On Muskoka Beach Road in Bracebridge, a purple banner is the signal: when it’s flying, painter Janice Feist has thrown open the doors of the JFeist Fine Art Studio and Gallery. Feist works in acrylic and graphite on canvas — original paintings with a luminous, contemporary feel — and her home studio doubles as her gallery, so a visit is also a meeting with the artist herself.
The gallery is open year-round most weekends, and when the weather cooperates, Feist moves the show outside, holding open-air exhibitions of her original paintings around the studio in addition to the indoor display. Her work has been featured in local showcases, including the Town of Gravenhurst’s art exhibition at its municipal office.
Small, personal galleries like this are the connective tissue of Muskoka’s art scene — no velvet ropes, no admission, just the artist, the work, and the road unwinding past the lake. Watch for the purple banner, pull in, and leave with something made by the hands that hung it.