Silent music fills Callander’s Alex Dufresne Gallery

The new exhibit at Callander’s Alex Dufresne Gallery evokes a sense of music from the silence, as the walls are filled with paintings of various stringed instruments. Morgan Walker is the creator of the work, and his new show is called “String Theory: The Art of the Musical Instrument.” The show runs until September 17th.

His paintings for this show are slightly impressionistic, although the realism shines through enough so that you know you’re looking at a picture of a Gibson Les Paul—just one of many instruments Walker has immortalized. The gentle turn to a more impressionistic style marks a departure for Morgan, who noted in a recent release that his work demonstrated “a lot of realism lately and I wanted to step outside of my comfort zone.”

In addition to the many paintings, there are also several wood carvings as well in the show, all of which tie into the musical theme. It was around 2003 when Morgan began carving, and since then, his work has been recognized by his peers, and he has won multiple National and World carving competitions.

His last solo show at the Alex Dufresne Gallery was in 2019, and in that show, he displayed a 16-inch carving of a ruffed grouse that had won three awards at the 49th Annual Ward World Wildfowl Carving Competition.  He can carve a mean bird, so just wait to see what he can do when he puts his tools to carving musical instruments.

Why the draw to string theory for his current show? Morgan, like most, is a music lover. “I listen to it all the time, whether I’m working on something or fixing something or driving, music is always on.” He also has an affinity for drawing and painting instruments, and everyone seems to enjoy them as well. “I’ve done a few realism ones in the past that have always sold really well and so I thought I might as well give it a try and see what happens.”

And so it happened, a new exhibit at the Alex Dufresne Gallery. You can catch the show from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday, and admission is free but donations to the gallery are welcome. The gallery is located at 107 Lansdowne St. East in Callander.

David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.