Outdoor sculpture parks are practically designed for dog walking. Imagine an art gallery wedged in the woods celebrating contemporary Canadian Art, surrounded by 100 acres of densely forested land free to explore for both people and their pups. The McMichael Canadian Art Collection art gallery is exactly that: a desirable destination for Canadian art lovers, particularly art lovers with dogs who love scenic walks through groomed trails and tall trees. Art lovers like me.

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I enjoy sculpture and my dog enjoys anything she can sniff. The McMichael art gallery and its acres of trees have been on my visit-with-my-dog list for years. Finally, I got there after attending the Doggie Box launch event in Markham, Ontario. This art gallery in the woods, built beyond the boundaries of the big city, has always held an eccentric allure for me. Exploring it with my up-for-anything spaniel made it worth the wait.

Canadian Art History

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario, was established in 1965 by Robert and Signe McMichael. The gallery began as a home for their private collection of Group of Seven painters. Because of that, the founders constructed the property as they wished, honouring the scenic remoteness that haunts many Group of Seven Paintings. The original curatorial vision was their own, until the property and art collection was donated to the Ontario Government in 1966. The museum was formally incorporated into the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in 1972.

Today, the McMichael (as it’s called colloquially) is run by the Ontario Government as a public gallery. The curatorial focus has expanded beyond the Group of Seven to include works by indigenous artists and other Canadian art from the 20th and 21st centuries. A sculpture garden was added, and that’s where me and my pup spent most of our visit.

Is the McMicheal art gallery dog-friendly?

Clearly, pet dogs are not permitted in the main gallery building. However, an attractive and unique feature of the McMichael Canadian art gallery is the 100 acres of forested land surrounding the gallery building. The grounds alone make it worth the 40-minute drive from Toronto, along with the sculpture garden and other outdoor features including the Tom Thomson Shack.

The Group of Seven is the collective name for a collective of Canadian artists (more than seven). Their early 20th-century landscape paintings have come to symbolize a distinctly Canadian style, or even mythos of the Great White, and often green and gold, North. Unspoiled natural hills, romantic forests, and even icebergs dominate the images.

The McMicheal art gallery attempts to recreate this art-inspiring scenic view on the edge of the Humber River Valley (although one of the best views of what inspired these painters is found along Lake Superior). The view is enhanced by a ridgetop wilderness garden planted by the gallery founders Rober and Signe McMichael. Of course, my dog stopped for a photo at the artist’s seat overlooking the valley.

Who is buried at the McMichael Canadian art gallery?

Both Robert and Signe McMichael are buried in the onsite cemetery, along with seven Group of Seven artists. The cemetery is metres from the Tom Thomson Shack (a large wooden house), with a history of its own. This shack once stood behind a studio building on Severn Street in Toronto purchased in 1914 to offer low-rental studio space to Canadian painters.

Arguably, the most famous of the Group of Seven painters, Tom Thomson moved into the tool shed behind the Severn Street studio in 1915 out of economic necessity paying only one dollar a month rent. He lived here until his accidental death in 1917. The building was moved to the McMichael Gallery grounds in 1962, along with Thomson’s easel and two palettes.

Along with the Thomson building, there are sculptures scattered around the main building including the following:

• Life-sized bronze wolves near a transit shelter by artists Mary Anne Barkhouse and Michael Belmore
• Bill Vazan’s Shibagau Shard, carved on a single piece of Pre-Cambrian Shield granite,
• a network of outdoor paths radiating from the gallery
• a 1.5 km trail heading into the Hudson River Valley

In other words, there’s much to experience with your leashed dog even if you never enter the gallery. My favourite part of our outdoor dog adventure on the McMicheal Gallery grounds? The sculpture park.

Is the McMichael art gallery sculpture garden dog-friendly?

The McMichael art gallery sculpture park is why I brought my dog here. The McMicheal art gallery’s Sculpture Garden isn’t the largest I’ve experienced with my pup, but it does have circular even spiral trails which is great for dog walking. Also, the sculptures are big, so there’s no mistaking them rocks, logs, or other potential pee targets. (See my sculpture park experience with my first dog here).

The trails in the sculpture park also meander to other parts of the McMichael’s outdoor grounds, so it’s an ideal starting point for a much longer walk, or an easy stroll from the main street into the park and back again.

Note that this is a heavily wooded and naturalized area; therefore, it’s tick country. (Learn more about ticks here). Take precautions. Fortunately, since I put my dog on Bravecto, we skirted any encounters. Also, you’ll have to bring your own bags and there’s no water source for the pets, so a dog water bottle is recommended (affiliate link). One garbage bin is located behind the Tom Thomson Shack.

Nine bronze sculptures, all created and donated by artist Ivan Eyre, dominate the sculpture garden, so there’s an odd homogeneity to this cultural experience. Essentially, you’re experiencing the larger-than-life mythical and sometimes quasi-erotic human forms that once danced in Eyre’s imagination until achieving bronze immortality. Most are human except for one: a figure sitting on a box beside a canine form (North Watch, 2010) at the entrance, which for me was invitation enough to share an evening of art gazing with my pup.

Finding the dog-friendly trails at the McMichael art gallery

The dog-friendly outdoor grounds at the McMichael are easy to find. Simply follow the stream of people walking dogs. At least, that’s what I did. When the gallery is open (daily from 10 am to 5 pm), you can park at the gallery for $7.

I arrived after 5 pm and parked on the street along quaint downtown Kleinburg for free. Then we walked a short distance along the gallery drive. The entrance to the sculpture park is the first path you’ll find. I followed the line of other dog walkers.

What else is in Kleinburg, Ontario?

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is in the village of Kleinburg, in the city of Vaughan, 15-minutes north of Toronto. Kleinburg’s ‘downtown’ is a short few blocks along Islington Avenue. It’s dotted with a few shops and restaurants – some with outdoor patios including Balzac’s, Local Café, and the Old Firehall Confectionery and coffee shop.

Across the street is the Pierre Berton Heritage Centre in a Gothic Revival style former United Church built in 1926. A stop sign away, several real estate offices compete for attention on the same block. Real estate is big here, and so are the stone brick castle-like houses wedge together in new developments bordering the town.

In fact, suburban development has crept to the boundaries of the McMichael gallery property – it’s no longer that gallery in the woods on the GTA’s outskirts. It’s now a forest sanctuary amid a sea of encroaching development. Maybe that’s why it’s so popular dog walkers – they hope to spare their pups’ paws from concrete sidewalks and busy asphalt through streets.

Writer bio: Sherri Telenko has been a professional writer for decades and a travel writer for the last two. She’s a member of TMAC (Travel Media Association of Canada) and Dog Writers Association of America and travels almost weekly with her canine companion, Victoria.Contact Sherri at dogtrotting.net here. All written content is original, written by a person, and based on experience and research. Please subscribe!