On the evening of Thursday, August 21, the Georgian Trail in Meaford became something entirely new. Located near Bridge Street and Denmark Street, the familiar stretch of path was transformed into Art in the Wild, a playful, surprising, and deeply engaging celebration of creativity in the heart of nature.
Instead of gallery walls, there were trees and fences. Instead of the quiet hush of a museum, there was the sound of conversation, children’s laughter, and the strum of guitar strings. Music drifted through the trees as local guitarists Bill Monahan and Richard Ebbs played for the crowd. The trail, normally a route for walking and cycling, became a place to pause.
For one evening only, more than 30 local artists and two musicians turned the trail into an outdoor art experience.
Visitors began at the gazebo which marks the beginning of the trail, picking up a mocktail and a passport that became both a guide and a game. Each artist offered a conversation and a stamp, making the journey as much about connection as discovery. The weather was perfect, and the turnout remarkable: between 400 – 600 visitors came, filling nearby car parks.
What people discovered was remarkable in its variety. Vintage Tupperware cups lined the path in a measured procession, marking distance while stirring nostalgia. There were flying vulvas, homages to crows, reflective surfaces that bent and remade the landscape, and a wide range of paintings. Some works asked questions about waste and what we leave behind. Others embraced the glow of stained glass against the sun.
Co-organizer Viz Saraby introduced a host of safety signage along with her recurring character Cone, inspired by the humble safety cone that dots our streets. In her work, Cone raises questions about how the word safety has been redefined to also include psychological safety. Saraby’s work turns a symbol of physical safety into a source of humour and critique on authority and caution.
Another highlight came from Nisa Cornforth, who used driftwood, linen, and crystal to create a delicate installation. Her work invited visitors to reflect on the thin line between protection and confinement.
Mikael Sandblom encouraged people to pause and rediscover beauty in the everyday through his experimental works depicting clouds and waves. His pieces felt at once familiar and transformative.
Equally striking was Jessica Kenyon’s work, which placed synthetic forms into the natural environment. Her juxtapositions prompted visitors to reflect on the tension between the artificial and the organic.
It was art freed from its usual context, placed where it had to contend with the breeze, the changing light, and the curiosity of passersby. For many of the artists, the trail offered more interaction and genuine conversation in four hours than they might experience in a month-long gallery show.
The event was organized by Viz Saraby and Nisa Cornforth, with support from the Meaford Culture Foundation. Councillor Rob Uhrig, speaking on behalf of the Foundation, praised the innovative use of the Georgian Trail and applauded the artists and organizers for creating such a popular event.
What stood out most, however, was the atmosphere, conversation, laughter, and genuine curiosity. Artists found themselves not only sharing their work but forming new connections with each other and with the public.
By the time the sun dipped, Art in the Wild had left an imprint on the community. The response was clear: people want more and are calling for the event to become an annual tradition.
For now, the Georgian Trail is once again quiet, its fences and branches bare of art. But for one evening in August, it became something unforgettable, a gallery without walls where art and nature lived side by side, and the community rediscovered both in a new light.
