Postive PR for dearily departed Master Painters

 Euro Interest In Group of Seven Spur Canadians To Leave Love Letters To Famed Dead Artists In Kleinburg Cemetery

Lawren and Bess Harris headstone. Flowers and note from a fan!

From a Huffington Post Blog by Stephen Weir:
 http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/stephen-weir/group-of-seven-graveyard_b_2208610.html

There are signs that the Group of Seven is finally hip with the Canadian people, even those who don't go to art galleries.
I was out at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection with a video crew last week. The McMichael has a hot show called Painting In Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven. It is a show that blew off the doors at galleries in the UK and Europe over the past year. It has the best Group paintings from private collectors, the National Gallery in Ottawa, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the McMichael. This is the final (and only Canadian) stop for the touring show.
The show is experiencing record attendance in the public gallery located in Kleinburg, Ontario  - even though many of the paintings have hung in the log cabin gallery for decades.  The art-gallery-going public is rediscovering what has been in front of them all the time.  It took a London, England art gallery, the Dulwich,  and its curator Ian Desjardin, to bring the Group and Tom Thomson across the pond for an almost year-long tour.  This blockbuster exhibition has managed to rekindle interest in early 20th century Canadian landscape paintings.
At the end of last week's gallery taping I took the TV crew to see the Group of Seven cemetery. It is a quiet thoughtful park that is not often seen by visitors even though you have to drive past it to get into the gallery's parking lot. But, now with visitors wanting to see everything Group related, people are taking the time to stroll out onto the wooded grounds and see the graves. Some have attempted to interact with the dead.
We got there and I found that someone had taken the time to write fan letters to the long dead artists and placed them in front of their rough-rock headstones (the stones were cut from the Canadian Shield when the Trans Canada highway was being blasted through Northern Ontario). Bouquets of wild flowers and even a small stuffed bear pin have been left as well.

Frederick Varley's gravestone.

 The graveyard, by government statute,  is only for the artists who were in the Group of Seven, their wives and for gallery founders Robert and Signe McMichael. Tom Thomson is not there; his death predated the formation of the Group (he died in 1917 and is twice buried elsewhere).
In all there were 10 members of the Group of Seven. All but one of the artists were married. Lawren Harris was married twice. Of the ten artists who were members of the Group of Seven, six – Arthur Lismer http://www.stephenweir.com/gallery1/index.php/lismer-note-and-flowers, Frederick Varley http://www.stephenweir.com/gallery1/index.php/fred-varley-and-letter-798534596, Lawren Harris http://www.stephenweir.com/gallery1/index.php/IMG_0157, Frank Johnston, A.J. Casson and A.Y. Jackson – are buried in a small cemetery on the McMichael grounds, along with  Robert and Signe. Esther Lismer, Florence Johnston and Margaret Casson are buried there with their husbands. Harris is buried with his second wife Bess. Jackson never married and Varley's wife is buried elsewhere. I only attended two of the funerals (I am not that old!).
In fact I have been at the McMike on a part-time basis, on and off for the past 15-years.  I have spent hours over the years sitting in the cemetery - best place for cell phone reception.  I have never seen flowers, badges or letters left at the grave sites before. I was really curious, but no I didn't open the envelopes.  I do know that so far the artists have not responded to their first mail call since their burials back in the 20th century.

More information:  Last month my associate, art videographer George Socka interviewed Dulwich curator, Ian Desjardin and asked him why the Group of Seven has suddenly been embraced by art lovers in England, Europe and yes back here in Canada. This video, unique to Huffington Post is at:http://youtu.be/F-uCu98wOik
McMaster University professor James King just released a long overdue biography about Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris.  Socka has also filed a YouTube video story about James King lecturing about Lawren Harris and Tom Thomson. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqExkWGzfBI&feature=relmfu
Inward Journey: The Life of Lawren Harris is available at bookstores and on line at: http://www.amazon.ca/Inward-Journey-Life-Lawren-Harris/dp/177102206X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354119155&sr=1-1

Letter in front of Arthur Lismer's grave

Flowers, a child's bear pin and letter

LinkedIn With Investigative Journalists - Maybe You Want To Drop Me

Stephen Weir

LinkedIn Privacy Alert - Telephone, Telegraph and Tell a Publicist



Yesterday, for the second time in a month an investigative criminal reporter has called me looking for info on people that I am linked into through the popular business social network.
This time it was concerning a case of medical fraud, and one of my Linkedin  contacts was related to a doctor arrested in the US. 
The Star was trying to reach Toronto relatives for comment. My Linkedin contact, a member of the media himself, was related directly to this doctor.
At the beginning of the month the Globe and Mail was asking for Linkedin information that would help the paper contact a woman about to be charged over an insider trading issue (gold stocks).
Their calls kicked off an internal ethical debate.  You see, I am a trained journalist, I live to write about diving, the ocean and anything we swim in. But, freelance writing journalism, being  one of the lowest paying jobs on the planet,  requires non-writing support to keep the car payments on sched.  So,  I am also a very active publicist with contacts in many different communities around the world. I work in the arts, in the Caribbean community, in our country's publishing industry and even the world of the wrongly convicted. 
One side of me wants to help out any reporter looking for assistance in any  legal way possible. The other side of me is wondering if my Linkedin connection information is subject to privacy concerns, and I should not willing give out numbers, email addresses and job information.
Background: I was quick to jump on the Linkedin bandwagon. In the early days almost everyone I approached to link agreed to sign up with me. As a result I have two accounts, one with over 1,500 connections, the other with 600 or so.  According to Linkedin I have over 9 million colleagues in terms of  first, second and third level signees.
It works both ways. Lately I have been getting Linkedin requests from real estate agents from Atlanta, investment accountants from New York and even IR experts working in Nigeria.  I weed out the insurance agents, sex trade workers and tax specialist, but,  link with almost everyone else.
So, in reality the vast majority of people on my two network are unknown to me. Do I owe these vast group of strangers some sort of privacy protection? People who become my contacts decide themselves as to what information they are going to give me, so,  should I consider their data as being public information?
Giving private information to a publicist is not like talking to a reporter off-the-record. As a journalist your secret is safe with me.  As a publicist? You must be kidding.  It would be hard to convince the police or the courts that a public relations person could "protect his sources".
In reality a publicist will sing loud, long and probably pay for the drinks (receipt please).  The world used to say the three best ways to get information out - telephone, telegraph and tell a publicist.
Question: So what did I do?  In the first case, I was actually once removed from the person being investigated for exchange irregularities.  I had no idea who she was.  I was Linkedin to this woman through a connection with the Wine Ladies radio show. Believe we were all involved in a community  fundraiser. I told the Globe the connection and left it at that.
In the case of the doctor arrested in the US, I did phone my Linkedin in contact ( I have him in my own data base ) and asked if it was alright to provide the Star with his number. He said yes. I did. They talked. Then the Star called again wanting contact information on other family members.
Given the size and scope of my data base, what will I do the next time I get a  media call? Don't know. Depends on how moral I am feeling at the time.
I have an eclectic life. I used to believe in that philosophy that says you are the sum of the five people you most hang-out with. Nowadays does that apply to Linked In friends as well? If so, maybe I should purge? Or more importantly, should you the reader, review your on-line data and flush me out of your maililng list? ( I wouldn't blame you).
(as published in Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/stephen-weir/linkedin-privacy_b_1401066.html )