the buildings have been lasted so long; they’re such an important part of the town’s history. The architecture alone is worth the visit (see exterior shot below).
For more information see http://www.williamsmill.com/ The Bookstore Around the corner from Williams Mills is Reeve & Clarke Books which sells second-hand books and ephemera such as posters and cards, beautifully arranged as if they were in a museum. A calendar from 1940 in mint-condition caught my eye while I was there; what a great gift that would make for someone born that year! If you’re at all nostalgic, this is the place to indulge that passion.
There are two eateries in the centre of the village worth checking out. One is the popular Glen Oven Bakery Café at 520 Main Street. It was closed for renovations when I visited, but I’ve heard good things about it, so I plan on checking it out the next time I visit. The other restaurant is the Copper Kettle Pub, just beside Williams Mill. You could spend an hour just looking at all the British antique collectibles in this homey place! The kitchen offers traditional English food like fish and chips, meat pie, and ploughman’s lunch along with some imported beers, among them Guinness and Smithwicks. On one side of the spacious room is a fireplace; on the opposite side is an old piano. You can hear live music here occasionally during the week.
Beaumont Mill Antiques and Collectibles market About a kilometer north of the pub you’ll find an antique market with surprisingly affordable prices. Okay, not everything here is more than a hundred years old (a pewter pin I bought for $8 is only from 1985 according to the studio signature on the back), but there are true antique pieces here as well, including furniture, toys, glassware, cookware, books, decorative items, a horse buggy and even (oddly) fossils. In addition, there’s a man here who repairs old cane-bottomed chairs. My favourite part was the jewelry/accessories section upstairs:
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