- May 5, 2026, All day
- May 30, 2026, All day
Dates and Times:
- On display from May 5 to 30
- Tuesday to Saturday: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Sunday and Monday: CLOSED
About the exhibit
This exhibit celebrates the life and works of Clarence Chong, maternal grandfather to Erika MacNeil, who arrived in Canada with an unknown birthdate and lineage. His grade school teacher recognized his talent and sent him to art school.
The works are a collection of portraits from Chong's studies as an art student recently uncovered in a tube portfolio in Erika MacNeil's basement. Erika, local Newmarket resident, teacher-librarian and dancer, writer and performer, pays tribute to her grandfather.
Clarence Chong, maternal grandfather to Erika MacNeil, arrived in Canada with an unknown birthdate and lineage. His grade school teacher, known to MacNeil as Granny Abel, recognized his talent and sent him to art school through a tunnel from Windsor to an art school in Detroit across the border when he came of age.
The works are a collection of portraits from Chong’s studies as an art student recently uncovered in a tube portfolio in Erika MacNeil’s basement. Erika, local Newmarket resident, teacher-librarian and dancer, writer and performer, pays tribute to her grandfather, Clarence; this exhibit celebrates the life and works of Clarence in recognition of MacNeil’s rich family history.
Erika’s sister, Keira Loughran, has written and directed a documentary called the Exclusion: Beyond the Silence. Loughran went on a pilgrimage to their paternal grandfather’s village in China, searching for the family left behind when Doyle Jenning Lumb immigrated to Canada as a paper son after paying the $500 Head Tax, just prior to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923. The trailer for this exclusive screening will be made available for viewing for the duration of this exhibit.