High Arctic Expedition – Where Art Meets Land

A century ago, A.Y. Jackson and Dr. Frederick Banting journeyed north aboard the Beothic, following supply routes along the coastlines of Greenland, Baffin Island, and Ellesmere Island. For both men—one a celebrated painter, the other a renowned scientist with an artist’s heart—the Arctic’s luminous skies, shifting ice, and sculpted landscapes proved transformative. Their sketches and canvases captured a vision of the North that would profoundly influence Canadian art and identity. In the years that followed, Lawren Harris made his own Arctic journeys, further cementing the North as a powerful muse for artists of the era.

This expedition invites you to experience those same northern environments—sailing through fjords where glaciers calve into silent waters and distant mountains gleam beneath the endless summer light. You’ll stand in places that once stirred Banting, Jackson, and Harris, witnessing firsthand the light and scale that inspired a movement and shaped an enduring artistic legacy.

In partnership with the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, steward of the Group of Seven’s legacy, this voyage contributes to new research into those early Arctic expeditions and their impact. On board, John Geoghegan, curator at the McMichael, will lead illustrated talks, field observations, and conversations that connect art, story, and place. Together, you’ll explore how the North has shaped Canada’s imagination—and how artists and travellers can engage it today with respect, curiosity, and care.

As you travel, you’ll also meet Inuit artists and community members whose creative traditions have flourished here for millennia. Their voices reveal the Arctic not as a blank canvas but as a living homeland—where art and culture express deep, continuous relationships with land, sea, and light. Their perspectives enrich and expand the Group of Seven’s legacy, grounding this journey in connection rather than commemoration.