TOM THOMSON

The Algonquin Ensemble attempts to give the painter a voice through music on the 100th anniversary of his death

What is the sound of granite? Of jackpine? Of the sky on a bleak mid-winter’s day?

Those are the questions Ottawaarea musician Terry Tufts and his Algonquin Ensemble have tried to answer in their suite Sonic Palette — Tom Thomson’s Voice Through Music 100 Years Later.

The ensemble is a sextet — with Tufts, his wife, Kathryn Briggs, on piano and bassist John Geggie as composers. They will debut the piece this weekend at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ont., on the 100th anniversary of the painter’s death.

The trio has spent 18 months on the project, but for Tufts and Briggs, the obsession with Thomson goes back much further — to high school art class at Glebe Collegiate Institute in the late 1960s, when their teacher showed them samples of Canadian painting.

First she showed pictures by the Group of Seven. Then Emily Carr’s painting from the Pacific Coast.

“Then she pulled out Thomson and said, ‘This is where it all came from,’ ” Tufts said.

“That was it for me. Up until that point I was just drawing pictures of guitars in art class and getting away with it. Then, she showed us these paintings. Ever since then, there have been moments where Thomson has come into my life.”

Last year, Tufts was speaking with Almonte guitar maker Linda Manzer when the conversation turned to art. Tufts told Manzer he had a stalled musical project inspired by the Group of Seven.

Manzer was working on her own project, joining with six other luthiers to build guitars to honour the Group of Seven, when she reminded Tufts the centennial of Thomson’s death would be in 2017.

“He came home and his pupils were huge,” Briggs said.

“He was just so excited. It completely fired him up. We spent 18 months after that conversation completely obsessed. It helped us see Thomson anew.”

Tufts and Briggs live off the grid in a cabin north of Sharbot Lake in landscape similar to Thomson’s beloved Algonquin Park. Their winter nights are lit by candles and oil lamps. Like Thomson, they drew their inspiration from the landscape around them.

Tufts plays a custom-built, 50-string harp guitar called the Manzer Palette for the performance. The unique instrument even features Canadian 1917 pennies embedded in its two headstocks.

Born near Owen Sound in 1877, Thomson flailed his way through life as a young man, working in a metal manufacturing plant, as a graphic artist, even as an elevator operator. He was an avid woodsman and often travelled deep into the north woods to paint, either alone, or in the company of his artists friends who would later form the Group of Seven in his honour.

Thomson disappeared on July 8, 1917 while canoeing in Algonquin Park. Whether he died by drowning, accident or perhaps even murder, has never been determined. The doctor who examined his body noted a wound to the side of his head. He was 39.

Tufts called Thomson the ultimate Canadian tragic hero.

“He drank. He womanized. At 39 years old, he came home and wondered, ‘What am I going to do with my life?’ Well, Tom, you don’t have to worry about it. At 39, you’re dead,” Tufts said. “But those last five years, 1912-1917, he got to the park and he got away from humanity and that’s where he found out what he really liked to do. It’s a tragic, tragic story.”

Composing music for Thomson’s paintings was a new challenge for Geggie, who is more used to writing scores for film or dance.

“In those situations you’re looking at a moving picture or a moving person,” Geggie said. “One of the interesting challenges is having to take static images and then try to use our imagination. They’re static, but it triggers something in you, something emotional. It takes you places. You can imagine the smell of the earth, the leaves. You can smell the dryness of the dead leaves in autumn.

“The challenge in writing is using your emotion, but respecting the imagery. It’s an interesting challenge. And a very rewarding challenge.”

The ensemble debuts Sonic Palette Sunday in a sold out show at the McMichael gallery in Kleinburg, northwest of Toronto. As yet, there are no Ottawa dates. bcrawford@postmedia.com Twitter.com/getBAC