New Partnership with Sheridan Makes Visitors At Home in Bronte

Lounging lakeside to take in the sunset shouldn’t be an activity reserved for Summer. In fact, in Bronte, it can be enjoyed all Winter long thanks to a partnership between the Bronte BIA and Sheridan College students.

Scattered throughout Bronte Heritage Waterfront Park and sidewalks of Bronte’s shopping district you’ll find 100 Muskoka chairs colourfully adorned with the work of local artists – including 25 designed and painted by students from Sheridan’s Honours Bachelor of Craft and Design, Technical Production for the Performing Arts Industry, and Bachelor of Illustration programs. Over the course of just a few weeks this Fall, the students created the designs and the artwork, transforming the iconic dockside loungers into canvases adorned with strawberry fields, campfires, sunsets and even one with a comic-book feel.

It’s all part of the At Home in Bronte: Winter Edition exhibit, organized by the Bronte BIA. Thanks to the students’ involvement, the art installation has doubled the number of chairs on display this year.

“During the pandemic, connecting safely outdoors and shopping local have proved to be two important ways we can support each other and our communities,” says Maureen Healey, BIA Executive Director. “Thanks to Sheridan and ArtHouse Halton, who helped coordinate all the project’s artists, we’ve been able to create more inviting spaces for everyone visiting us.”

The chairs will be on display until March 2022, when they’ll be donated to community groups or auctioned in support of ArtHouse Halton, a non-profit organization that provides free arts programs for children.

View the At Home in Bronte FAQs