Big Back Yard (at Night) is a selection of works from the Thunder Bay Art Gallery Collection that recall the stirring of nature as night falls in Northern Ontario.

Borrowing its title from a sculpture of a deer standing on the roof of a small wood house by Thunder Bay artist Roly Martin, this exhibition presents a wide range of artists who depict crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) and nocturnal beings commonly found in our own backyard. From the shadowy landscape People of the Forest (1981) by Daphne Odjig (b. 1919 – d. 2016) to the watchful eye of a bird or owl in Missay-Oog (circa 1983) by Ronald Peters, these works remind us that we are part of hidden ecosystems.

With unrelenting sleepless development in the region and across the country, the boundaries between wilderness and urban areas continue to blur. Big Back Yard (at Night) sets the scene for yards, gardens, balconies, parks, golf courses, roadsides, sidewalks, shorelines, alleys, and courtyards to come alive while we sleep.

Image: Roly Martin, Big Back Yard, 2006, mixed media, 250 x 122 x 80 cm. Collection of the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Purchased 2007