SIX ARTISTS CAPTURE 160 YEARS OF MUSKOKA FLEET — AND ME — IN RMS SEGWUN ANNIVERSARY STORYBOARD PROJECT

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

PHOTOS Alex Hogg | MuskokaTODAY.com

GRAVENHURST — I’m immortalized.

Photographers are often camera-shy. Not always I.

But thanks to the ‘RMS Segwun Storyboard’ project unveiled last weekend, I can now say I’ve been painted into the centre of an iconic Muskoka artwork.

And who doesn’t secretly want to live on on canvas?

In celebration of 100 years since the relaunch of the Segwun in 1925, following her original days as the Nipissing paddle wheeler, 16 paintings now gorgeously reflect milestones along the journey.

One of the most memorable and iconic moments of the Segwun’s history — which I and many fondly recall — is the day in 1974 when Pierre Elliott Trudeau christened its second rebirth.

I remember it well. A huge day having the popular “Trudeau mania” prime minister in town — during an election campaign stop a month before he gained a majority government on July 8.

I — a late teen with my trusty Konica camera, long hair and big beard — was on the weekend beat that day for the Gravenhurst News.

And when P.E.T. let loose the chord sending a giant bottle of swinging champagne breaking into the Segwun’s bow — and sliding her hull into Lake Muskoka — I captured the fleeting moment.

Flashbulbs popped. It was a Kodak moment.

Unbeknownst, little old me was in many frames.

Fast forward 52 years and Cathy Tait commissions six artists, drawing on their brilliant brush strokes to bring to life  — for eternity — 16 versions of the grand lady and her sister ships as they sailed through 160 years and eras and ports of call.

These delightful depictions were unveiled last weekend, March 28, at the Muskoka Discovery Centre, which is a corner pocket of the Muskoka Steamships Fleet operations. With artists on hand to take bows.

They span the Fleet’s glorious trips through time from 1866 to 2025.

Among them was Neil Sternberg’s take on that rainy and sunny June 1 uptown and at what is now the Muskoka Wharf and from where the ship-shape hull slipped into the water from about where today’s present A.P. Cockburn Square is firmly ensconced. This after a long 15-year restoration effort.

Sternberg recreated the famous moment on canvas — the one I captured with a snap of my forefinger with the champagne cork floated mid-air destined for the steel hull as cheered erupted.

The artist’s clever, eight-foot-tall perspective from below the dais — right to left — brings it to life in “1974 – Segwun and Restore.” With the hurtling bottle suspended briefly before my eyes just and above my head and wideangle lens.

Sternberg also skilfully spawns a revival from another large scene — the “1870 – Opening of the Upper Lakes” in his second commission as the Sagamo gently floats from Lake Muskoka through the Port Carling Locks in Lake Rosseau surrounded by a crowd of hundreds cheering onboard and along the shores of both Muskoka Lakes.

Doug Dunford, a more familiar Muskoka man of the arts, too had his hand in four paintings showing the original Wenonah “1866 – The Steamship Era Begins”; “1906 – Launching of Sagamo”; “1915 – Grandest Private Yacht” the Wanda III; and “1920s – Mid-Lake Transfers” with four ships — the Ahmic, Cherokee, Sagamo and Segwun lashed exchanging goods and passengers.

Kerry Walford, of Cayuga, the only non-Muskoka member of this Group of Six, produced three visuals: “1875 – The Railway” at the original Gravenhurst Wharf; the “1900s – Millionaire’s Row” golden cottage; and the “1925 (first) Relaunch of the Segwun” that became a Canadian postage stamp.

Huntsville artist Lisa Ball has one among the collection, the “1960s – Museum and Restaurant” portraying the end of the era showing the Sagamo shortly before a fire tragically levelled it to its sad hull, here sitting behind and the Segwun when it was a floating community museum in its Gravenhurst port.

Roxanne Driedger, also of Huntsville, contributed a pair: an intricate “1870 – Windermere House” and “1907 – Tourism on a Grand Scale” with the Medora, Segwun and Sagamo dockside together.

Gravenhurst mural artist Steph Schofield was given the task of framing four eras: “1887 – The Nipissing;” “1901 – The Royal Muskoka” hotel, “2002 – Launching the Wenonah” with the remaining three electric, steam and diesel vessels Segwun, Wenonah II and Wanda III proudly sailing up the Muskoka Lakes; and “2025 – Steam to Green” the Wenonah passing its new boathouse attached to the Muskoka Discovery Centre.

The collection is a treasure trove for residents, local historians, cottagers, visitors and collectors to scoop up this summer in the form of post cards and larger framed portrayals.

More unique additions to your Muskoka Lakes and ships arts and crafts collections.

A couple of the original paintings have already been spoken for and others may also be sold.

In the meantime many remain on display in the Discovery Centre’s grand entrance hall.

Prints will be available at the Fleet’s ticket office on the other side of the bay this summer.

I may buy one or grab Crayons and find my scrapbook.