The Arts Council ~ Haliburton Highlands
A GATHERING PLACE FOR ARTS, CULTURE, AND HERITAGE
At ACHH, we believe in the power of the arts to inspire, educate and bring people together. We are a strong voice for arts and culture in the Haliburton Highlands, we drive creative development and bridge relationships that add to the vibrancy of the community.
Members' Show at Agnes Jamieson Gallery
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The Agnes Jamieson Gallery is pleased to host a mixed-media members exhibition from the ACHH from May 28 to July 18, 2026. This exhibition is presented in partnership with the Art in Public Spaces Committee of the ACHH & Fielding Estate Winery.
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We are delighted to announce that 46 of our visual artist members are included in this exhibition​​​
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ONTARIO CULTURE DAYS
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The Arts Council Haliburton Highlands is excited to join Haliburton County to invite residents and visitors to take part in 2026 Culture Days celebrations this fall. Culture Days is an annual cross-country festival, that provides the opportunity for community groups and individuals to highlight local arts, culture, and heritage. We are proud that Haliburton County has been designated a Provincial Hub for the Culture Days Festival.
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We are proud to support a diverse membership of artists, authors, performers, musicians, galleries, and businesses and organizations that are in or have a connection to Haliburton County.
Member Spotlight
Greg Gillespie is a Master Carver, focusing on interpretative waterfowl and wooden paddles incorporating relief sculpture. In his childhood he developed an interest in wildlife and nature through his time spent fishing, catching frogs, and building forts around the waters of Lake Dalrymple. His desire to explore nature led him to studying forestry at UofT and a 30-year career in the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. His interest in his chosen medium was sparked through a retreat during his early career that brought him to an exhibition at the Kortright Centre for Conservation featuring stunning decoy waterfowl carvings by artist Pat Godin.
Figure 1: Greg Gillespie carving a wooden feather in his studio, June 2026.
Greg’s own practice carving began soon after getting married, when he and his wife moved to a rental home near Dorset around 1982. It was here where he struck up a friendship with his neighbour Weldon Tracey, a bird carver and eventual mentor. Weldon provided Greg with the wood that he would use to create his first decoy.
Figure 2: Greg Gillespie’s first decoy waterfowl. A flat-bottomed drake bufflehead made with oil on basswood in 1982.
Figure 3: A collection of Greg Gillespie's awards from the Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition.
Figure 4: Greg Gillespie carving a feather on the handle of a new paddle in his studio, June 2026.
Figure 5 Greg Gillespie's Red-Breasted Nuthatch on Eastern Hemlock Trunk circa 2010.
Through competition Greg has flourished, winning numerous awards. Placing 3rd in World Interpretive Sculpture in the Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition has been amongst his proudest accolades as a recognized artist.
When Greg retired in 2004, he began making decorative paddles featuring wildlife which was a marriage of his experience decoy carving with his ventures as an artist and paddle maker.
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His interest in exploring relationships in nature, action, and the attitude of his subjects led to him depicting a wider variety of songbirds; like the red-breasted nuthatch. This subject matter provided a greater ability to pose and express behaviour but came with its own challenges.
One of these challenges is solving problems with new materials to accurately depict and heighten the captured experience. In this experimentation Greg finds there is an element of fun through discoveries. One result of his exploration in materiality is the chrome finish he uses to highlight the water’s captivating reflection against the contrasting dark walnut kingfisher, emerging with its prey from a lake’s surface in his 2025 work, Success. Other explored materials can be seen in his use of wire for the legs of delicately perched songbirds, or his alternating between intricately carved wooden leaves and painted brown paper leaves with silver soldered stems. These choices are determined based on the structural needs and the pose of the bird he is capturing.
What inspires his work is typically found through canoeing in the nearby provincial parks where he is often struck by the behaviours of the birds he encounters. With a scene in mind, he ruminates a concept, and from there, he resolves a material approach with ideas forming in the night.
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Once Greg has a concept, he is quick to give it form by doing a few sketches and getting right into selecting, organizing, and roughly shaping the wood on his bandsaw. To refine the essence of his subject he references materials and specimens from the Royal Ontario Museum’s Ornithology collection.
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To create the shape of the preliminary forms he uses a powered carving tool. He then works in the fine details using a mix of dental bits and carving knives. The final touches are achieved through sanding by hand and then, sealing the wood and painting fine feather detail. The finish depends on the focus of the experience being explored.
Figure 6 Greg Gillespie's “Success”, 2025, at the Agnes Jamieson Gallery during the Members Exhibition 2026.
Recently his work has explored stronger interpretive elements as this allows him greater compositional freedom and new avenues for expressing essential underlying forms and qualities. He favours a scale for his sculptures that is manageable in size for display in a variety of locations and that makes them more accessible and maintainable for collectors. Whether interpretive, grounded in realism, or a mix of approaches, Greg’s decisions are made from the onset based on the artwork concept’s needs for balanced composition and clear expression.
Greg does not prefer commissions as it does not provide him the same freedom to explore. Despite this, he does do restoration on damaged carvings from private collections.
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For those interested in starting to carve, he advises that extensive patience is key to detail and its practice. He finds his work a meditative process, something that he has unlimited patience for, and something that he can happily spend hours doing. While Greg keeps only essentials in his toolkit, he suggests that carving is a great artform for prospective tool collectors.
Figure 7 Greg Gillespie discussing his process through the creation of his Miniature Red-winged Blackbird on Cattails in his studio, June 2026.
To find more updates on Greg’s work, future competitions, and collecting information, visit his Facebook page at Northwind Paddle and Woodcarving.
ARTS HAPPENINGS
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2026 MEMBERSHIPS!
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Join the Arts Council Now
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Being a member means joining a creative community that values connection, visibility, and support.
Whether you're an emerging artist or established in your field, your membership helps strengthen the arts in the Highlands—and gives you access to events, promotion, and opportunities​
